There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy relia : Sentence Correction (EA only)

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Re: There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy relia [#permalink]

11 Sep 2022, 03:34

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Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

tennis1ball wrote:

There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy reliance on fossil fuels: more than ten times as much energy is generated through wind power now than it was in 1990.

(A) generated through wind power now than it was

(B) generated through wind power now as it was

(C) generated through wind power now as was the case

(D) now generated through wind power as it was

(E) now generated through wind power than was the case.

Concepts tested here: Pronouns + Idioms

• “as much A as B” is the correct, idiomatic construction; A and B must be parallel.

A: This answer choice suffers from pronoun ambiguity, as the pronoun "it" lacks a clear and logical referent. Further, Option A incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction "as much A ("energy is generated through wind power now") than B ("it was in 1990"); remember, “as much A as B” is the correct, idiomatic construction; A and B must be parallel.

B: This answer choice suffers from pronoun ambiguity, as the pronoun "it" lacks a clear and logical referent.

C: Correct. This answer choice avoids the pronoun error seen in Options A, B, and D, as it uses no pronouns. Further, Option C correctly uses the idiomatic construction "as much A ("energy is generated through wind power now") as B ("was the case in 1990").

D: This answer choice suffers from pronoun ambiguity, as the pronoun "it" lacks a clear and logical referent.

E: This answer choice incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction "as much A ("energy is now generated through wind power") than B ("was the case in 1990"); remember, “as much A as B” is the correct, idiomatic construction; A and B must be parallel.

Hence, C is the best answer choice.

All the best!
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Re: There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy relia [#permalink]

29 Nov 2006, 00:32

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There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy reliance on fossil fuels: more than ten times as much energy is generated through wind power now than it was in 1990.

A.) generated through wind power now than it was

B). generated through wind power now as it was

C). generated through wind power now as was the case

D). now generated through wind power as it was

E). now generated through wind power than was the case.

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Re: There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy relia [#permalink]

29 Nov 2006, 00:41

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Obviously between B and D....
I think there is no suprise to you

I choose D...

Clearly expresses the meaning of a sentence. 10 times as much energy is now generated through wind power as it was generated some time ago....

The other option B, has a different meaning.... 10 times as much energy generated through wind power....meaning the use of wind power has not necessarily increased....

A very good SC....

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Re: There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy relia [#permalink]

11 Sep 2007, 06:21

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There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy reliance on fossil fuels: more than ten times as much energy is generated through wind power now than it was in 1990

A) generated through wind power now than it was
B) generated through wind power now as it was
C) generated through wind power now as was the case
D) now generated through wind power as it was
E) now generated through wind power than was the case

My Answer : E

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Re: There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy relia [#permalink]

11 Sep 2007, 07:31

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For the comparison, "than' has to be there. So, only A and E remain.
I feel A should be the ans.
The change of placement of 'now' changes in the meaning in E - emphasis seems to shift from comparison between period to the source of energy.
Though 'it' needs to be watched carefully, it seems to be correctly referring in A.
What is the OA?

Vict0R wrote:

There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy reliance on fossil fuels: more than ten times as much energy is generated through wind power now than it was in 1990

A) generated through wind power now than it was
B) generated through wind power now as it was
C) generated through wind power now as was the case
D) now generated through wind power as it was
E) now generated through wind power than was the case

My Answer : E

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Re: There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy relia [#permalink]

16 Mar 2009, 21:59

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quit123 wrote:

54. There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy reliance on fosil fuels; more than ten times as much energy is generated through wind power now than it was in 1990.

A. generated through wind power now than it was
B. generated through wind power now as it was
C. generated through wind power now as was the case
D. now generated through wind power as it was
E. now generated through wind power than was the case

idiom: as much ..as
D,E --out

it --> ambiguous..
it can refer to energy/wind power ..
A,B --out

C is perfect and parallel.

ten times as much "energy is generated...." now than as was the case<energy generated .. through wind pwoer.> in 1990

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Re: There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy relia [#permalink]

04 Feb 2010, 16:35

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Very difficult question, in my opinion. There's obviously a split between as/than, which usually means you go find either "as adjective (as)" or "comparative adjective (than)" to match elsewhere in the sentence. But this sentence has more (already with another than?? Would a than in the choice be redundant?) and ten times as much (do we need another as in the answer to complete this??) And then there's the issue of meaning. If I were to paraphrase, I use more than: Hopeful signs means...more energy generated by wind now than before.

