The typical size difference between males and females

Question

The typical size difference between males and females has lessened since the origins of the human species because  the size increase in males has been slight while the size increase in females has been great .

(A) the size increase in males has been slight while the size increase in females has been great

(B) the male size increase has been slight and because it has been great in females

(C) the size increase had been slight for males but great for females

(D) of the size increase being slight for males while for females it was great

(E) of slightly increasing the male size while greatly increasing it in females

Hello  mikemcgarry 
How are you?
Can you please explain every issue this question talks about?
 
I can see use of "it" is problematic, "had been" is my suspect But son't understand why. My understanding is The increase of male and female size is the cause of lessening. So increase first then lessen. Would it correct if "was" were used in stead of had been?

I picked E as i knew because takes a full clause, but "because of" takes noun or noun phrase, and because can start a independent clause but a comma is used in front of BECAUSE. So, i hesitated between A and E, and then picked E.

daagh · Accepted Answer

This is a question of logical presentation of verb tense, use of transitional markers, use of proper pronoun etc. The reason for the shortening of the original gap between the male and the female sizes is the disproportionate increase recorded in both. The females have grown larger than how the males grew in the given span. (Nevertheless, both of them grew).

(A) The size increase in males has been slight while the size increase in females has been great --  This is the best of the lot.

(B) The male size increase has been slight and because it has been great in females --  the pronoun it absurdly refers to the male size in females. In addition, is a wrong conjunction? You need a contrasting conjunction such as although or while or whereas.

(C) The size increase had been slight for males but great for females -- ' had been' is a wrong tense. Where are the two events required for the past perfect?

(D) of the size increase being slight for males while for females it was great --  "being" for males and "was" for females is ungrammatical

(E) of slightly increasing the male size while greatly increasing it in females --  it wrongly refers to the male size

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear nahid78 , I see that my brilliant colleague daagh already replied. I will add my thoughts. :-)

(A) the size increase in males has been slight while the size increase in females has been great Wordy but correct. No flaws. (B) the male size increase has been slight and because it has been great in females This choice gets into the subtle difference between personal vs demonstrative pronoun. A personal pronoun shares full identity with its antecedent. A demonstrative pronoun, such as " that ," take a position analogous to the antecedent, so there's not a strict identity. You're correct, the " it " here is wrong because it refers to " male size increase ," which doesn't apply to females. That's the limitation of a personal pronoun. We could have come up with correct statement with a demonstrative pronoun: the size increase for males has been slight while that for females has been great That version is better than (A), but it's not a choice. (C) the size increase had been slight for males but great for females What sinks this is the use of the past perfect tense , " had been ." With the present perfect, this would be fine: (C1) the size increase has been slight for males but great for females That's also better than (A), but this too is not a choice. (D) of the size increase being slight for males while for females it was great Extremely awkward. This is so wrong that it should be taken out back and shot. (E) of slightly increasing the male size while greatly increasing it in females My friend, no native speaker would pick this. In a formal mathematical way, this choice is grammatically correct. Logically and rhetorical, it's a complete disaster. The GMAT loves creating answer choices of this sort--technically logical correct but atrocious--and non-native speakers fall into this trap time and time again. I am sorry to say, my friend, you fell for this trap. One thing I will say is that if the gerund " increasing " appears in the sentence as the object of a prepositional phrase, the doer of the action must be either present or or plausibly connected to the sentence. Expressing this as an action here makes no sense, because clearly nobody is doing this action. This sentence discusses a general "happening" over the course of human history, but it has no agent or doer, at least as far as this sentence is concerned. Choice (E) implies a doer when there obviously isn't any. That's part of the problem, although once you have better instincts for English, this will sound jarringly wrong to you ears as well. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

dcummins · Answer

Is this really a gmatprep question?

GMATCoachBen · Answer

This question is in "Official Practice Questions 1" (formerly called "Question Pack 1")

dcummins ,  I loved your interview with @MartyTargetTestPrep  -- thanks for sharing that!

dcummins · Answer

Thanks Ben!

Must have been in a state of GMAT-trance when I asked this question. Looks like I asked it exactly 2 weeks before I took the exam!

Hoozan · Answer

The typical size difference between males and females has lessened since the origins of the human species because the size increase in males has been slight while the size increase in females has been great.

Meaning Analysis: The size difference between males and females has reduced. Why? Because the increase in females is more than the size increase in males.

