The world's fastest growing economy, South Sudan showed a real GDP

Question

The world's fastest growing economy, South Sudan showed a real GDP growth rate of 25 percent,  higher than in  the most developed countries of the world.

(A) higher than in

(B) higher than that of

(C) and higher than that of

(D) which is higher than in

(E) which is higher than it is in

GMATGuruNY · Accepted Answer

A:   South Sudan showed a real GDP growth rate of 25 percent ,  higher than in the most developed countries of the world . 
Here, since the blue portion refers to the real GDP growth rate that South Sudan showed -- and the red portion does not supply an alternate referent for  higher  -- the implication is that  higher  also refers to THE REAL GDP GROWTH RATE THAT SOUTH SUDAN SHOWED.
As a result, the red portion conveys the following meaning:
 The real GDP growth rate that South Sudan showed was higher in the most developed countries of the world. 
This meaning is nonsensical.
For  higher  to refer to a DIFFERENT real GDP growth rate, the concluding modifier must provide an alternate referent for  higher , as in the OA:
 South Sudan showed a real GDP growth rate of 25 percent, higher than THAT of the most developed countries of the world.

C:  South Sudan showed...and higher 
Here,  and  cannot serve to connect a VERB ( showed ) to a MODIFIER ( higher ).
A conjunction such as  and  must serve to connect parallel forms.
Eliminate C.

D:  South Sudan showed a real GDP growth rate of 25 percent, which is higher than in the most developed countries of the world. 
Here,  which  seems to refer to  25 percent , implying that  25 percent is HIGHER THAN   IN THE MOST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD .
The words in brackets are omitted but implied.
The resulting meaning is nonsensical.
Eliminate D.

E:  South Sudan showed a real GDP growth rate of 25 percent, which is higher than it is in the most developed countries of the world. 
Here,  which  seems to refer to  25 percent , while  it  seems to refer to  which .
Thus, both pronouns --  which  and  it  -- seem to be standing in for  25 percent , implying that  25 percent is HIGHER THAN 25 PERCENT IS   IN THE MOST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD .
This meaning is nonsensical.
Eliminate E.

B

amulya619 · Answer

My doubt is that doesn't B makes the sentence run on as the 2 clauses are separated by a comma?

The world's fastest growing economy,: Modifier to subject South Sudan
Rest of the sentence makes no sense: South Sudan showed a real GDP growth rate of 25 percent ,   higher than that of  the most developed countries of the world.

Than that of makes total sense but the absence of a conjunction or which that made me choose E.

OreoShake · Answer

In option B, 'higher than that of' looks like an absolute phrase, which is a noun modifier, not a run on sentence. 'that' correctly replaces 'GDP' in option B. I feel E is incorrect because 'it' can refer to complete clauses and not just 'GDP'

Jon

DmitryFarber · Answer

TheLordCommander is right. The part of the sentence starting in "higher" is a modifier, not a clause. It has no subject or verb! Therefore, we don't need to worry about a run-on sentence.

The problem with "it" in E is that it would have to refer to  South Sudan's  growth rate in particular. That rate can't be higher in South Sudan than in other countries!

anuj11 · Answer

D and E can be knocked out cause of incorrect usage of Which.

C you don't need the conjunction And (And is used to join two independent clause)

A is wrong.

Other than the reasons stated above to knock the other choice's out, B is also correct cause it correctly compares GDP of one country to the other.

namita_am · Answer

Hey  DmitryFarber ,

"that" in option B is referring to which part of the sentence then ? I thought B would right because if I expand the sentence by repeating the noun there, it makes sense.

The world's fastest growing economy, South Sudan showed a real GDP growth rate of 25 percent, higher than  GDP growth rate of  the most developed countries of the world.

Could you please help me understand this ?

daagh · Answer

If 'that' in B refers to the growth rate in the most developed countries, does it imply that all the most developed countries have the same growth rate?

thangvietnam · Answer

gmat questions are hard and basic. even when I redo a question , I feel hard. we need to be skillful to solve sc and this skill is needed when we write english. gmat will tesll this skill

we we make an ellipsis pattern, we cut off some phrase. but we need to make a reader can infer the cut off part. to make a reader infer the cut off part, "THAT OF" or PARALLELISM ARE USED 
look at choice A.

in choice A. there is not "that of" . so, we need a paralelism to infer the cut off phrase. 
we do not have "in + a country" in the previous clause, so, "in the most developed " can not be parallel to any phrase in previous clause. so, we can not infer the cutt off phrase.

in choice B, "that of " exist, so we can infer the cuff off phrase. it is ideal that "that of" can be used in parallel pattern, but it is still good that "that of" is used in pattern like choice B.

so, b is good and choice A is gone.

Mo2men · Answer

Dear  GMATGuruNY

Can you please share your thoughts about wrong choices?

In choice A, can't be there ellipsis: higher than     in.................

In choice D: Is which wrong? can't it refer to  'growth rate' ? In that case, there will be ellipsis as follows: which is higher than     in.....

In choice E, what does 'it' refer to?

Mo2men · Answer

Thanks  GMATGuruNY  for your explanation.

In choice A:

1- As I know from your earlier posts,  'higher than in..........'  is an adjective modifier, does not it modify the the preceding noun? However, you suggest that higher modify the preceding clause. does it work here as adverbial modifier?

