The average weight gain for babies born in the United States : GMAT Sentence Correction (SC)
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# The average weight gain for babies born in the United States

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The average weight gain for babies born in the United States [#permalink]

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08 Oct 2005, 02:03
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The average weight gain for babies born in the United States is 2.1 pounds per week, therefore if a child weighing 12 pounds at birth weighs 13.5 pounds after one month, it has been below average.

(A) if a child weighing 12 pounds at birth weighs 13.5 pounds after one month, it has been below average
(B) a child weighing 12 pounds at birth weighs 13.5 pounds after one month, if its weight gain has been below average
(C) if a child weighing 12 pounds at birth weighs 13.5 pounds after one month, the child weight gain was below average
(D) a child weighing 12 pounds at birth weighs 13.5 pounds after one month, if it has had below average weight gain
(E) if a child weighing 12 pounds at birth weighs 13.5 pounds after one month, the child weight gain has been below average
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08 Oct 2005, 05:55
(A) - lacks clarity with what 'average' is referring to

(C) - 'child weight gain' is unidiomatic. We need 'child's' instead of 'child'

(E) - same problem as C

Between B and D, D is the better choice. It suggests the child 'had' problems with weight gain, thus it weights 13.5 pounds today. In B however, its says the child is weighing 13.5 pounds as it has a problem with weight gain, and still have a problem today. Thus, B changes the meaning of the sentence slightly.

D for me.
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08 Oct 2005, 06:04
E.

B and D are easily ruled out. "Was" in C is alsl wrong. Between A and E, E is better becasue "the child weight gain has been below average" is more clear than "it has been below average" in A.
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08 Oct 2005, 06:54
HIMALAYA wrote:
E.

B and D are easily ruled out. "Was" in C is alsl wrong. Between A and E, E is better becasue "the child weight gain has been below average" is more clear than "it has been below average" in A.

the term 'child weight gain' is really awkward. It's apparent the passage is pointing to the child's weight gain compared to what is desirable. However, E makes it like a technical term of some sort.
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08 Oct 2005, 08:15
really its between A and E....

so in A what is its refering to child, the weight gain?

E is better more concise...
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08 Oct 2005, 08:30
I'll rework this one again.

(A) - lacks clarity. It seems most of us agree to this.

(B) and (D) both changes the meaning. It suggests that for a child to be deemed unerweight, he or she must weigh in at 13.5 pounds after a month

(C) - Ruled out. 'was' is the wrong tense as we're dealing with a matter of present.

(E) is the best choice. (although I am still adamant the term child weight gain is awkward)
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08 Oct 2005, 09:25
GMATT73 wrote:
The average weight gain for babies born in the United States is 2.1 pounds per week, therefore if a child weighing 12 pounds at birth weighs 13.5 pounds after one month, it has been below average.

(A) if a child weighing 12 pounds at birth weighs 13.5 pounds after one month, it has been below average
(B) a child weighing 12 pounds at birth weighs 13.5 pounds after one month, if its weight gain has been below average
(C) if a child weighing 12 pounds at birth weighs 13.5 pounds after one month, the child weight gain was below average
(D) a child weighing 12 pounds at birth weighs 13.5 pounds after one month, if it has had below average weight gain
(E) if a child weighing 12 pounds at birth weighs 13.5 pounds after one month, the child weight gain has been below average

it modifies the pronoun[i] the child weight gain, thus B, C and E left.
For B, I think the if clause should be " a child weighing....." as it sounds more logical . If we say "if its weight gain has been below average" , it sounds like the child's weight must exactly increase to 13.5 pounds.
C is out due to wrong tense of "be"
E is my choice.
[/i]
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08 Oct 2005, 16:22
ywilfred wrote:
HIMALAYA wrote:
E.

B and D are easily ruled out. "Was" in C is alsl wrong. Between A and E, E is better becasue "the child weight gain has been below average" is more clear than "it has been below average" in A.

the term 'child weight gain' is really awkward.

yes, i agree. but i donot have any choice...... that is the least harmful.
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08 Oct 2005, 16:26
Going with the majority while agreeing with Wilfred's point, E for me!
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08 Oct 2005, 21:19
My apologies for the confusion. The child weight gain should be the childs weight gain in C. There was a Kanji (Chinese character) after child which I inadvertently deleted and did not replace with the possessive marker s.

OA is C.

OE:

Spot the Concept Being Tested:
Pronouns: Look for pronouns in the underlined parts.
In this case "it" is used to replace "the weight gain".

Decide on a Fix:
The rule for Pronouns is that the pronoun must be used unambiguously (clearly) to a valid (correct in value) subject.
The pronoun here is used correctly but it is ambiguous in that it could refer to either the "child" or the "month."
We need a version that clarifies this problem.

POE:
Using the Pronoun concept.
Choices A, B, and D all repeat the orginal problem.
Eliminate A, B, and D.

Chunk and Compare:
Compare C and E.
The first difference is "was" in Choice C versus "has been" in Choice E.
"Was" indicates the simple past while "has been" indicates continuous to the present.
Since the gain (or lack thereof) had to have already happened to be measured, it cannot be continuous or present.
Eliminate E.

Choose C.
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09 Oct 2005, 10:53
GMATT73 wrote:
...
Compare C and E.
The first difference is "was" in Choice C versus "has been" in Choice E.
"Was" indicates the simple past while "has been" indicates continuous to the present.
Since the gain (or lack thereof) had to have already happened to be measured, it cannot be continuous or present.
Eliminate E.
...

my question to the OE is: why do we have:

if a child weighing 12 pounds at birth weighs 13.5 pounds after one month, the child weight gain was below average

'weighs' and 'was' should agree here in tense, IMO
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09 Oct 2005, 21:49
Going with E
B - "it" reference error
A and D need "if" since the sentence deals with hypothetical situation
C - "was" is the incorrect tense..since it is hypothetical situatin..
GMATT73 wrote:
The average weight gain for babies born in the United States is 2.1 pounds per week, therefore if a child weighing 12 pounds at birth weighs 13.5 pounds after one month, it has been below average.

(A) if a child weighing 12 pounds at birth weighs 13.5 pounds after one month, it has been below average
(B) a child weighing 12 pounds at birth weighs 13.5 pounds after one month, if its weight gain has been below average
(C) if a child weighing 12 pounds at birth weighs 13.5 pounds after one month, the child weight gain was below average
(D) a child weighing 12 pounds at birth weighs 13.5 pounds after one month, if it has had below average weight gain
(E) if a child weighing 12 pounds at birth weighs 13.5 pounds after one month, the child weight gain has been below average
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09 Oct 2005, 22:03
my pick was E too
not easy to analyze why E is wrong...the tense seems logical but apparently i was wrong
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10 Oct 2005, 00:33
I actually agree with the OA this time. If sets up a hypothetical statement based on general child weight gain statistics in the US. We can not properly assume, as choice E does by using the present perfect tense, that "the child" is living.
10 Oct 2005, 00:33
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