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

Let me put it this way. When you are comparing two nouns, the focus is on the nouns and not on the actions. For example:
John is taller than his brother . We don not say John is taller than his brother is. Because the comparison is just between two nouns namely John and his brother and not how tall both are.

However, look at this now.

John jumps higher than his brother- This is wrong; Here we are comparing John’s jumping with his brother‘s jumping, a comparison of two actions and hence both the actions must be explicitly stated.

In the given case, the numbers of the previous times are being compared with the numbers of the present time – essentially a comparison of two nouns. Hence, we can afford to drop the verbal comparison.

Context plays a large role in such cases than any given rule IMO.

Kudos to superfreak for his dogged quest of knowledge
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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.
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Sadly, (A) is unambiguously the correct answer. It's an official question, straight from the official GMAT verbal guide. And keep in mind that when you take an actual, adaptive GMAT, the test is trying to find the level of question at which you get roughly half of the questions right -- so if this is a 700-level question, we'd expect close to half of the test-takers who get 700s to get it wrong. And in a broader population, we might expect much more than half to miss a really hard question, unfortunately.

Anyway, here are (A) and (E) again:


Let me come at (E) from a different direction this time. Sorry friends, I was a little bit lazy above in basically saying "hey, you really don't need the extra words" in (E). But there's a more technical problem: "what" is trying to act as some sort of pronoun in (E), and I don't think that works. "What" can occasionally be used as a pronoun in a non-question (technically, a relative pronoun if you like jargon), but when it is used as a pronoun, it basically is a singular phrase that means "the things that." So these two sentences would be OK:

• "What I did after drinking 17 beers last night was regrettable." --> In other words, "the things that I did last night [were] regrettable." Grammatically, that works fine.
• "Mike couldn't believe what he saw on the beach in Chile." --> Mike couldn't believe "the things that he saw" on the beach. That also works fine.

But in (E)? We have "its numbers are now five times greater than the things that they were when the use of DDT was sharply restricted in the early 1970's." And that doesn't quite make sense.

Honestly, I agree with the heart of what some of you are arguing here. If the sentence said "it's numbers are now five times greater than they were when the use of DDT was sharply restricted...", then I'd be happier. That would set up the comparison nicely. But that's not one of our options, and the word "what" turns (E) into a mess.

In (A), the key is that the comparison isn't fundamentally illogical or confusing -- even though I agree that it would be clearer if "they were" were added. We're directly comparing the numbers in two different time periods: "its numbers are now five times greater than when the use of DDT was sharply restricted in the early 1970's." Logically, that actually makes perfect sense, and the GMAT would argue that there's no need to repeat "they were," because it's clear enough (at least in the GMAT's view) that we're comparing those two time periods. And adding the phrase "what they were" would definitely be wrong in (E), for the reasons I explained above.

To be fair: this one is tricky, and I can't really understand why the GMAT thinks it's important to test these concepts. But (A) is unambiguously correct, sadly.

I hope this helps!
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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

Primarily we need to understand that with GMAT we need to pick the best from the options available to us.

By POE we can eliminate the following:
C- "their numbers" does not match with the singularity of "the gryfalcon"
D- the same reason as C
E- numbers does not refer to anything specific.

We are now stuck with A & B . Now its between "greater than" and "more than".
When comparing number we do not say four is more than two, instead we say four is greater than two".
In this context we are comparing numbers hence we can eliminate B too.
So A is the OA.

The subject is gyrfalcon, a singular. So their numbers in C and they in D are wrong, not withstanding the grammar of using the comma itself in these cases. In addition five folds are not the same as five times greater. Five folds are 5x (original x + four folds) while five times greater is 6x (original x+ five times). This subtle point adds a significant alteration to the intent.


In E, the intent is altered by using the preposition with, as if the bird of prey has survived the close brush with extinction because of the five fold numbers now. On the contrary the original passage implies that five time greater number is the result of the survival rather than the cause of the survival.


B is dumped for using the inappropriate comparison term more to denote a countable plural subject numbers.

This leaves the original one as the right choice, which uses the correct description greater than for the countable plural subject of numbers.

