The higher productivity rate of some Japanese companies relative to

Question

The higher productivity rate of some Japanese companies relative to comparable US companies is due not to their faster production lines, which are in fact slower in the Japanese companies, but to a greater amount of engineers and equipment per production worker.

(A) their faster production lines, which are in fact slower in the Japanese companies, but to a greater amount of engineers and

(B) their faster production lines, since they are in fact slower in the Japanese companies, but to a greater amount of engineers and

(C) faster production lines, which are in fact slower in the Japanese companies, but to a greater amount of engineers and more

(D) the greater speed of their production lines, since they are in fact slower in the Japanese companies, but to a greater amount of engineers and

(E) ) the greater speed of their production lines, since production lines are in fact slower in the Japanese companies, but to a greater amount of engineers and more

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What's wrong with c?

1. are " faster production lines" and " the greater speed of their productin lines" different in terms of meaning?

2. I think that "since production lines~"in e makes more sense than "which are in fact~" in c, but I am not sure
about "their" in e. In fact, this is the reason that I ruled out e.
Isn't it possible that "their" refers to either Japanese companies or American companies?
Am I thinking too much??

Show Answer

Official Answer

E

kraizada84 · Accepted Answer

GUYS i think this question for other league NOT gmat.

we definitely cant use "amount" for "engineers"..!! 
ignore this question and move on..!!

PKay · Answer

Why don't we have a  -1Kudos  here? This question deserves that as it is both absurd and absolutely annoying.

lamanxa · Answer

"a greater amount of engineers and more equipment" is not redundant on E?

GMATD11 · Answer

1)Since here means because ---High productivity of Japanese Companies is not due to production lines,because(since)production lines are in fact slower
2)their refers to Japanese Companies as we are giving explanation why not high productivity in Japanese Companies is because of production lines but because of employees.

Konstantin1983 · Answer

Do you think "amount of engineers" is correct? Engineers are countable so we need to use "a number of". Right?

narendran1990 · Answer

A really tough question.

Was able to rule out options A, B & D because greater amount of engineers is mentioned but in the latter half the term 'more' is missing. I felt there should be a comparison point.

Option C does look concise, but 'faster production lines' sounds awkward. The usage of greater speed seems more apt. That's why I picked E.

OreoShake · Answer

Experts, can you please verify the veracity of this question? The source seems to be GMAT Paper Test, however the word 'amount' has been used to describe engineers. Thanks for your inputs.

Mbawarrior01 · Answer

Request experts to please help us in eliminating Option C. Is this really a GMAT question ?

sayantanc2k · Answer

In Option C, at first the Japaneses production lines are referred as faster and then refererd as slower. The reason for higher productivity are not the production lines (faster ones) - there is no question raised about that the lines are faster. However immediately after that declaration, exactly the oppposite is stated - that the lines are slower.

Option E states that greater speed is not the reason - in fact the production lines are slower.

ak2801 · Answer

I choose E because the sentence provides clear meaning " production lines are in fact slower "

sayantanc2k · Answer

In C as well, the pronoun "which" clearly refers to "production lines". So one cannot prefer E over C because of this point.

cledgard · Answer

I agree with kraizada84: we cannot use  amount for engineers . As he claims, this is not a GMAT question.
I also agree with lamanxa: if we use a greater amount of integers, the " more " in "more equipment" is either redundant or unnecessary.

However, if we overlook these problems, the sentence becomes interesting. The focus is on the use of the pronouns " which " and " they ". These pronouns do not refer to"  production lines ", but to "  faster    production lines ". The production lines cannot be faster and slower at the same time.

In choices A and C, " which " refers to  faster production lines , so we cannot say that faster production lines are slower.
Choices B and D, we have the same problem, the pronoun " they " refers to  faster production lines ; production lines cannot be slower at the same time.
Choice E avoids this problem by repeating " production lines " instead of using a  pronoun .

Anestists · Answer

ATTENTION!

The question E is wrong. I faced that question 2 minutes ago. haha.

It is (E) --> the greater speed of their production lines, since production lines are in fact slower in the Japanese comanies, but to a greater  number  of engineers and more

(C) is wrong, for faster lines cannot be faster and slower at the same time.

Cheers!

ask1 · Answer

I dont know whether Im right guys, but if I AM right, then how come everyone missed the below?:

to a greater amount of engineers and equipment per production worker.

Just "equipment" alone per production worker is kinda dangling strangely, so definitely "greater amount of engineers AND equipment" comes into play.

But "greater amount of engineers" per production worker? How does that make sense in real life scenario?

So it has to be "greater amount of engineers" AND "more equipment per production worker" as they both solidly contribute to reasons of high productivity rate.

For THIS reason ALONE, I went with option E.

Does this make sense at all?
Cheers guys!

LoveWildLife · Answer

amount for engineer? I was like 'what the heck"is wrong with this question?

User101 · Answer

There is a mistake in this question.Greater amount of engineers is incorrect.BUt since that is repeated in all the questions let's ignore that one.
Also as we can’t say greater equipment per production worker, we can eliminate options A,B and D

(A) their faster production lines, which are in fact slower in the Japanese companies, but to a greater amount of engineers and

(B) their faster production lines, since they are in fact slower in the Japanese companies, but to a greater amount of engineers and

(C) faster production lines, which are in fact slower in the Japanese companies, but to a greater amount of engineers and more
 Here the pronoun which refers to the faster production lines. So the later part of the sentence becomes…’the faster production lines are slower in Japanese companies’…what about the rest of the production lines. As we are talking about the overall productivity, we have to talk about the entire range of production lines rather than the fastest ones only.
Hence option C is incorrect

(D) the greater speed of their production lines, since they are in fact slower in the Japanese companies, but to a greater amount of engineers and

(E) ) the greater speed of their production lines, since production lines are in fact slower in the Japanese companies, but to a greater amount of engineers and more
 Option E rectifies the problems in option C.
Hence option E is the best of all the choices here.

preritm · Answer

Shouldnt C be the answer to this question

Purvidebuka · Answer

Hi, Could you please help me understand the difference between Option C and Option E ? I suppose the usage of 'which' is correct in Option C, as it appears to modify 'Faster production lines'. If you could perhaps explain the difference and the usage of 'which' in similar sentences, it would clear most of my doubts. Thank you.

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi Purvi, as others have pointed out, the usage of   amount  of engineers  in the credited response (option E) is a  big   red  flag for me. So,  ignore  this question.

Our book    EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana    discusses  the usage of "which" , its application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

The higher productivity rate of some Japanese companies relative to

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