Pankaj0901 wrote:
AndrewN - Could you please explain options C and D? I find both of them correct. Why is D wrong is my question.
Businessconquerer wrote:
pushpitkc wrote:
The most read magazine in
America, National Geographic's total monthly circulation is around 8.5 million copies
A. America, National Geographic's total monthly circulation is
B. America, National Geographic, with total monthly circulation of
C. America is National Geographic, whose total monthly circulation is
D. America is National Geographic, whose monthly circulation totals
E. America is National Geographic, with monthly circulation totaling
Source :
Experts Global Hello,
Pankaj0901. I do not think other Experts have chimed in earlier out of respect for
Experts' Global, a company I also respect. Furthermore, I know how hard it is to write questions that mimic official questions. That said, I would like to respond to your query. For my part, I find nothing wrong with any of (C) through (E). Should the portion after the comma be a clause or a prepositional phrase? Nothing is wrong with either construct. Check out
this official question, in which the sentence begins with a
with phrase to refer to a company. (The sentence could just as easily have been written,
The company, whose customers... and whose network...) Then, can
total function either as an adjective or a verb? Yes, it can. (
Source.) So basically, we are tasked with deciding among the following:
(C) whose circulation is [a number]
(D) whose circulation totals [a number]
(E) with circulation totaling [a number]
Now, you could make a case that the GMAT™ prefers a more direct expression—i.e. a clause with a noun and a simple verb—over a prepositional phrase in most contexts. That might place (E) in a slightly less preferred place
in general, but that is about all we can say. The real difference between (C) and (D) is the choice of verb, and that is not a situation we can expect to see ourselves face on the real GMAT™. My advice? Take what you can from the question, but apply any knowledge gained to
official questions that you might come across subsequently in the course of your preparation.
Thank you for thinking to ask. I hope my analysis proves helpful to you.
- Andrew