The gyrfalcon, an Arctic bird of prey, has survived a close brush with

Hi @egmat,

I have a confusion between choice A and choice B.

First, as per the rules, I believe we can use more than with both countable and uncountable nouns. Is that rule correct?
If yes, then why is option B incorrect here?

Second, the word number seems countable to me as we can count it as 1 number, 2 numbers for this noun. Hence, I believe "number" is a countable noun. In that case, choice A would be wrong.

Please help me in highlighting where I am faltering.

Thanks.

Thanks for this response.

I am not convinced.

"now" is redundant in the sentence, which would be exactly the same had we dropped it.

What's the indication that we're comparing numbers at another point in time for "when..." in the sentence?

The gyrfalcon, an Arctic bird of prey, has survived a close brush with extinction; its numbers are now five times greater than [its numbers] when the use of DDT was sharply restricted in the early 1970's

The gyrfalcon, an Arctic bird of prey, has survived a close brush with extinction, now with numbers five times greater than [the numbers] when the use of DDT was sharply restricted in the early 1970's

The gyrfalcon, an Arctic bird of prey, has survived a close brush with extinction; its numbers are NOW five times greater than [its numbers] when the use of DDT was sharply restricted in the early 1970's

The gyrfalcon, an Arctic bird of prey, has survived a close brush with extinction, NOW with numbers five times greater than [the numbers] when the use of DDT was sharply restricted in the early 1970's

The gyrfalcon, an Arctic bird of prey, has survived a close brush with extinction; its numbers are now five times greater than when the use of DDT was sharply restricted in the early 1970's.


(A) extinction; its numbers are now five times greater than

(B) extinction; its numbers are now five times more than

(C) extinction, their numbers now fivefold what they were

(D) extinction, now with fivefold the numbers they had

(E) extinction, now with numbers five times greater than

Hi EducationAisle VeritasKarishma, can you refer any blog/article/post that details out on usage of more and greater, I always find myself in soup when I need to evaluate the correct answer choice, and it becomes even more difficut for me, when I cant confidently evaluate whether the subject is countable or uncountable.

Appreciate the repsonse on this one.

Hi, GMATNinja

I read all your explanations. I understand why A is correct, and how E can be eliminated on the basis of the "what" error (which would have felt really counter-intuitive, had you not provided supporting examples).

While solving the question, I could not help but think about differences in how the comparison is carried out, and the use of "now". Please let me know if my understanding of the comparison, and of the use of "now" is correct.

Issue#1: the comparison (ellipsis)

In A,


its numbers, as written in the bracket, does logically fill the ellipsis because numbers is attached to its, meaning we know that the numbers are of the gyrfalcon.

However in E,


the numbers, in the bracket, does not clearly indicate whose numbers are referred to. Are these the numbers of the gyrfalcon? Unclear.

I drew a pattern of such questions and discovered that every time an ellipsis is conveyed in the sentence, the its or similar pronouns become important in justifying that ellipsis.

Issue #2: the use and placement of "now"

In A,


The placement of "now" is conveying the intended meaning that the numbers are now five times the old numbers.

But in E,


What I'm reading is: The gyrfalcon has survived...extinction, now "with" numbers five times greater...
This, to me, implies that the gyrfalcon has survived this time (now) with the help of numbers five times greater than...? I found this illogical and this is what helped me eliminate E while I was solving the problem with the clock ticking.

It would be really helpful if you could clarify my concerns. Thank you!

I kinda hate this question. And I swear that I’m basically a very happy person.


Two things jump out at me right away in (A), and neither of them are a problem. First, the semicolon needs to separate two independent clauses, and it does exactly that. Second, the “its” needs to refer back to a singular noun, and it does exactly that – “its” refers to “the gyrfalcon.”

So I wouldn't eliminate (A) right away. But it is awfully similar to (B), so let’s put them side-by-side:

The only difference is that (A) uses the phrase “greater than”, and (B) uses “more than.” In real life, I don’t think that either of these necessarily sounds better than the other, and I probably wouldn't notice if somebody said the incorrect version.

Here’s the thing: if you’re comparing numbers themselves – not quantity in general, but actual numbers – it’s generally better to use “greater than” instead of “more than.” For example, you would read the mathematical expression 20 > 10 as “twenty is greater than ten.”

Or you consider the following two sentences:

• I ate more burritos than Mike last night. → we’re comparing quantities of burritos in general, not the numbers themselves, so “more” is OK
• I ate a greater number of burritos than Mike last night. → now that we’re comparing the numbers, we need to use “greater”
• I ate a more number of burritos than Mike last night. → not remotely tempting to use “more” to compare the numbers themselves in this case, right?

Back to the GMAT question. Since we’re directly and literally comparing the numbers themselves, we need to use “greater than”, and not “more than”.

So we can eliminate (B), and hang onto (A).


Hopefully, the pronouns jump right off the page at you. “Their” needs to refer to a plural noun, and… well, we don’t have any plurals earlier in the sentence. “The gyrfalcon” is singular.

So (C) is out.


(D) has a similar problem as (C): there’s some general awkwardness, but the much more important issue is that “they” doesn’t have a logical referent. The only plural noun earlier in the sentence is “the numbers”, and that definitely wouldn’t work: “… now with fivefold the numbers the numbers had…” Yikes. Of course, “they” is logically trying to refer to “the gyrfalcon”, and that’s singular.

So (D) is gone, too.


(E) is just a crappier version of (A). The only real difference is that (E) adds the phrase “what they were” to the end of the sentence, and there’s no good reason to do that – it adds nothing to the meaning, and just makes the sentence wordier and messier.
[edited by @plaverbach: GMATNinja made a full analysis on A vs E below]

We can eliminate (E), and (A) is the best we can do.

