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techiesam
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Soaring television costs accounted for more than half the spending 08 Jun 2017, 10:15
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I have two specific question on this one
1.What is exactly being compared in B?
2.What is wrong with option C?
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Soaring television costs accounted for more than half the spending 09 Jun 2017, 02:31
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techiesam
I have two specific question on this one
1.What is exactly being compared in B?
2.What is wrong with option C?
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1. Objects compared:
A. The proportion of television costs in presidential spending in 1992 (Proportion = more than 1/2)
B. The proportion of television costs in presidential spending in any election before 1992

2. "They" refers to "television costs". Television costs are not compared - the proportion of the television costs is compared. So the pronoun should be "it", not "they".
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Soaring television costs accounted for more than half the spending Updated on: 28 Jul 2018, 19:28
Originally posted by anuj04 on 26 Mar 2018, 22:09.
Last edited by anuj04 on 28 Jul 2018, 19:28, edited 1 time in total.
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Explanation: “Soaring television costs” is the subject, and it is plural. So, A (it & was), D ( was), and E (has been) are out.
“C” is out as “they have been” seems to suggest that what happened in 1992 is still continuing, which is not right as this phenomenon is ended in 1992, and there is no reason to believe that this is continuing right now.

B is the Answer.
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Soaring television costs accounted for more than half the spending 12 Jul 2021, 17:54
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DE out b/c the , which does not make sense.
AC out b/c of faulty comparison. They have verbs but the comparison is a noun.
B is the last man standing and right answer.
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Soaring television costs accounted for more than half the spending 12 Mar 2022, 01:51
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nightwing79
Soaring television costs accounted for more than half the spending in the presidential campaign of 1992, a greater proportion than it was in any previous election.

(A) a greater proportion than it was

(B) a greater proportion than

(C) a greater proportion than they have been

(D) which is greater than was so

(E) which is greater than it has been
Show more

hard one.

learn to accept the strange pattern which could be correct answer.

in many cases on gmat, I can easily find error in other choices and eliminate them. the remaining choice is strange to us but contain no error and we have to choose this choice. here, we can find error in A, C D, and E and choose B.

comparison patterns hard and could be strange to us. be ready for strange pattern in comparison.

the key skill for all SC section is that we have to figure out the intended meaning when we read an incorrect answer. only when we realize the intended meaning, we can find the correct pattern expressing this meaning. so, focus on meaning and try to guess the intended meaning when reading the original choice is key skill. of course, you could not find out the intended meaning when you finish reading the original choice. but after this step, your mind will look for the intended meaning. You will read the next choices with your mind looking for the intended meaning. while looking for the intended meaning, you could realize some easy errors. this is the process of reading answer choices.

after reading choice A, I dont understand the meaning. but I focus on finding out the intended meaning. which compares to which logically. with this question in mind, I continue to read four remaining choice . I realize some clear errors and eliminate the choices with them

now, choice B is remaining.

tivi costs account for more than half the spending in this year, a greater proportion than in previous year.

remember my question which compare to which logically.

we need to know gramatical role of each phrase. "a greater proportion" should refer to "half the spending". so, logically, the comparison is

half the spending is greater this year than in previous year.

honestly, this is noun to noun comparison and we have to make clear the two noun. but choice B is not clear. choice B can be best but is still incorrect. consider

1. the proportion was greater last year than previous year.
2.I was stronger last year than previous year.
3. I am stronger this year than I was last year (tense changes)

the person stronger than I passes the gmat.

noun-to-noun comparison can be in the two pattern above. if we want to use an adverb phrase such as "previous year" or "in previous year", we need a preceding clause with verb as in the case with sentence 1,2 or 3. if there is no clause with verb preceding, we use second noun.

so, choice b could be incorrect. we need a clause preceding to use adverb phrase. but , many comparison patter could be strange. look at the following , from gmatprep.


Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white shark, the man-eater of the //movies—less than those// killed by bee stings.


(A) movies—less than those

(B) movies—fewer than have been

(C) movies, which is less than those

(D) movies, a number lower than the people

(E) movies, fewer than the ones

in this problem, choice b is correct. the meaning is " seven persons who have been killed by sharks is smaller than the number of persons who have been killed by bee".


but the sentence can be choice B. but we dont know which entity in the sentence is compared with which entity.
this problem is similar to our problem in that we find the clear errors and eliminate the choices with them. I can not write a sentence like the choice B of 2 problems.