I had to make up a similar sentence to help myself.

(More than) (ten times as many) people are living in urban areas now than were (living in urban areas) in 1900.

The phrases in parentheses ultimately modify people: More people.
The than/10x as many just quantify how much more.

With that complexity removed:
More people are living in urban areas now than were (living in urban areas) in 1900.

We need than in the choice, so we can focus on A and E.

(A) equates to: More people are living in urban areas now than they were in 1900.
(E) equates to: More people are living in urban areas now than was the case in 1900.

Which would you choose?

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Re: There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy relia [#permalink]

04 Feb 2010, 17:18

Hi esledge,
Indeed a very nice explanation. But the OA is C. Could you please justify?
Thanks
-Amit

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Re: There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy relia [#permalink]

05 Feb 2010, 04:50

amitanand wrote:

Could anyone help me understanding the reasoning used in the following question:

Q: There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy reliance on fossil fuels: more than ten times as much energy is generated through wind power now than it was in 1990
A) generated through wind power now than it was
B) generated through wind power now as it was
C) generated through wind power now as was the case
D) now generated through wind power as it was
E) now generated through wind power than was the case

Thanks in advance.

Yikes - tough question. I think this is likely to be a parallelism issue. Answer choices B, C and D makes the sentence parallel as follows:

...more than ten times as much energy is generated through wind power now as ...

B and D use the phrase 'as it was' - it is unclear what 'it' is referring to in the context of the sentence, so eliminate these choices and go with C.

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Re: There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy relia [#permalink]

07 Feb 2010, 11:47

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amitanand wrote:

Hi esledge,
Indeed a very nice explanation. But the OA is C. Could you please justify?
Thanks
-Amit

See, I told you I had trouble with it!

So if it is C, then it must be that as in the choice matches up with (i.e. completes) the as much in the non-underlined portion.

Basic comparison is then "as much energy is generated now as was (generated) in 1990."
I guess "more than ten times" modifies the whole comparison.

Maybe I should have viewed my other example this way (note that I have moved the paretheses)
(More than ten times) (as many people are living in urban areas now as were (living in urban areas) in 1900).

Maybe the clue should have been that for every than, there would have to be a more. (C) has 2 than's and only 1 more.

carriedinterest wrote:

B and D use the phrase 'as it was' - it is unclear what 'it' is referring to in the context of the sentence, so eliminate these choices and go with C.

Good point. A has this flaw, too. Our final take-away probably should be to start with this less controversial split, and only then make the choice between C and E based on as/than.

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Re: There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy relia [#permalink]

13 Jun 2010, 08:36

x2suresh wrote:

quit123 wrote:

54. There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy reliance on fosil fuels; more than ten times as much energy is generated through wind power now than it was in 1990.

A. generated through wind power now than it was
B. generated through wind power now as it was
C. generated through wind power now as was the case
D. now generated through wind power as it was
E. now generated through wind power than was the case

idiom: as much ..as
D,E --out

it --> ambiguous..
it can refer to energy/wind power ..
A,B --out

C is perfect and parallel.

ten times as much "energy is generated...." now than as was the case<energy generated .. through wind pwoer.> in 1990

Why do u say that "it" is ambiguous? For me is clearly referring to energy.

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Re: There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy relia [#permalink]

25 Jun 2010, 03:14

Please comment on the use of 'it'. I believe its an issue with pronoun ambiguity for B and D.

B

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Re: There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy relia [#permalink]

27 Jun 2010, 04:25

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yogeshagarwala wrote:

Please comment on the use of 'it'. I believe its an issue with pronoun ambiguity for B and D.

To compare something to itself, use "it" or "they".
Ex. The legs of chair A are more wobbly than they were yesterday.

To compare one thing to another, use "that" or "those".
Ex. The legs of chair A are more wobbly than those of chair B.