I am your Big fan, I have watched all your Youtube videos and always scroll down to see if you have explained a certain question! I really love your approach and explanation.

In this particular explanation I have one doubt. You mentioned the following sentence in the explanation which I feel is ambiguous:
I ate more burritos than Mike last night.

Should we not say "I ate more burritos than Mike did last night."?

I kinda hate this question. And I swear that I’m basically a very happy person.


Two things jump out at me right away in (A), and neither of them are a problem. First, the semicolon needs to separate two independent clauses, and it does exactly that. Second, the “its” needs to refer back to a singular noun, and it does exactly that – “its” refers to “the gyrfalcon.”

So I wouldn't eliminate (A) right away. But it is awfully similar to (B), so let’s put them side-by-side:

The only difference is that (A) uses the phrase “greater than”, and (B) uses “more than.” In real life, I don’t think that either of these necessarily sounds better than the other, and I probably wouldn't notice if somebody said the incorrect version.

Here’s the thing: if you’re comparing numbers themselves – not quantity in general, but actual numbers – it’s generally better to use “greater than” instead of “more than.” For example, you would read the mathematical expression 20 > 10 as “twenty is greater than ten.”

Or you consider the following two sentences:

• I ate more burritos than Mike last night. → we’re comparing quantities of burritos in general, not the numbers themselves, so “more” is OK
• I ate a greater number of burritos than Mike last night. → now that we’re comparing the numbers, we need to use “greater”
• I ate a more number of burritos than Mike last night. → not remotely tempting to use “more” to compare the numbers themselves in this case, right?

Back to the GMAT question. Since we’re directly and literally comparing the numbers themselves, we need to use “greater than”, and not “more than”.

So we can eliminate (B), and hang onto (A).


Hopefully, the pronouns jump right off the page at you. “Their” needs to refer to a plural noun, and… well, we don’t have any plurals earlier in the sentence. “The gyrfalcon” is singular.

So (C) is out.


(D) has a similar problem as (C): there’s some general awkwardness, but the much more important issue is that “they” doesn’t have a logical referent. The only plural noun earlier in the sentence is “the numbers”, and that definitely wouldn’t work: “… now with fivefold the numbers the numbers had…” Yikes. Of course, “they” is logically trying to refer to “the gyrfalcon”, and that’s singular.

So (D) is gone, too.


(E) is just a crappier version of (A). The only real difference is that (E) adds the phrase “what they were” to the end of the sentence, and there’s no good reason to do that – it adds nothing to the meaning, and just makes the sentence wordier and messier.
[edited by @plaverbach: GMATNinja made a full analysis on A vs E below]

We can eliminate (E), and (A) is the best we can do.

Hi,
Isn't the comparison inaccurate in A, if I am being literal with meaning, numbers are being compared to a time period?
For this reason only I chose C even though it did the pronoun error

Hi,
Isn't the comparison inaccurate in A, if I am being literal with meaning, numbers are being compared to a time period?
For this reason only I chose C even though it did the pronoun error

lets say we have

''its numbers are now five times lower than before''

isn't 'lower' here literally means lower in height or something.

when do we use less/lesser/lower

I kinda hate this question. And I swear that I’m basically a very happy person.


Two things jump out at me right away in (A), and neither of them are a problem. First, the semicolon needs to separate two independent clauses, and it does exactly that. Second, the “its” needs to refer back to a singular noun, and it does exactly that – “its” refers to “the gyrfalcon.”

So I wouldn't eliminate (A) right away. But it is awfully similar to (B), so let’s put them side-by-side:

The only difference is that (A) uses the phrase “greater than”, and (B) uses “more than.” In real life, I don’t think that either of these necessarily sounds better than the other, and I probably wouldn't notice if somebody said the incorrect version.

Here’s the thing: if you’re comparing numbers themselves – not quantity in general, but actual numbers – it’s generally better to use “greater than” instead of “more than.” For example, you would read the mathematical expression 20 > 10 as “twenty is greater than ten.”

Or you consider the following two sentences:

• I ate more burritos than Mike last night. → we’re comparing quantities of burritos in general, not the numbers themselves, so “more” is OK
• I ate a greater number of burritos than Mike last night. → now that we’re comparing the numbers, we need to use “greater”
• I ate a more number of burritos than Mike last night. → not remotely tempting to use “more” to compare the numbers themselves in this case, right?

Back to the GMAT question. Since we’re directly and literally comparing the numbers themselves, we need to use “greater than”, and not “more than”.

So we can eliminate (B), and hang onto (A).


Hopefully, the pronouns jump right off the page at you. “Their” needs to refer to a plural noun, and… well, we don’t have any plurals earlier in the sentence. “The gyrfalcon” is singular.

So (C) is out.


(D) has a similar problem as (C): there’s some general awkwardness, but the much more important issue is that “they” doesn’t have a logical referent. The only plural noun earlier in the sentence is “the numbers”, and that definitely wouldn’t work: “… now with fivefold the numbers the numbers had…” Yikes. Of course, “they” is logically trying to refer to “the gyrfalcon”, and that’s singular.

So (D) is gone, too.


(E) is just a crappier version of (A). The only real difference is that (E) adds the phrase “what they were” to the end of the sentence, and there’s no good reason to do that – it adds nothing to the meaning, and just makes the sentence wordier and messier.
[edited by @plaverbach: GMATNinja made a full analysis on A vs E below]

We can eliminate (E), and (A) is the best we can do.

Do d and e suffer any modifier issue? Please help.
Eliminates d on basis of pronoun they. e on basis of what.