I can not remember the 2 pattern in the two problems. but I can remember that comparison pattern can be strange and I should look for clear errors to eliminate and keep the strange choice
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Soaring television costs accounted for more than half the spending 09 Apr 2022, 05:49
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egmat

C. a greater proportion than they have been: Incorrect.

2. Use of present perfect tense “have been” is incorrect. The complete verb here should be “they have been accounting for”. Notice that “accounting” cannot be made understood because this word does not appear anywhere else in this sentence. Also, previous elections are over. Nothing can be accounting for them in the present.
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Hi egmat

Why can't we consider "accounted" instead of "accounting" after "have been" in this case? "have been accounted" is a present perfect tense in passive voice and "accounted" does appear in the sentence.
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Soaring television costs accounted for more than half the spending 10 Apr 2022, 07:15
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Hi GMATGuruNY

Please can you advise how would you tackle this comparison question

Thanks
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Soaring television costs accounted for more than half the spending 18 Apr 2022, 10:43
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Hello Team,

I have a query related to 'it' mentioned in option a.
Although I understood from the egmat revert that 'it' may refer to spending or president campaign but my query is.. Can 'it' also refer to proportion..will it not be logical antecedent?
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Soaring television costs accounted for more than half the spending 18 Apr 2022, 12:10
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VKat
Hello Team,

I have a query related to 'it' mentioned in option a.
Although I understood from the egmat revert that 'it' may refer to spending or president campaign but my query is.. Can 'it' also refer to proportion..will it not be logical antecedent?
Show more
"It" can't logically refer to "proportion" because "a greater proportion than proportion was" does not make sense.
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Soaring television costs accounted for more than half the spending 03 Jul 2022, 07:37
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thangvietnam
nightwing79
Soaring television costs accounted for more than half the spending in the presidential campaign of 1992, a greater proportion than it was in any previous election.

(A) a greater proportion than it was

(B) a greater proportion than

(C) a greater proportion than they have been

(D) which is greater than was so

(E) which is greater than it has been

hard one.

learn to accept the strange pattern which could be correct answer.

in many cases on gmat, I can easily find error in other choices and eliminate them. the remaining choice is strange to us but contain no error and we have to choose this choice. here, we can find error in A, C D, and E and choose B.

comparison patterns hard and could be strange to us. be ready for strange pattern in comparison.

the key skill for all SC section is that we have to figure out the intended meaning when we read an incorrect answer. only when we realize the intended meaning, we can find the correct pattern expressing this meaning. so, focus on meaning and try to guess the intended meaning when reading the original choice is key skill. of course, you could not find out the intended meaning when you finish reading the original choice. but after this step, your mind will look for the intended meaning. You will read the next choices with your mind looking for the intended meaning. while looking for the intended meaning, you could realize some easy errors. this is the process of reading answer choices.

after reading choice A, I dont understand the meaning. but I focus on finding out the intended meaning. which compares to which logically. with this question in mind, I continue to read four remaining choice . I realize some clear errors and eliminate the choices with them

now, choice B is remaining.

tivi costs account for more than half the spending in this year, a greater proportion than in previous year.

remember my question which compare to which logically.

we need to know gramatical role of each phrase. "a greater proportion" should refer to "half the spending". so, logically, the comparison is

half the spending is greater this year than in previous year.

honestly, this is noun to noun comparison and we have to make clear the two noun. but choice B is not clear. choice B can be best but is still incorrect. consider

1. the proportion was greater last year than previous year.
2.I was stronger last year than previous year.
3. I am stronger this year than I was last year (tense changes)

the person stronger than I passes the gmat.

noun-to-noun comparison can be in the two pattern above. if we want to use an adverb phrase such as "previous year" or "in previous year", we need a preceding clause with verb as in the case with sentence 1,2 or 3. if there is no clause with verb preceding, we use second noun.

so, choice b could be incorrect. we need a clause preceding to use adverb phrase. but , many comparison patter could be strange. look at the following , from gmatprep.


Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white shark, the man-eater of the //movies—less than those// killed by bee stings.


(A) movies—less than those

(B) movies—fewer than have been

(C) movies, which is less than those

(D) movies, a number lower than the people

(E) movies, fewer than the ones

in this problem, choice b is correct. the meaning is " seven persons who have been killed by sharks is smaller than the number of persons who have been killed by bee".


but the sentence can be choice B. but we dont know which entity in the sentence is compared with which entity.
this problem is similar to our problem in that we find the clear errors and eliminate the choices with them. I can not write a sentence like the choice B of 2 problems.

I can not remember the 2 pattern in the two problems. but I can remember that comparison pattern can be strange and I should look for clear errors to eliminate and keep the strange choice
Show more

The most frustrating thing for me is I found your comment useless after spending 10 mins understanding what are you saying
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Soaring television costs accounted for more than half the spending 18 Jan 2023, 00:13
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MartyTargetTestPrep
VKat
Hello Team,

I have a query related to 'it' mentioned in option a.
Although I understood from the egmat revert that 'it' may refer to spending or president campaign but my query is.. Can 'it' also refer to proportion..will it not be logical antecedent?
"It" can't logically refer to "proportion" because "a greater proportion than proportion was" does not make sense.
Show more

It and they used in comparisons also refer to the modifiers attached to the noun. So, here if it is referring to half the spending then it will also attach to the modifiers? Is my understanding correct?
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Soaring television costs accounted for more than half the spending 12 May 2023, 04:52
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AjiteshArun MartyTargetTestPrep

Sir can you explain the usage of So in option D
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Soaring television costs accounted for more than half the spending 12 May 2023, 06:08
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saby1410
AjiteshArun MartyTargetTestPrep

Sir can you explain the usage of So in option D
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Hello saby1410,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, in Option D "so" acts as a preposition to form the adverbial phrase "so in any previous election", which modifies the verb "was".

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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