South Korea has witnessed the world's most dramatic growth of Christia

Question

South Korea has witnessed the world's most dramatic growth of Christian congregations; church membership is expanding by 6.6 percent a year, fully two-thirds of the growth  coming from conversions rather than the population increasing .

(A) coming from conversions rather than the population increasing

(B) coming from conversions rather than increases in the population

(C) coming from conversions instead of the population's increasing

(D) is from conversions instead of population increases

(E) is from conversions rather than increasing the population

gautammalik · Accepted Answer

Two splits here - 
1. "rather than" vs "instead of".
"Instead of" is used to compare nouns

2. coming from/is coming from
We need coming from since "fully two-thirds of the growth ..." is a modifier
Hence (D) and (E) are out.

(A) Incorrect - "rather than the population increasing"
(C) Incorrect - "instead of the population’s increasing"

(B) is the answer.

tuanquang269 · Answer

My simple thought is:
X rather than Y => X >Y

X instead of Y => X and no Y (definitely no Y). In rather than, we can have little Y, but ensure that X>Y

Based on this sentence. (D) and (E) will make run-on errors, so I will eliminated

Thinking about the meaning of sentence, church membership is expanding ..., 2/3 growth coming from (conversions) X rather than/instead of Y ( increases in the population). Of course 2/3 growth still can come from Y, so we use "rather than" is better. Eliminate (C).

Between (A) and (B), we have to choose which items are paralleled each other. "conversion" parallels with "increase" or "population". Certainly, "increase" wins. So, Choice (B) is the final choice.

Hope that helps.

mbagal1 · Answer

I pick B too. However, I have a question why does the sentence say "increases in population". Isn't population singular? So, shouldn't it be "an increase in population" ? 

Is increases being tied to "two-thirds" here? How can that be? 

Thanks.

trivikram · Answer

probably it represents the growth in several increments

nrgmat · Answer

Ans: B is correct

The usage in this context "rather than increases in the population" correctly indicates that the growth in the church membership is from the increase in the population.

avi84 · Answer

South Korea has witnessed the world’s most dramatic growth of Christian congregations; church membership is expanding by 6.6 percent a year, fully two-thirds of the growth  coming from conversions rather than the population increasing.

(A) coming from conversions rather than the population increasing  A rather than B ,Aand B are not parallel
 
(B) coming from conversions rather than increases in the population conversions   A rather than B parallel ,also the modifier  coming from conversions ........is correctly modifying church member expanding.  So its the best option.

(C) coming from conversions instead of the population’s increasing  parallelism error
 
(D) is from conversions instead of population increases  modifier error

(E) is from conversions rather than increasing the population  modifier error

Abhishek009 · Answer

Here a comparison is used so , rather than must be used ( options C & D can be rejected )

Rather than is generally used in 'parallel' structures. e.g - with two nouns, adjectives, adverbs, infinitives or -ing forms.

So , the usage  "  conversions   rather than   increases  in the population "  is absolutely correct and answer must be (B)

hibobotamuss · Answer

Hi, though I got this answer right, I still don't clearly understand the rather/instead split. 
Went all around Google and I back here - blank et confused.

Could some kind soul clarify? What do you mean rather is used to show preference and instead is used for options? Wouldn't preference be out of options too? :S

Abhishek009 · Answer

Please go through the following links - https://gmat-grammar.blogspot.com/2006/0 ... ad-of.html https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-idio ... omparison/

dcummins · Answer

GMATNinja

Hi Charles,

Am I correct in stating that D and E would require a coordinating conjunction to be correct given the presence of the finite verb?

GMATNinja · Answer

Yes!

"Fully two-thirds of the growth is from conversions" is a complete thought (independent clause), so we would indeed need a comma+conjunction. (Or, in theory, a semicolon, but a second semicolon would do unfortunate things to this particular sentence.)

azhrhasan · Answer

Hi  GMATNinja

Where can i read more about this concept and it's practical application ? This is something new to me. Please guide.

Tahamohsin · Answer

santorasantu · Answer

South Korea has witnessed the world's most dramatic growth of Christian congregations; church membership is expanding by 6.6 percent a year, fully two-thirds of the growth  coming from conversions rather than the population increasing .

(A) coming from conversions rather than the population increasing -->population increasing is incorrect. conversions rather than population increasing is incorrect comparison

(B) coming from conversions rather than increases in the population --> conversions is compared with increases which is valid

(C) coming from conversions instead of the population's increasing --> possessive for increasing is incorrect

(D) is from conversions instead of population increases --> introducing an other verb "is" makes a run on sentence --> church membership is expanding by 6.6 percent a year, fully two-thirds of the growth is blah blah blah

(E) is from conversions rather than increasing the population --> same mistake as D

B it is

GMATNinja · Answer

We're just talking about run-on sentences here. "Church membership is expanding by 6.6 percent a year, fully two-thirds of the growth is from conversions." is just as bad as, "Mike likes going to the beach, most beaches in New Jersey are crowded."

Here's an article  about run-on sentences by  mikemcgarry . The Manhattan Sentence Correction book (Guide 8) might also help.

emcheeks · Answer

South Korea has witnessed the world's most dramatic growth of Christian congregations; church membership is expanding by 6.6 percent a year, fully two-thirds of the growth  coming from conversions rather than the population increasing.

(A) coming from conversions rather than the population increasing

Not paralle! "conversations" is noun whereas " population increasing" is not. If someone has to say that the latter is a noun. Here is the explanation: since the word "increase" itself could be a noun, the "increasing" which is used as a noun here is wrong --> always use "increase" (the original form) when we want a noun, and the rule applies to many others as well.
 
(B) coming from conversions rather than increases in the population

Correct usage of noun "increases" in comparison with the one in A.

(C) coming from conversions instead of the population's increasing

in gmat, when there is another seemingly correct answer choice that includes rather than, go with that one! Rather than is better than instead of in gmat. In addition, instead of can only be followed by nouns. 
"population's increasing" has a similar problem as in A. The same explanation could also be applied here. 
 
(D) is from conversions instead of population increases

same as C. In addition, run-on sentence. 
 
(E) is from conversions rather than increasing the population

Run-on.

lakshya14 · Answer

Should "conversions"(noun) be parallel to "populations increasing"(noun)?

GMATNinja · Answer

Yes, as with a not/but construction, we generally want X and Y to be parallel when using the phrase "X rather than Y".

In choice (B), "conversions" and "increases" are both nouns, so the parallelism is totally fine.

I hope that helps!

South Korea has witnessed the world's most dramatic growth of Christia

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

South Korea has witnessed the world's most dramatic growth of Christia

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615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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