The five hundred largest manufacturing firms in the United States prod

Question

The five hundred largest manufacturing firms in the United States produce goods  that are worth almost as much as that of the four hundred thousand firms that remain .

(A) that are worth almost as much as that of the four hundred thousand firms that remain
(B) of a worth that is almost as much as that of the four hundred thousand firms that remain
(C) almost as much in worth as those of the remaining four hundred thousand firms
(D) almost as much in worth as that of the remaining four hundred thousand firms
(E) worth almost as much as those of the remaining four hundred thousand firms

daagh · Accepted Answer

The produced goods of two sets of manufacturing units are under review here. Hence we have to use a plural pronoun ‘ those ’ rather than ‘ that ’. Drop A, B and D. Between C and E, E is better because the prepositional phrase ‘in worth’ in C is not as crisp as ‘worth’.

So far so good. But the comparison as such has some structural flaws. We are comparing what the five hundred firms produce with what the remaining four hundred thousand firms produce.  This action of production  is not being compared in any of the choices. IMO, the best answer would have been
 The five hundred largest manufacturing firms in the United States produce goods worth almost as much as what the remaining four hundred thousand firms do

MBAhereIcome · Answer

'as much in worth as' is just a redundant way of saying 'worth as much as'.
'those' is required for 'goods'

hence, E

boomtangboy · Answer

Hi, + 1 E The question says that out of the 500 Mil species, 99% have vanished & you have to seek this relationship A,B,C are eliminated since they cannot establish the above relationship D - "0f 500 million" => that there could be even 1000 Million species & 99% of the 500 Million disappeared which is wrong E = the adding of the makes it specific thus is correct Hope this helps :-D

Lstadt · Answer

I got stuck between B and E then chose E.

B just didn't convey the meaning the same way E does.

Posted from my mobile device

tuanquang269 · Answer

Choice E is correct one because in choice D "them" is ambiguous.

In choice B, percentage of plural noun + singular verb (S - V agreement)

PiyushK · Answer

My 2 cents: B vs E.
In B "creatures that appeared" past tense is not correct, because 500mill species as a group even shares species of present tense also. Therefore, limiting their appearance in the past overall is not good. In option E use of present perfect eliminates that error. Further, this question is not explained properly on any reliable forum by any expert. above mentioned difference is the only thing I managed to figure out.

B. Nearly 99 percent of five hundred million different species of living creatures that appeared on Earth have vanished.
E. Of the five hundred million different species of living creatures that have appeared on Earth, nearly 99 percent have vanished.

anujag24 · Answer

A. them - ambiguously refers to living creatures, living creatures that have appeared of the Earth etc.
B. "appeared", "have vanished" - states that the creatures existed. To make it parallel the second clause should also be in past tense.
C. "vanished are", "appeared" - not a parallel construction 
D. them - ambiguously refers to living creatures, living creatures that have appeared of the Earth etc.
E. correct answer.

Thanks Anuj!

dominicraj · Answer

Clear E. Only B and E seem to come close to make it as the OA but the missing " the " in front on " five hundred million " in option B makes it incorrect. So only E remains. :-D

sjaskaran · Answer

This question is a typical example of choosing the best among the worst.

Original Sentence - Five hundred million different species of living creatures  have  appeared on Earth, nearly 99 percent of them  vanishing .

Have appeared does not go with vanishing- Tense or parallelism issue

B. Nearly 99 percent of five hundred million different species of living creatures that appeared
on Earth have vanished.- The meaning of the sentence is that 99% of 50000000 species just vanished, i.e. they vanished at once in the recent past. The intended meaning is that the 99% of 50000000 species have vanished from the beginning of time till now. - Incorrect

C. Vanished are nearly 99 percent of the five hundred million different species of living
creatures that appeared on Earth. - Poor Structure - Non-necessary passive voice construction

D. Of five hundred million different species of living creatures that have appeared on Earth,
nearly 99 percent of them have vanished- Same meaning issue as in choice B. The meaning of the sentence is that 99% of 50000000 species just vanished, i.e. they vanished at once in the recent past.

E. Of the five hundred million different species of living creatures that  have  appeared on Earth,
nearly 99 percent  have  vanished. - Though the opening clause modifies  nearly . This is a bit disconcerting but at least the meaning is clear because have is used properly and is in a parallel form. So E seems to be the best choice

vishwaprakash · Answer

Meaning : 500 Million different Species have appeared on earth and 99% have vanished .( We are among lucky 1 %

) Error In original sentence. Sentence construction - " them vanishing" Second part does not have verb "vanishing" is not verb. Two ideas Appeared and vanished are not connected through proper connection word. Them in second part does not sound proper and illogically refer to 500 million number (not sure if this reason is wrong to eliminate them) POE A. Five hundred million different species of living creatures have appeared on Earth, nearly 99 percent of them vanishing . Incorrect - Reason explained above B. Nearly 99 percent of five hundred million different species of living creatures that appeared on Earth have vanished. Caluse 1 - Nearly 99 percent (Fluff) have vanished - Correct Clause 2 - that (species) appeared on Earth - Species appeared and effect is still on ( we are still on earth). Hence present perfect have appeared is right. Incorrect C. Vanished are nearly 99 percent of the five hundred million different species of living creatures that appeared on Earth. Incorrect structure - Vanished are something. this is not correct. we wanted to say something is vanished. D. Of five hundred million different species of living creatures that have appeared on Earth, nearly 99 percent of them have vanished. clause 1 - Of five hundred million different species of living creatures, nearly 99 percent of them have vanished Them doesn't not have antecedent. Incorrect. E. Of five hundred million different species of living creatures that have appeared on Earth, nearly 99 percent have vanished Removes the error introduced in option D. Creatures have appeared - Correct Of five hundred million different species of living creatures,nearly 99 percent have vanished - correct Correct answer - E asaar does it help.

daagh · Answer

Five hundred million different species of living creatures have appeared on Earth, nearly 99 percent of them vanishing.

A. Five hundred million different species of living creatures have appeared on Earth nearly 99 percent of them vanishing. ---- This choice says that the verb+ing modifier of vanishing is a result of the earlier action of appearance or the impact of it. This is absurd. 
 
B. Nearly 99 percent of five hundred million different species of living creatures that appeared on Earth have vanished. ---  'That appeared' implies that all of the five hundred million species appeared at the single time. This is weird. In Evolution, species keep on generating and keep on dying.

C. Vanished are nearly 99 percent of the five hundred million different species of living creatures that appeared on Earth. ---  Same problem as in B.

D. Of five hundred million different species of living creatures that have appeared on Earth, nearly 99 percent of them have vanished.  ---- 'of them' is redundant since five million species are already stated. However, the allegation that 'them' ambiguously may refer to either species or creatures may not be sustainable, since the reference is about the different species of living creatures and not about different species dead creatures.

E. Of the five hundred million different species of living creatures that have appeared on Earth, nearly 99 percent have vanished ...  error free.

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The five hundred largest manufacturing firms in the United States prod

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