A decade after initiating the nation's most comprehensive

Question

A decade after initiating the nation's most comprehensive and aggressive antismoking program,  per capita consumption of cigarettes in California declined from over 125 packs annually per person to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as  in the nation as a whole.

B. annual per capita consumption of cigarettes in California declined from over 125 packs to about 60, more than twice as great as that 
C. California's annual per capita consumption of cigarettes declined from over 125 packs per person to about 60, more than twice as great as the drop 
D. California has seen per capita consumption of cigarettes decline from over 125 packs annually to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as that 
E. California has seen annual per capita consumption of cigarettes decline from over 125 packs per person to about 60, more than twice as great as that

I am not sure if the OA is correct. 
Can somebody pls explain?

sashikanth · Answer

Hi,

Good question. We can straight away eliminate A,B and C because 'A decade after initiating the nation's most comprehensive and aggressive antismoking program' modifies California, while all the options above wrongly modifies per capita. Now tug is between D and E.

E is wrong because 'more than twice as great as that' wrongly refers to California. D corrects the same by using the noun 'a drop'. Hope this helps

krishnasty · Answer

But isn't the antismoking program modifing the consumption of cigarettes and not California ?? :shock:

sashikanth · Answer

Well, look at this modifier 'A decade after  initiating  the nation's most comprehensive and aggressive antismoking program'. when we have a verb 'initiating' here immediately the question arises 'who has initiated?'. Options a,b,c wrongly implies that per capital income initiated, because of placing 'per capital income' immediately after the comma. Instead, it should be California. Also its not preferable to analyze a question looking at underlined part. Take it this way, read the sentence which is not underlined and try to place best( that is gramatically in sync) among the 5 options given below in underlined part to get the right answer. Hope this helps.

daagh · Answer

Agreed that ABC flout modification norms, we are left with D and E. 
E has a flaw of redundancy in that per capita and per person is a repetition. If you wish to go deeper into E, you can say that the figure 60 wrongly represents the drop.

D dodges this trap by using a summing up modifier namely ‘ a drop’

OA is correct. what is the doubt?

MHIKER · Answer

Just follow one thing that every sentence OTHER THAN D has per capita and per person which redundant. SO D is correct.
Hope the answer clear.

daagh · Answer

@Baten80: Don't rush to conclusion. B also has no 'per person' phrase.

soumanag · Answer

Hi,

There are 2 concepts being tested. 
i) modifier - who started the campaign
ii) Redundancy - per capita - per person

A decade after initiating the nation's most comprehensive and aggressive antismoking program,  per capita consumption of cigarettes in California declined from over 125 packs annually per person to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as in  the nation as a whole.

B.  annual per capita consumption of cigarettes  in California declined from over 125 packs to about 60, more than twice as great as that -   initiating the nation's most comprehensive and aggressive antismoking program modifies annual per capita consumption. 
C.  California's annual per capita consumption  of cigarettes declined from over 125 packs per person to about 60, more than twice as great as the drop -   initiating the nation's most comprehensive and aggressive antismoking program modifies annual per capita consumption. 
D.  California  has seen per capita consumption of cigarettes decline from over 125 packs annually to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as that -  Correct option. 
E. California has seen annual  per capita  consumption of cigarettes decline from over 125 packs  per person  to about 60, more than twice as great as that -  per capita & per person is redundant

Correct option: D

gmat1220 · Answer

clear D. well explained by daagh.

MHIKER · Answer

Thanks daagh.
B is too much wordy.

vivesomnium · Answer

who inititated the programme? california. Since A, B and C donot have california as subject they are rejected
is the drop twice more than the whole nation's, or is the condumption? Drop in consumption. therefore, D

IndigoIntentions · Answer

D since California needs to be the subject. 
E wrongly modifies 60 whereas we need to indicate that the drop was more than twice as great as in the nation as a whole.

A decade after initiating the nation's most comprehensive

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