Although about 99 percent of the more than 50 million Turks are Muslim

Question

Although about 99 percent of the more than 50 million  Turks are Muslims, the republic founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923 is resolutely secular.

A. Although about 99 percent of the more than 50 million

B. Although about 99 percent of over 50 million of the

C. Although about 99 percent of more than 50 million

D. Despite the fact that about 99 percent of more than 50 million

E. Despite the fact that about 99 percent of over 50 million

joshnsit · Accepted Answer

Difficult to explain, but let me take a shot. This is pretty similar to the one of OG questions "In 1791 Robert Carter III, one of ...". Have a look into this link: in-1791-robert-carter-iii-one-of-the-wealthiest-plantation-138325.html Basic concept: the before a category is either referring to abstract class or complete/total members of that class. From abstract perspective: "Use of coffee is bad" is wrong though "The use of coffee is bad" is correct. From completeness perspective: "A Cat is good" mean that one particular cat is good though the "The Cat is good" mean that cat as a complete category in toto is good. In B, construction of first sub-clause is like: About 99 % of over 50 million of the Turks are Muslims. As per our completeness/totality perspective, placement of the before Turks will mean that author is referring to the complete/total worldwide population of Turks and not just the Turks in the republic . Now let us take a closer look at A and C.. In A, construction of first sub-clause is like: About 99% of the X are Muslims. In C, construction of first sub-clause is like: About 99% of X are Muslims. The only difference between A and C is around the . The author want to consider the complete population here while giving his argument, so A makes more sense. If you don't place the , it will not consider that the noun here represent complete population. If you still have problems in visualizing why C is wrong, have a look into C on this link . For first question(In 1791....), C is wrong and for second question, (As a result of the ground-breaking work), D is wrong. Both of them are wrong because of the very reason that absence of the makes the quantity of class non-complete or less than total. over is considered good only with spatial references over the table], so E and B are down. The presence of 'Despite the fact that' made me frown on D and E. I would have preferred "Despite that" rather than "Despite the fact that" in a GMAT question. I am yet to see a GMAT question correct with this usage. I think it was the presence of word fact which made me worrisome with D and E as presence of fact is generally redundant in GMAT questions, unless word fact is explicitly needed to support the meaning of the sentence.

iPinnacle · Answer

I think "A" is the correct answer. 
All other answer choices trying to distort the meaning of the original sentence.

Original sentence tells that "about 99 percent of  the  more than 50 million Turks ".

The use of  the  indicates the sentence is talking about all the turks in the world.

But all the answer choices ignores "the" . So I guess "A" is the correct one.

Jasonlu1981 · Answer

I'll go with A.

"The more than 50 million Turks" are referred in particular in the sentence. 
B - If change it to "the over 50 millions", then it should be right.
C - changed the meaning of the sentence. Shoulde be "the more than 50 million"
D - Wordy. IMO "Despite 99 percent of the more than 50 million"
E - Wordy. IMO "Desipte 99 percent of the over 50 million"

What's the OA?

mmphf · Answer

I don't see anything wrong with A.

Although must be used, because it is a conjunction, so I eliminated D and E. B and E simply don't sound right. I think we need a "the" in there, but I don't have a rule to point at. Maybe someone else can explain it.

nverma · Answer

A is right :Although about 99 percent of  the  more than 50 million
A would have been wrong IF :Although about 99 percent of more than 50 million

Paris75 · Answer

Hi,

First: GMAT does not like " despite the fact that ". So you can kick out quite easily D and E.

Now look at A B C. " Although about 99 percent of X"

X needs to be a noun . You need to have "Although 5% of the students are drunk, ...."

a. Although about 99 percent of the more than 50 million -  Correct answer for me  
b. Although about 99 percent of over 50 million of the -  Wrong because  over  change the meaning 
c. Although about 99 percent of more than 50 million -  Wrong because you need to have a noun after  of  
d. Despite the fact that about 99 percent of more than 50 million -  Wrong  Despite the fact  is wordy 
e. Despite the fact that about 99 percent of over 50 million -  Wrong  Despite the fact  is wordy

Hence, answer A for me.

Hope it helps!

ashutoshr · Answer

Agree with 'A'
A) THE more than 50million turks - let's call them x.They are Muslims.
B) There could be ten billion turks. 99% of over 50million of them are Muslims.
C) Reason similar as B.
D) & E) Lengthy and meaning different as B and C

VerbalBot · Answer

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Although about 99 percent of the more than 50 million Turks are Muslim

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Although about 99 percent of the more than 50 million Turks are Muslim

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