If somebody claims Answer is E, I am bound to repudiate.
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Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of this sentence is that the gyrfalcon is an Arctic bird of prey that has survived a close brush with extinction, as evidenced by the fact that its numbers are now five times greater than its numbers when the use of DDT was sharply restricted in the early 1970s.

Concepts tested here: Pronouns + Modifiers + Meaning + Idioms

• In the “noun + comma + phrase” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun; this is one of the most frequently tested concepts on GMAT sentence correction.
• “greater” is preferred over “more” for referring to numbers/figures/data; in this sentence, the term “count” represents a figure and thus, “greater” is the correct usage.

A: Correct. This answer choice correctly uses the singular pronoun “its” to refer to the singular noun “the gyrfalcon”. Further, Option A correctly uses the term “greater” to refer to the quantifiable term “numbers”. Additionally, Option A avoids the modifier error seen in Options D and E by using the independent clause “its numbers are now five times greater than…1970s”; in doing so Option A conveys the intended meaning of the sentence- that the gyrfalcon is an Arctic bird of prey that has survived a close brush with extinction, as evidenced by the fact that its numbers are now five times greater than its numbers when the use of DDT was sharply restricted in the early 1970s.

B: Trap. This answer choice incorrectly uses the term “more” rather than “greater” to refer to “numbers”; please remember, “greater” is preferred over “more” for referring to numbers/figures/data.

C: This answer choice incorrectly uses the plural pronoun “their” to refer to the singular noun “The gyrfalcon”.

D: This answer choice incorrectly modifies “close brush with extinction” using “now with fivefold the numbers they had…1970s”, illogically implying that close brush with extinction has fivefold the numbers the gyrfalcon had when the use of DDT was sharply restricted in the early 1970s.; the intended meaning of this sentence is that the gyrfalcon is an Arctic bird of prey that has survived a close brush with extinction, as evidenced by the fact that its numbers are now five times greater than its numbers when the use of DDT was sharply restricted in the early 1970s; please remember, in a “noun + comma + phrase” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun.

E: This answer choice incorrectly modifies “close brush with extinction” using “now with numbers five times greater than…1970s”, illogically implying that close brush with extinction has fivefold the numbers the gyrfalcon had when the use of DDT was sharply restricted in the early 1970s; the intended meaning of this sentence is that the gyrfalcon is an Arctic bird of prey that has survived a close brush with extinction, as evidenced by the fact that its numbers are now five times greater than its numbers when the use of DDT was sharply restricted in the early 1970s; please remember, in a “noun + comma + phrase” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun.

Hence, A is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Phrase Comma Subject" and "Subject Comma Phrase" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1minute):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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Certainly a tricky question. Here is my take on it:

The sentence tells us that the gyrfalcon has survived a close brush with extinction. Its numbers now are five times greater than the numbers in early 1970’s.

(C) extinction, their numbers now fivefold what they were
(D) extinction, now with fivefold the numbers they had

We are using gyrfalcon as singular so a pronoun reference to it must be singular too. Options (C) and (D) use ‘their’ and ‘they’ to refer to the gyrfalcon so both these options are incorrect.

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

Options (A) and (B) are very similar. (A) uses ‘greater than’ and (B) uses ‘more than.’ To compare the magnitude of numbers, we have learned that we use ‘greater than.’ Hence (B) is incorrect. We can use ‘more’ with numbers in a different context. Say ‘I am unable to analyse the financials of this company. I need to know some more of its numbers.’

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

Between (A) and (E) was a tough call.
Option (A) is clean and correct. When comparing something over two different time periods, we often give just the time period after the comparison.
For example, ‘Today she is happier than yesterday.’

Hence, (A) is perfectly acceptable. Further in (A), two independent clauses are correctly joined with a semi colon.

On the other hand, (E) is vague. We are not given exactly what the numbers are. (A) tells us they are the bird’s numbers. But (E) just says ‘with numbers…’
Also, the first clause says that the bird has survived the brush with extinction and uses present perfect to show that it has survived. To give a current fact with simple present, it does make more sense to use a new clause. Mind you, I wouldn’t outright reject option (E). Just that (A) is better and clearer and hence would prefer it.

