Unlike regulators in Europe who aim to prevent airlines from building

Question

Unlike regulators in Europe who  aim to prevent airlines from building monopoly positions at European airports, in America there are no such endeavors, as evidenced by the fact that at 40 of America’s 100 biggest airports, a single airline accounts for more than half the capacity of the airport.

A. Unlike regulators in Europe who
 B. Whereas in Europe regulators
 C. Whereas European regulators who
 D. Although in Europe regulators
 E. Even though European regulators

theeni03 · Answer

Why not ‘D’ ? Confused between ‘B’ and ‘D’.

Posted from my mobile device

mykrasovski · Answer

baliga007 I nailed down to B and D, and ended up choosing B because it feels more like a comparison between Europe and America. In other words, you can say "while in Europe regulators do blah-blah, in America there are no blah-blah".

However, option D seems acceptable to me, too.

Perhaps, generis or any other expert can help?

However, option D seems acceptable to me, too.

Perhaps,  generis  or any other expert can help?

abhisheksemwal · Answer

please help me understand this problem

Shashwatp · Answer

Why not A? Confused between A and B

AKASHSURANA · Answer

Correct answer is B

Use of although presents contrast, but it does not present the sense of comparison between two entities.

Use of although conveys that the regulators in America should also aim to prevent monopoly given that the European regulators are doing that.

elifceylan · Answer

Can someone explain what is wrong with adding who on C? Thanks

ArupRS · Answer

generis  ,

Could you please explain b vs D ?

Regards,
Arup

generis · Answer

baliga007  ,  mykrasovski  (sorry, missed your tag)
and  ArupRS  , yes, I will explain B v D in this post and the other issues in a different post.

Above are the full sentences with each option inserted.

Both  whereas  and  although  are conjunctions that show contrast, but they are slightly different.**
Although means  in spite of the fact that .
Whereas means  compared with the fact that .

•   Although    suggests  that the contrast is  unexpected, counterintuitive , or   surprising  .
 Although he hated war, he became a brilliant five-star general.

•   Whereas   does  not  usually suggest  surprise—just contrast . 
 Whereas newer airplanes have a USB slot for each seat, older airplanes have no USB slots placed anywhere.

• The sentence in this question contains contrast that is not surprising   
 Europe does X to ensure Y. The U.S. does not do X and does not ensure Y. 
--  Whereas in Europe regulators do X to ensure Y, in the U.S., no attempt is made to do X, as is clear from NOT Y. 
-- It is no surprise that European countries are more conscientious about keeping the economic playing field fair than the U.S. is.

Option B is better than option D because the sentence merely highlights what Europe does in a certain context and what the U.S. does not do in that context— whereas  is the better word to use when describing a contrast that is not surprising.

Hope that helps.

** -- WHEREAS:  Oxford Dictionary online proxy, here  and Oxford Learners Dictionary online,  here  ("used to compare or contrast two facts")
-- ALTHOUGH:  Oxford Learners online dictionary,  here  ("used for introducing a statement that makes the main statement in a sentence seem surprising")

theeni03 · Answer

Subtle, but beautiful. Thanks!

Posted from my mobile device

Arro44 · Answer

Our dear generis explained it perfectly.

In general, for every question that makes a comparison we have to be very focused on the things that are being compared.

E.g. Person to Person, Action to Action, Place to Place.
The GMAT will often trick us into comparing Place to Action, Person to Place etc.

Country to Country: Unlike the country of Norway with its fridgid temperatures, Madagascar has quite mild winters.
Country to Occurence: Unlike the country of Norway, winters in Madagascar tend to be very mild.

If we are able to get the comparison right, there are often only 1-2 possible answer choices left.

generis · Answer

**I address the difference between B and D more thoroughly  in this post,  here 
I address (C) more thoroughly  here

THE PROMPT

Unlike regulators in Europe who  aim to prevent airlines from building monopoly positions at European airports, in America there are no such endeavors, as evidenced by the fact that at 40 of America’s 100 biggest airports, a single airline accounts for more than half the capacity of the airport.

THE ANSWER CHOICES

•  Unlike  in a comparison must compare two nouns that are parallel
•  in America  is a prepositional phrase, not a noun
• Wrong comparison:  regulators  are compared to  in America 
• The  who  in this option is not problematic because the preposition  unlike  needs to be followed only by a noun, not by a clause (compare to C)

•  Whereas  is a conjunction that usually does no more than contrast two things—in other words,  whereas  does not suggest that the contrast is surprising.
• This sentence contrasts what Europe and America do in situation ABC. What each does is simply different and not surprisingly so. (Compare to  although  in option D)
• the two items compared are parallel:  in Europe  and  in America .