Sentence Structure:
The typical size difference (subject)
between males and females (modifier modifying the subject)
has lessened (verb)(present perfect tense - indicating that the result of this "lessened difference" still exists")
since (time indicator) (Check tip)
the origins of the human species (additional information as to when the difference in size lessened)
because (Contextual word stating a some reasoning)(check tip)
the size increase (subject)
in males (prepositional phrase modifying "the size")
has been (verb) (present perfect tense - indicating that the result of the size increase in males still exists)
slight (object of the sentence)
while (contextual word) (check tip)
the size increase (subject)
in females (prepositional phrase modifying the subject "in females")
has been (verb) (present perfect tense)
great (object of the sentence)

Quote:

(A) the size increase in males has been slight while the size increase in females has been great

The usage of present perfect tense "has been" is correct. Why? because we are stating that the result of the size increase still exists. In other words, the size increase in males is less and the size increase in females is more. This difference STILL exists.

Moreover, the comparison "the size increase (in males) has been slight while the size increase (in females) has been great is correct. Though the sentence uses too many words to convey the intended meaning, there isn't any meaning or grammar error. So let's hold on to (A) till we find a well structured sentence.

Quote:

(B) the male size increase has been slight and because it has been great in females

The major error in this choice is the pronoun it. Here "it" refer to the previous noun "male size". Now ask yourself does "male size has been great in females" make any sense? Clearly not!

Moreover, I do not understand are we saying "and because" instead of "while? This isn't really a major error but it makes the sentence a bit awkward.

Quote:

(C) the size increase had been slight for males but great for females

As mentioned earlier, we wish to state that this increase in sizes STILL EXISTS. Hence the usage of past perfect tense is incorrect. Moreover, we aren't stating any sequence of actions. Hence the usage of past perfect tense is not needed.

Quote:

(D) of the size increase being slight for males while for females it was great

I don't think the usage of "being" is correct out here.

Moreover, I believe the comparison marker is "while". Why are we comparing a phrase (the size increase being slight) to a clause (it was great)

Usage of being:-

(as taught by egmat)
(1) As a noun - "being disrespectfull to elder is not acceptable"
(2) As a Passive Progressive tense - The tenants were being evacuated from the burning building"

If anyone has anything to add to this list please feel free

Quote:

(E) of slightly increasing the male size while greatly increasing it in females

The pronoun error it is repeated.

Correct Choice: (A)

Tip

The following tips have been taught by egmat
(1) When "since" and "within" are used as a time indicator we use present perfect tense - I haven't met him since last week.
(2) Contextual words such as "because" "while" "but" etc. help us understand the direction the author takes while conveying the meaning. This (especially in RC) helps us comprehend the sentence(s)

The pronoun error it is repeated. Correct Choice: (A) Tip The following tips have been taught by egmat (1) When "since" and "within" are used as a time indicator we use present perfect tense - I haven't met him since last week. (2) Contextual words such as "because" "while" "but" etc. help us understand the direction the author takes while conveying the meaning. This (especially in RC) helps us comprehend the sentence(s)

Ilhomjon98 · Answer

Hi IanStewart Could you please look through the excerpt below from the explation of mikemcgarry? I think his modified version of (C) does not work because It uses the same "size increase" for both genders, while the question / (OA) cares about two different "size increases": one for men and another for women. . Some say (A) is wordy, But I think (A) is as concise as it should or can be: To show two different size increases, (A) uses essential modifiers: "the size increase in males " and "the size increase in females ". Hence, we can see that "the size increase" for men is different from that for women. However, both (C) and (C1), seemly correct and modified one, have the same "size increase" for men and women. For example, Let's say "the size increase" was 20. 20 is slight for men, but great for women. Not so. Of course, (C)s seem reasonable on their own: Sometimes, $2000 per month is enough for men to live, but too little for women

But, if we take the original meaning, from (A), (C) seems unreasonable since it uses the same "size increase" for both men and women. I don't want to criticize someone, especially experts. I just want to learn the way they think, why they think so and how they approach Gmat. I hope I could explain my reasoning. Thank you very much beforehand!

IanStewart · Answer

I agree with you that answer C is not correct even if you fix the verb tense, and for a couple of reasons. It really should be talking about the size change "in" males, or "of" males, and not "for" males. It also doesn't seem right to use a definite article (*the* size increase...) because in C, it's not clear what "size increase" that's referring to. Answer A avoids that problem by being specific about each size increase, by adding "in males" and "in females". It's also because of how answer C uses the word "the" that you have the potential ambiguity that you're finding in answer C. If the word "the" is erased from C, if the past perfect verb tense is fixed, and if the prepositions are cleaned up, then it's a good answer, I think, and probably better than A, though there's nothing wrong with A besides its length.

VerbalBot · Answer

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The typical size difference between males and females

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The typical size difference between males and females

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