Answer (A)

In GMAT when we find "numbers" in a comparison, we should use "greater than" and not "more than"

You will be required to make sure that the sentence compares like items.

Ex: “Samuel Sewall, like the views of other seventeenth-century colonists, viewed marriage as a property arrangement rather than as an emotional bond based on romantic love”

Notice that the above sentence attempts to compare a “person with the views of a contemporary group of people”. That is illogical. We need to compare between people and people or between views with views

You can fix the above sentence as “Samuel Sewall, like other seventeenth-century colonists, viewed marriage as a property arrangement rather than as an emotional bond based on romantic love.”

Now let us take the original question:

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.

Make a habit of looking at the underlined part of the sentence for clues, and make sure that the choice you choose is logical, effective, parallel and concise. Here in the above sentence we have “when….” Which clearly indicates a time in the past. The sentence actually is comparing the present time (“now”) to past time (“when the use of DDT was sharply restricted in the early 1970’s”). That is logical. Hence the correct answer

(A) extinction; its numbers are now five times greater than
- Correct
(B) extinction; its numbers are now five times more than
-“Greater than” is preferred to “more than”. Hence incorrect
(C) extinction, their numbers now fivefold what they were
- “their” has no referent. Hence incorrect
(D) extinction, now with fivefold the numbers they had
-“they” has no clear referent
(E) extinction, now with numbers five times greater than
-the prepositional phrase “with numbers five times” is wrongly modifying “now”. Hence incorrect.

Following is an excerpt from Manhattan SC guide, which explains the use of "numbers".

"However, numbers is possible in a few contexts. If you wish to make a comparison, use greater than, not more than (which might imply that the quantity of numbers is larger, not the numbers themselves). See the Idiom List for more details.
Wrong: The rare Montauk beaked griffin is not extinct; its NUMBERS are now suspected to be much MORE than before. Right: The rare Montauk beaked griffin is not extinct; its NUMBERS are now suspected to be much GREATER than before."

To explain a bit more on the underlined part above:
5 is greater than 4... correct
The number of boys is the class is greater than the number of girls in the glass.... correct
BUT
There are more boys in the class than there are girls..... correct

When the number itself is compared, use "greater".

I beg to differ here. I believe both the given examples are incorrect.

"John is taller than his brother is" is absolutely fine.

"John jumps higher than his brother" is also absolutely fine as far as the comparison is concerned.

Let me start with the second one. The reason given to reject the second sentence is that while comparing two actions, the action needs to be explicitly stated in both parts of the comparison. This reasoning is not correct. If the comparison is clear, the action need not be repeated (Doesn't mean that repeating an action is wrong; just that repeating it is optional). There are multiple official questions in which two actions have been compared but the verb (or action) is not repeated in the second part of the comparison. Here are five such sentences from official SC questions:

1. On the tournament roster are listed several tennis students, almost all of whom play as well as their instructor (Link)

In this sentence, the comparison is around "playing" - an action. However, the second part of the comparison "their instructor" doesn't have the verb "plays". The reason is that the comparison is amply clear without repeating the verb in the second part. If we had this verb "play" in the second part, the sentence would still be fine. The verb "play" is thus optional in the second part.

2. Last year, land values in most parts of the pinelands rose almost as fast as, and in some parts even faster than, those outside the pinelands. (Link)

In this sentence, the comparison is around the verb "rose" - which rose faster? Here again, in the second part of the comparison, "those outside the pinelands" is not followed by the verb "rose". If we had this verb "rose" in the second part, the sentence would still be fine. The verb "rose" is thus optional in the second part.

3. Ranked as one of the most important of Europe’s young playwrights, Franz Xaver Kroetz has written forty plays; his works—translated into over thirty languages—are produced more often than those of any other contemporary German dramatist. (Link)

In this sentence, the comparison is around the verb "are produced". In the second part of the comparison here, "those of any other contemporary German dramatist" is not followed by the verb "are produced". If we had this verb "are produced" in the second part, the sentence would still be fine. The verb "are produced" is thus optional in the second part.

