The peregrine falcon, which was added to the U.S. Fish and

Is GREATER THAN applicable for comparing numbers? please clarify.

I went with A but can someone help eliminate B.

grammar-greater-vs-more-48664.html

Here's an old thread from gmatclub that I digged up. The issue with B is "greater than" vs. "more than." You use greater/fewer than when referring to countable nouns, which in this case are the falcons.

Hope that helps!

This question is from Kaplan. It appeared recently as one of its questions of the day. Here is the official explanation.

Answer (A) correctly uses the singular pronoun "its" to refer to the singular antecedent "peregrine falcon". It also uses the proper "numbers are greater than".

The two issues are (i) pronoun-antecedent agreement and (ii) whether to use "greater than" or "more than" or some other construction to express the comparison. Since the antecedent is the singular "peregrine falcon", the pronoun must be in singular form. Thus we eliminate (C) and (D) which use the plural "their" and "they". That leaves choices (A), (B) and (E).

Scanning (A) and (B), we see that the choice is between "greater than" and "more than". The proper usage is "numbers are . . . greater than". There are more peregrine falcons, not more numbers. It would be proper to say either "there are more peregrine falcons" or "the number of peregrine falcons is greater"; it would not be proper to say "the number of peregrine falcons is more". Thus, we eliminate (B).

(E) attempts to fix the pronoun-antecedent problem by eliminating the pronoun. Sometimes that is a valid strategy. However, in this case the resulting sentence is awkward. (E) also uses an awkward "-ing" construction which is unnecessary. That leaves (A) as the best answer.

Numbers ??? =====> RED FLAG

A and B two possible choices only! B is wordy, because many times more than is not correct!

leaves only A!

On this question, I understand the difference between "its" and "theirs" - "its" clearly replaces "the peregrine falcon" (which is singular). I also understand the difference between "greater than" and "more than" (analogous to "fewer " versus "less" - countable vs non-countable - We say "fewer birds", for example, but "less dirt.")

What I am having a problem with is this: Isn't comparing a number to a time a faulty comparison? That is, breaking it down into a simpler form, we would say "Its numbers are greater than when it was added to the list." That means we are comparing "numbers" (a noun) to a time "when it was added to the list" (an adverbial clause). Wouldn't we have to say its numbers are greater than its numbers were when it was added to the list. Just as we CANNOT say "Sales of computers were greater than toys last Christmas," instead of saying correctly: "Sales of computers were greater than sales of toys last Christmas." In the first (incorrect) sentence, we are comparing sales of something to a count of other things, when it should be sales of one thing compared to sales of another thing. In much the same way, I want to break down this sentence and ask what is being compared? Isn't it "numbers" and "a time" when in fact it should be "numbers" (at one time, i.e., "now") and "numbers" (at another time, "when..." ). For this reason, I was leaning towards Answer Choice C, except that "their numbers" is clearly wrong and should be "its numbers", but C was the only answer choice that compared numbers to numbers, instead of numbers to a time. Actually C uses "what" as a pronoun in place of the word numbers, but still compares numbers and numbers, not numbers and a time!

Can somebody help me to understand this, please? Thank you!

The elaboration of the text in the prompt is indeed:
The peregrine falcon, which was added to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Endangered Species List in the 1970's, has made a startling comeback, largely in cities, and is now off the list; its numbers in New York City alone are now many times greater than (its numbers) when it was added to the list.
In order to avoid the clumsy repetition, the phrase 'its numbers’ has been elided. Therefore, the actual comparison is only between its numbers in the 1970s and now.

Examine the original sentence for errors. The underlined portion includes a semicolon, which is correctly used to join two independent clauses. The second word of the underlined portion is the singular possessive pronoun "its," which correctly refers to "the falcon" as the creature "whose numbers" have risen. Another point of potential concern is the comparison, but "numbers ... are ... greater than [previously]" is the correct construction to compare the falcon's numbers now to its numbers in the 1970s. Suspect (A) is correct, but scan the answer choices to be sure nothing was overlooked.

A scan of the answer choices shows (A) and (B) use "its," (C) and (D) use the plural pronouns "their" and "they," and (E) avoids the use of a pronoun altogether. Another split is between the use of a semicolon and a comma, but the clauses could theoretically be joined either way, so this is not immediately useful.

Because the antecedent is the singular "falcon," the pronoun must be singular. Thus, eliminate (C) and (D), which use the plural "their" and "they." That leaves choices (A), (B) and (E).

As noted, (E) eliminates the pronoun altogether. In this case, the result sentence is an awkward construction with "being," a weak verb form that the GMAT does not like. Furthermore, by omitting the pronoun, (E) subtly distorts the meaning of the original sentence. Numbers of what? Without the possessive pronoun indicating that the numbers are of falcons, the sentence is just not clear.

Compare (A) and (B). The only difference between these two choices is between "greater than" and "more than." The proper usage is "numbers are . . . greater than." There are more peregrine falcons, not more numbers. It would also be proper to say, There are more falcons now than when .... Thus, eliminate (B). (A) is indeed correct.

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