• Wrong comparison:  European regulators  are compared to  in America 
• The  who  leaves a fragment. 
 Whereas  is a subordinating conjunction that must be followed by a clause containing a subject and a verb
 Whereas European regulators  who do  X , in America there are no such endeavors as X
-- that red part is not a clause with a subject and a verb.
No verb exists for  European regulators.  The who-clause "eats" the only verb.

•  Although  is slightly different from  whereas . 
--  Although  suggests that the contrast is surprising.
--  Whereas  merely highlights a contrast without suggesting surprise.
-- In Europe, efforts are made to prevent airplane monopoly positions. In America, no such efforts are made.
That difference is not inherently a surprise.  Whereas  is better than  although .

•  Even though  is a slightly less formal version of  although . 
Same problem as that in D. (Even though suggests contrast that is surprising. The sentence suggests  just  difference, not surprising difference.)
• Wrong comparison:  European regulators  are compared to  in America

******

In options A, C, and E, we first hear about  regulators  or  European regulators .
Strip this sentence to figure out what the heck is being compared.

Unlike regulators in Europe who       aim to prevent airlines from building monopoly positions at European airports  ,   in America there are no  such endeavors     ,   as evidenced by the fact that at 40 of America’s 100 biggest airports, a single airline accounts for more than half the capacity of the airport.

The sentence, stripped:
 Unlike regulators  in Europe who try to stop problem XYZ,  in America  there are no attempts to stop problem XYZ.

Unlike X, Y 
As  Arro44  notes, in a comparison, X and Y must be the  same kind of thing . 
A regulator is a  person.  
 in America  is a  prepositional phrase  (PREPOSITION + place)
In A, C, and E, the introductory phrases lead with a noun
X = people 
Y = IN a place

Right after the X element ends with a comma, we have the Y element
That Y element,  in America,  is in the non-underlined portion, and thus  we are locked into that second structure.

The comparison must be between (what happens)  in America  and  in Europe

abhisheksemwal  and  Shashwatp  , I hope that analysis helps.
If it does not, be specific about what is still confusing and tag me. I will be happy to try to help.

generis · Answer

elifceylan  , I wonder whether a post got deleted?

I cannot see any posts indicating that one problem with C is  who,  though you are correct.

In addition to comparing unlike things ( European regulators  and  in America ), 
option C lacks a full clause after  whereas .

Whereas  European regulators   who aim to prevent  airlines from building monopoly positions at European airports, 
in America there are no such endeavors,

The first part of the sentence is not a clause and it should be.
 Whereas  is a subordinate conjunction that must be followed by a clause with a subject and  its own verb  that is also a complete thought.
-- The subject of the  who-clause  is WHO. (The who-clause is its own clause. It needs its own subject, which is WHO, and WHO needs its own verb.)
-- The verb of the who-clause is AIM TO PREVENT
No verb exists for  regulators.  
 Remove  whereas .  We should have a full clause.

No whereas:
   European regulators who aim to prevent XYZ.   
Those words are not a complete thought. No verb exists for the subject  regulators.

European regulators  .
The regulators WHAT? Do what? Or are what?

Same idea, but this version is correct because it does not have a  who  that "eats up" the  one  verb callable:
 Correct :  Whereas one boy studied diligently, his brother never studied.  
Now watch when I add a "who":
 Wrong:   Whereas one boy WHO studied diligently, his brother never studied.

Remove whereas. Whatever follows  whereas  must be an independent clause that expresses a complete thought and can stand on its own.

No whereas, wrong: 
 One boy WHO studied diligently .
Not a complete thought.
One boy   ... WHAT? Did what?
 
Option C  could  say something such as

Whereas European regulators who attempt to prevent airline monopolization  exert a lot of effort  , American regulators of monopolization do nothing." 
In that case, the verb for  regulators  would be  exert

Wrong: The man who hollered all night. 
(The sentence is not a complete thought and cannot stand on its own. Add commas to see the problem more easily. 
 The man, who hollered all night, ____.   What? Did what?)

Correct  :  The man hollered all night.  (no relative pronoun  who  that uses up the verb.

Correct :  The man who  hollered  all night  kept  me awake. 
(Two verbs, one for each subject,  man  and  who .)

One more. Relative pronoun THAT rather than WHO, same concept.
 Wrong: The dog THAT barked. 
 Correct  :  The dog barked. 
 Correct  :  The dog that barked seemed angry.

Option C is ungrammatical because  whereas  is not followed by an independent clause that can stand on its own.

I hope that helps.

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Unlike regulators in Europe who aim to prevent airlines from building

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