4. Salt deposits and moisture threaten to destroy the Mohenjo-Daro excavation in Pakistan, the site of an ancient civilization that flourished at the same time as the civilizations in the Nile delta and the river valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates. (Link)

In this sentence, the comparison is around the verb "flourished". In the second part of the comparison here, "the civilizations in the Nile delta and the river valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates" doesn't have the verb "flourished". If we had this verb "flourished" in the second part, the sentence would still be fine. The verb "flourished" is thus optional in the second part.

5. wild animals have less total fat than livestock fed on grain (Link)

In this sentence, the comparison is around the verb "have" - having less fat. In the second part of the comparison here, "livestock fed on grain" doesn't have the verb "have". If we had this verb "have" in the second part, the sentence would still be fine. The verb "have" is thus optional in the second part.

Now, let me talk about the first one: "John is taller than his brother is".

I do not have an official SC question that follows this structure since the verb "is" is usually skipped. However, this doesn't mean that "John is taller than his brother is" is incorrect. I found it hard to research this exact issue. However, when I researched the issue of "than I or than me", it became amply clear that "Ram is taller than I am" is a perfectly fine construction. Many a time, "am" is skipped. So, the sentence becomes "Ram is taller than I". All in all, all three below constructions are correct:

1. Ram is taller than I am.
2. Ram is taller than I.
3. Ram is taller than me.

You can refer to the following this link and this link to be sure that what I am saying is correct

So, we understand that "Ram is taller than I am" is absolutely fine. It's now easier to see that "Ram is taller than Shyam is" should also be correct since it follows the exact same structure. So, "John is taller than his brother is" is also correct.

I hope this post clears some misconceptions.

- CJ

Thanks for the reply. However, what puzzles me here is why "extinction; its numbers are now five times greater than" is grammatically correct. I was expecting it to be "extinction; its numbers are now five times greater than they were". To me "they were" seems like missing from the OA. So my question is what rule is it that enables the writer not to say "they were" here.

Thanks again,

Superfreak

1. Here is an explanation of the nature of the dependent clause by Purdue.
( https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/598/01/)

Dependent Clause
A dependent clause is a group of words that contains a subject and verb but does not express a complete thought. A dependent clause cannot be a sentence. Often a dependent clause is marked by a dependent marker word.
When Jim studied in the Sweet Shop for his chemistry quiz . . . (What happened when he studied? The thought is incomplete.)
Dependent Marker Word
A dependent marker word is a word added to the beginning of an independent clause that makes it into a dependent clause.
When Jim studied in the Sweet Shop for his chemistry quiz, it was very noisy.
Some common dependent markers are: after, although, as, as if, because, before, even if, even though, if, in order to, since, though, unless, until, whatever, when, whenever, whether, and while.

2. Semicolon Usage
Taken from ---(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semicolon)

One of the applications of the semicolon in English includes:

3. Between closely related independent clauses not conjoined with a coordinating conjunction, when the two clauses are balanced, opposed or contradictory:

• My wife would like tea; I would prefer coffee.
• I went to the basketball court; I was told it was closed for cleaning.
• I told Kate she's running for the hills; I wonder if she knew I was joking.

The Link between a Dependent Clause and an Independent Clause

When a dependent clause is used as an adjective or an adverb, it will usually be part of a complex sentence (i.e., a sentence with an independent clause and at least one dependent clause). The link between a dependent clause and an independent clause will often be a subordinating conjunction or a relative pronoun. For example

He literally stitched mail sacks until his fingers bled. -- until is the subordiante conjunction.


So the second sentences in the choices A and B, while are related to the first, are not dependent clauses, since they lack the subordinating conjunctions.

HTH
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In the vast majority of cases, GMAC abides by the following rule:
When one clause is compared to another, the main verb may be omitted in the second clause if the two clauses are in the SAME TENSE and the implied comparison is clear.