Thus, in the problem above, using "it" would mean that you are comparing some amount of energy to itself. But we want to compare one amount of energy to another.

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Re: There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy relia [#permalink]

16 Mar 2011, 07:46

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1.'More than ten times' is just an expression of quantity and not a comparator. The comparator is actually the positive degree ‘as much’. Now when the un-underlined portion contains ‘as much’ for the comparison, then you must idiomatically complete the comparison with another ‘as’. This means, we have to stay put with choices B, C and D, dropping A and E.

2.We must not misconstrue that the pronoun ‘it’ stands for just energy, The pronoun stands for the entire antecedent that goes to describe the energy namely ‘more than ten times as much energy’; Therefore the use of the pronoun ‘it’ doesn’t make much structural sense. We have to drop choices B and D on that count. We must admit C as the most fitting, though a bit unusual to the ears.

Incidentally a colon is no more than a kind of parenthesis. The things that follow the colon must represent the idea that is expressed prior to the colon, in this case ‘hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy reliance on fossil fuels;

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Re: There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy relia [#permalink]

03 Dec 2011, 05:51

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I remember this question in the past when I faced it in the SC1000. I chose this one because choice B and D, "it" refer to no antecedent. After that, I also found in manhattan forum that contain this problem. Here is the topic discussing about this problem and Ron Purewal's explanation:

Quote:

i could've sworn this problem was in another thread, but the search box won't find it.

there are two splits you should use to narrow down this problem:

(1) the second half of the construction 'ten times as much ... ____' is as, not than. therefore, you can eliminate answers (a) and (e), which contain 'than'. (i'm assuming that (e) is supposed to say 'than', not 'then'; i don't think the gmat problems would that blatant an error)

(2) the pronoun 'it' is inappropriate, because 'it' must refer to the ENTIRETY of the noun phrase serving as an antecedent.
for instance, the following is an improper sentence: last year's attendance was ten thousand greater than it was this year
in the above sentence, the pronoun 'it' must necessarily refer to last year's attendance, not just attendance.
the problem in this post has the same issue: the pronoun 'it' must refer to more than ten times as much energy, not just energy - an interpretation that makes no logical sense. therefore, all answer choices containing the pronoun 'it' are wrong.

if you don't like '...than was the case', you should learn to like it; this is one of those phrases that the gmat writers use to refer to concepts that don't fit under the usage constraints of traditional pronouns. (another popular one of these constructions is 'do so'.)

https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/the ... t3322.html

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Re: There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy relia [#permalink]

30 Oct 2012, 22:09

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VandyonWheels wrote:

There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy reliance on fossil fuels: more than ten times as much energy is generated through wind power now than it was in 1990

(A) generated through wind power now than it was

(B) generated through wind power now as it was

(C) generated through wind power now as was the case

(D) now generated through wind power as it was

(E) now generated through wind power than was the case

I chose E,but the answer is C according to GMAT pill(GMAT Practice Test Set # 14 (Question 40-42)).I chose E as there was no misleading it and the comparison was clear.Can somebody explain why C is the answer and not E?

The correct idiom is "as much as". So A and E can be eliminated at the first instance.
Having our eyes on BCD, we eliminate B and D in that there is no clear referent for it. If you are think that "it" refers to "energy" , then try doing so.
B) generated through windpower now as "energy" was in 1990
D) now generated through windpower as "energy" was in 1990.

+1 C
Hope that helps.
-s

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Re: There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy relia [#permalink]

04 Nov 2012, 00:41

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(A) generated through wind power now than it was it refers to wind energy + correct idiom is As much as

(B) generated through wind power now as it was --- it refers to wind energy

(C) generated through wind power now as was the case

(D) now generated through wind power as it was it refers to wind energy

(E) now generated through wind power than was the case correct idiom is As much as

one tip here:
AS is the case, As was the case - refers to a situation and is correct usage
As with the case - sure shot wrong option

gmatclubot

Re: There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy relia [#permalink]

04 Nov 2012, 00:41

GMAT Sentence Correction (EA only) Questions

There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy relia