In the United States, a larger percentage of the defense budget is spe

Question

In the United States, a larger percentage of the defense budget is spent on development of an anti-missile shield than is spent on nuclear missile technology in the People’s Democratic Republic of North Korea.

(A) In the United States, a larger percentage of the defense budget is spent on development of an anti-missile shield than is spent on nuclear missile technology in the People’s Democratic Republic of North Korea.

(B) In the United States they spend a larger percentage of the defense budget on development of an anti-missile shield than the People’s Democratic Republic of North Korea does on nuclear missile technology.

(C) A larger percentage of the United States’ defense budget is spent on development of an anti-missile shield than the People’s Democratic Republic of North Korea spends on nuclear missile technology.

(D) The United States spends a larger percentage of its defense budget developing its anti-missile shield than the People’s Democratic Republic of North Korea spending on nuclear missile technology.

(E) The United States spends a larger percentage of its defense budget on developing its anti-missile shield than the People’s Democratic Republic of North Korea does on nuclear missile technology.

TejasD · Answer

E.

A .starts with in united States illogically shows that both things compared are in the US.

B. They is ambiguous.

C.Wrong comparison.not parallel.

D. Parallelism error.

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Kurtosis · Answer

Concept Tested: Comparison

Objects compared: Percentage spent on development of anti missile shield by US vs. percentage spent on nuclear missile technology by Republic of North Korea.

(A) In the United States, a larger percentage of the defense budget is spent on development of an anti-missile shield than is spent on nuclear missile technology in the People’s Democratic Republic of North Korea. - Incorrect. Comparison error and Illogical. Appears as if spending in North Korea also happened in United States. A larger percentage is spent on X than on Y. A larger percentage is spent on X than is on Y is wrong.

(B) In the United States they spend a larger percentage of the defense budget on development of an anti-missile shield than the People’s Democratic Republic of North Korea does on nuclear missile technology. - Pronoun error.

(C) A larger percentage of the United States’ defense budget is spent on development of an anti-missile shield than the People’s Democratic Republic of North Korea spends on nuclear missile technology. - Incorrect. Percentage spent is compared with spending of North Korea.

(D) The United States spends a larger percentage of its defense budget developing its anti-missile shield than the People’s Democratic Republic of North Korea spending on nuclear missile technology. - Incorrect. Usage of 'developing' and 'spending' makes the sentence appear awkward.

(E) The United States spends a larger percentage of its defense budget on developing its anti-missile shield than the People’s Democratic Republic of North Korea does on nuclear missile technology. - Correct.

Answer: E

Kurtosis · Answer

'They' is not ambiguous. There is no reference to 'they' in option B.

TejasD · Answer

My bad.

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abhishekdadarwal2009 · Answer

In the United States, a larger percentage of the defense budget is spent on development
of an anti-missile shield than is spent on nuclear missile technology in
the People’s Democratic Republic of North Korea.

(A) In the United States, a larger percentage of the defense budget is spent on
development of an anti-missile shield than is spent on nuclear missile technology
in the People’s Democratic Republic of North Korea.

(B) In the United States they spend a larger percentage of the defense budget on
development of an anti-missile shield than the People’s Democratic Republic
of North Korea does on nuclear missile technology.

(C) A larger percentage of the United States’ defense budget is spent on development
of an anti-missile shield than the People’s Democratic Republic of
North Korea spends on nuclear missile technology.

(D) The United States spends a larger percentage of its defense budget developing
its anti-missile shield than the People’s Democratic Republic of North
Korea spending on nuclear missile technology.

(E) The United States spends a larger percentage of its defense budget on developing
its anti-missile shield than the People’s Democratic Republic of North
Korea does on nuclear missile technology.

1.Larger....than,comparison between the spending by two countries.
2.Comparison can only be done between similar entities and therfore A is out,B is out,C and D are also out.

E is the corect comparison because the sepnding by us on the anti missile tech is compared to the spending by north korea on the nuclear technology.

koolpanacea · Answer

selected E.

A - Incorrect use of possessive pronoun (their). Comparison is not parallel.
B - Incorrect use of pronouns (they and their). Comparison is not parallel.
C - Took time to eliminate this option. Eliminated this option because comparison didn't sound correct.
D - spend vs. spending.

please let me know if I did something wrong.

Bunuel · Answer

MANHATTAN REVIEW OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

This sentence is comparative. X does more of A than Y does of B. What is the X? The United States. What is the Y? North Korea. The simplest structure of an English sentence is to start with the subject and the verb. D & E start in this fashion. A and C are passive. The use of ‘they’ in B is incorrect as it is unclear to what ‘they’ refers. Choice D has a mistake in parallel structure. It uses spends/spending. Choice E is the correct answer.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Choice A:  This answer choice modifies the second clause with the phrase "In the United States", incorrectly implying that the act of spending money on nuclear missile technology in the People’s Democratic Republic of North Korea is also happening in the United States. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice B:  This answer choice suffers from pronoun ambiguity; there is no clear antecedent for the pronoun "they". Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice C:  This answer choice incorrectly compares "percentage...spent" to North Korea's action of spending money on its nuclear missile technology. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice D:  This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between the verbs "spends" and "spending". Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice E:  This answer choice correctly compares the action undertaken by the United States to the action undertaken by North Korea, preserves the intended meaning of the sentence, and maintains parallelism and proper pronoun use. Thus, this answer choice is correct.

Hence, E is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Avoiding Pronoun Ambiguity on GMAT", you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGc9RgNXBZE

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

VerbalBot · Answer

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In the United States, a larger percentage of the defense budget is spe

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In the United States, a larger percentage of the defense budget is spe

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