OA: Wild animals have less total fat than livestock fed on grain.
Implied comparison:
Wild animals have less total fat than livestock fed on grain [have total fat].
Here, both clauses are in the same tense, and the implied comparison is clear.

If the two clauses are in different tenses, the second clause will generally supply its own verb.

OA: Demographers would have to know a great deal more than they do now.
Implied comparison:
Demographers would have to know a great deal more than they know now.
Here, the two clauses are in different tenses, so the second clause supplies its own verb (do).

As with virtually every rule, there is an exception.

Forms of to be include the following:
infinitive = to be
simple past singular = was
simple past plural = were

Notice what the two OAs below have in common:

OA: Its numbers are now five times greater than [its numbers were] when the use of DDT was sharply restricted.
OA: Heating-oil prices are expected to be higher this year than [heating-oil prices were] last [year].

In each case, the words in brackets are omitted, but their presence is implied.

As indicated by the verbs in red:
Both the antecedent verb in the first clause and the omitted verb in brackets are forms of to be.
The omitted verb in brackets is in the simple past tense.

As indicated by the modifiers in blue:
In each sentence, both clauses conclude with an adverb that refers to time.

The OAs above seem to imply that an omitted verb in the second clause may be in a different tense from the antecedent verb in the first clause if:
Both verbs are forms of to be.
The omitted verb is in the simple past tense.
Both clauses conclude with an adverb that refers to time.
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A and E differ mainly because of meaning
The original sentence is stating 2 fact abt gyrfalcon --the bird has survived a close brush with extinction AND its numbers have increase 5 times
so we need two independent clauses or sentences to state the above --this is done with Option A where the two independent clauses are joined by a semicolon;

While E uses a modifier [,now with numbers ..]
The modifier is not required since neither does it explain the earlier clause (how the bird survived a close brush with extinction) nor does it give any more information about it.
So A

Dear Vinay,
I'm happy to help.

This is an issue of what you can drop in parallel. You may find this blog helpful:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/dropping-c ... -the-gmat/

Here's a long awkward version of the sentence with nothing dropped --- the repeated words are in color.
The gyrfalcon, an Arctic bird of prey, has survived a close brush with extinction; its numbers are now five times greater than its numbers were when the use of DDT was sharply restricted in the early 1970’s.

Those words in red are repeated from the first branch of the parallelism, so they absolutely do not need to be repeated. Thus, it is 100% correct to say:
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.
That's the OA, choice (A).

Does this make sense?
Mike
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This line of reasoning is valid -- nice work!



OA: Its numbers are now five times greater than [its numbers were] when the use of DDT was sharply restricted.
Here, the clause in green is an ADVERB serving to modify the implied very in blue.

E: numbers greater than when the use of DDT was sharply restricted
Here, it is unclear what is being modified by the clause in red.
As a result, E seems to convey that the NOUN IN BLUE is greater than the MODIFIER IN RED -- an illogical comparison.
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What's happening here is that some words are not being mentioned explicitly in that sentence. Here are a couple of other examples to help you see this:

1. You're taller than when I last saw you.
is the same as
You're taller than you were when I last saw you.

2. Students solve questions more quickly at home than when they are at a test center.
is the same as
Students solve questions more quickly at home than they do when they are at a test center.

Similarly,
Its numbers are now five times greater than when the use of DDT was sharply restricted.
is the same as
Its numbers are now five times greater than they were when the use of DDT was sharply restricted.
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Cardinal rule #1 of Sentence Correction: Do not invent rules!

The two constructions are both fine. Say, for example, that Dan has one child and Tim has nine children. We could say that Tim has nine times as many children as Dan has. After all, 9*1 = 9. We could also say that the number of children Tim has is nine times greater than the number of children Dan has. Either form is acceptable.

(Useless, nerdy footnote: some people would argue that "nine times as many as" is the same thing as saying "eight times greater than." This is really not worth worrying about for the purposes of the GMAT, but here's an example of a very long-winded internet conversation around this issue.)

The takeaway: Sometimes you get a choice between two constructions that mean slightly different things but that are both logical enough to hang onto. When that happens, move on to other decision points.

I hope that clears things up!
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