National Geographic magazine still remains the most popular magazine;

Question

Project SC Butler: Day 112: Sentence Correction (SC2) 
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National Geographic magazine still remains the most popular magazine; its monthly subscriptions  exceed  any other magazine in the same genre.

A. exceed
B. exceed the number of subscriptions of
C. have been in excess over the subscriptions of
D. exceed the subscriptions of
E. number higher than the subscriptions of

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GKomoku · Accepted Answer

National Geographic magazine still remains the most popular magazine; its monthly subscriptions exceed any other magazine in the same genre. Meaning: 1. National Geographic magazine still remains the most popular magazine 2. National Geographic's monthly subscriptions exceed any other magazine in the same genre We still can gasp intended meaning with wrong comparison here, the meaning is National Geographic's monthly subscriptions exceed subscriptions of any other magazine . Errors and POE: Whenever we see the comparison question, we have to find the heart of this comparison and make sure that this comparison is logically and grammatically // to each other. heart.JPG A. exceed -- monthly subscriptions vs any other magazine itself B. exceed the number of subscriptions of -- monthly subscriptions vs the number of subscriptions C. have been in excess over the subscriptions of -- monthly subscriptions vs the subscriptions (the way this answer is constructed is too wordy, let's keep it so far) E. number higher than the subscriptions of -- monthly subscriptions number vs the subscriptions (moreover is past is missing a verb - cannot stand as independent clause) D. exceed the subscriptions of -- monthly subscriptions vs the subscriptions Between (C) and (D), (D) is clear and concise D.JPG (D) is the answer

bansalsaurabh7 · Answer

Can any of the expert please clarify why B is not the correct answer?

varunbawa · Answer

Hi Saurabh, I am not an expert but as I can see you figured out most of the issues and were stuck between B & D. 
The reason why B is wrong is because of the comparison issue.

In option B,  The monthly subscription  is compared with the  number of subscription , this is the reason why B is wrong. Hope it solves your doubt.

celo700 · Answer

National Geographic magazine still remains the most popular magazine; its monthly subscriptions  exceed  any other magazine in the same genre.

A. exceed (Wrong because the magazine's monthly subscriptions are being compared to other magazines. It should be compared to the monthly subscriptions of other magazines.)
B. exceed the number of subscriptions of (Wrong because monthly subscrpitions are being compared to number of subscriptions.)
C. have been in excess over the subscriptions of (The context is set in present tense. Hence have been is wrong.)
D. exceed the subscriptions of (Right comparison)
E. number higher than the subscriptions of (wrong because subscriptions number is being compared to subscriptions)

the27s · Answer

Bunuel , I request for your help with this question.

I was stuck between B & D. When 'Monthly Subscriptions' is used, isn't it the number that is being talked about anyway? Hence, could you please throw some light on why 'B' cannot be as acceptable as D.

I was hoping that 'B' would be the answer because it explicitly uses the word 'number'

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

the27s

If we want to compare a number to something, it has to be another number. Even though we are counting subscriptions, those still aren't the same as the numbers themselves. However, I can see the confusion here, because the credited answer doesn't really use the words "subscriptions" and "exceed" correctly. If we say that one plural noun "exceeds" another, this doesn't have to be about number, so the sentence isn't really clear. For instance, we wouldn't say "My coworkers exceed yours" if we meant that I simply had more coworkers than you. We have "outnumber" for that. "Exceed" might mean that they outperform others in some way, but that would need to be specified.

Meanwhile, we don't generally use "subscriptions" to mean "number of subscribers." If we did, we still wouldn't want to add the word "number" in one part of the sentence and not the other, so B would still fail. However, D is not great. The sentence would work better if we compared "number of subscribers" to "that of any other magazine." In that case, "exceed" would work fine, since one number can clearly exceed another with no confusion about meaning.

thakurarun85 · Answer

Is "the number of" redundant in B?

Seems like the number of looks like redundant as the subscription is already serving the purpose.

KaushalSingh · Answer

As per option B; 
What is the difference between "monthly subscription" and "the number of subscription"?
If i see the "monthly subscription" as "the number of subscriptions in a month" then it is probably compares correctly with "the number of subscriptions of any other magazine"?
Please correct my understanding!

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National Geographic magazine still remains the most popular magazine;

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

National Geographic magazine still remains the most popular magazine;

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