2- In my early question to you, I assumed there is an ellipses as follows:  higher than   in................. . In English or GMAT, can an ellipses appears in modifier sentence that related to preceding independent clause?

Thanks

GMATGuruNY · Answer

On the GMAT, it is VERY common for an SC to end with COMMA + COMPARISON PHRASE. 
The comparison phrase will generally include  than  or  as . 
The purpose of the comparison phrase will be to EXPLAIN or DEFINE a data point discussed in the preceding clause.

Official examples: 
 Soaring television costs accounted for  more than half the spending  in the presidential campaign of 1992,  a greater proportion than in any previous election . 
In 1979 lack of rain reduced India’s rice production to about  41 million tons ,  nearly 25 percent less than the 1978 harvest . 
Lake Baikal holds  20 percent of the world's fresh water  ,  more than all the North American Great Lakes combined . 
Only  seven people  this century have been killed by the great white shark,  fewer than have been killed by bee stings . 
Companies in the United States are providing job training and general education for nearly  eight million people ,  as many as are enrolled in the nation’s four-year colleges and universities .

In each of the OAs above, the comparison phrase in green serves to explain the preceding data point in blue. 
Whether these comparison phrases are classified as appositives, absolute phrases, or summative modifiers is irrelevant. 
What matters is how they all function: 
Each serves to explain a data point in the preceding clause.
As long as the comparison phrase has a clear data-related referent, do not worry about trying to classify the grammatical nature of the comparison phrase.

Yes.
For example:
 Lake Baikal holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more   than all the North American Great Lakes combined  . 
Here, the words in brackets are omitted but implied.

Mo2men · Answer

Dear  GMATGuruNY

As per below, you disputed choice A based on ground that we need DIFFERENT GDP growth rate. So, we used 'THAT' to offer alternate referent. However, in each offcial example below we should use 'THAT' too.

Soaring television costs accounted for more than half the spending in the presidential campaign of 1992, a greater proportion than   THAT  in any previous election.
Here 'THAT' refers to 'Spending' to give the following meaning:
The spending in the presidential campaign of 1992 was greater than the   spending (THAT)   in any previous election.

Lake Baikal holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than   THAT  all the North American Great Lakes combined.
Here, we must add 'THAT' to refer to the fresh water. otherwise, it could be understood as:
Lake Baikal holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than  world's fresh water  of all the North American Great Lakes combined.

In the example above, I think we deal with DIFFERENT GROUP of people being compared. So we must use 'those'

I hope you shed some light.

Thanks in advance for you help.

GMATGuruNY · Answer

Copy pronouns are  that  and  those .
These pronouns stand in for an ALTERNATE COPY of a preceding noun.

If a VERB follows  as  or  than  in a concluding comparative modifier, then no copy pronoun is required.
 Only seven people this century have been killed by the great white shark, fewer than  have been killed  by bee stings. 
Companies in the United States are providing job training and general education for nearly eight million people, as many as  are enrolled  in the nation’s four-year colleges and universities. 
In each of these OAs, no copy pronoun is required because of the verbs in blue.

If a SUBJECT follows  as  or  than  in a concluding comparative modifier, then no copy pronoun is required.
 Lake Baikal holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than  all the North American Great Lakes combined   . 
Here, the noun phrase in blue is the subject of the implied verb in brackets.
Thus, no copy pronoun is required.

If a MODIFIER follows  as  or  than  in a concluding comparative modifier -- and this modifier serves to refer to the action in the preceding clause -- then no copy pronoun is required.
 Soaring television costs  accounted  for more than half the spending in the presidential campaign of 1992, a greater proportion than  in any previous election . 
Here, no copy pronoun is required because the modifier in blue refers to the preceding action in green.
Conveyed comparison:
 Television costs accounted for a greater proportion of spending in the campaign of 1992 than   in any previous election. 
The words in brackets are omitted but implied.

If the modifier after  as  or  than  does NOT refer to the preceding action, then a copy pronoun is required.
 South Sudan  showed  a real GDP growth rate of 25 percent, higher than  in the most developed countries of the world . 
Here, the modifier in red does NOT refer to the preceding action in blue, since South Sudan did not show a growth rate IN THE MOST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD.
For this reason, a copy pronoun is required, as in the OA:'
 South Sudan showed a real GDP growth rate of 25 percent, higher than THAT of the most developed countries of the world.

Mo2men · Answer

Dear GMATGuruNY Thanks a lot for taking time for this detailed explanation.

thangvietnam · Answer

I study only comparison problems in these days. it is effective doing so. i realize the trick gmat can do for us.

in this problem, the noun compared is in the subject phrase of the first clause. this case is easy

if the noun compared is in object phrase of the first clause, we can meet ambiguity because the element after "than/as" can be subject or object of the second clause.

dabaobao · Answer

Main Issue  
Comparison: Need to compare GDP of South Sudan with the GDP of other countries.
X higher than Y. Both X and Y should be parallel. 
X is a noun here, so Y should a noun too.
 
(A) higher than in  - Wrong: Comparison. Y isn't a noun.

(B) higher than that of  - Correct

(C) and higher than that of  - Wrong: Structure and meaning

(D) which is higher than in  - Wrong: Comparison. Y isn't a noun.

(E) which is higher than it is in  - Wrong: Comparison. Can't use "it" for comparison since it implies the same copy.

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The world's fastest growing economy, South Sudan showed a real GDP

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The world's fastest growing economy, South Sudan showed a real GDP

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