What is the difference between the following three

Question

What is the difference between the following three sentences.

She is the most dedicated gardener on the block, every day watering the more than 50 plants in her yard.

She is the most dedicated gardener on the block, every day watering more than 50 plants in her yard.

She is the most dedicated gardener on the block, every day watering more than the 50 plants in her yard.

esledge · Answer

She is the most dedicated gardener on the block, every day watering the more than 50 plants in her yard.  
Every day, she waters the plants in her yard, of which there are more than 50.

She is the most dedicated gardener on the block, every day watering more than 50 plants in her yard. 
Every day, she waters more than 50 of the plants in her yard, which may not be all of the plants she has.

She is the most dedicated gardener on the block, every day watering more than the 50 plants in her yard. 
Every day, she waters the 50 plants in her yard, as well as other plants (perhaps those in a neighbor's yard?).

These examples are all about the difference the use and placement of "the" can make.

reva · Answer

thanks for the explanations can you give some other example....

Thanks

esledge · Answer

The  more than 100 students in 9th grade voted for Jonah for Student Council president.
More than  the  100 students in 9th grade voted for Jonah for Student Council president.
More than 100 students in 9th grade voted for Jonah for Student Council president.

One way to think of it is that “the,” as an article, always goes with a noun. So you might mentally put parentheses around “the” and the noun “100 students.” The placement of modifiers (either in the parentheses or outside the parentheses) affects the meaning.

( The  more than 100 students) in 9th grade… 
There are more than 100 students in 9th grade, and they ALL did something…

More than ( the  100 students) in 9th grade… 
There are 100 students in the 9th grade, and along with “more” other people, did something…

More than (100 students) in 9th grade… 
Of the students in 9th grade, more than 100 of them did something…

Comparing examples #2 and #3, notice that “the” effectively places a limit on the number of students. Omitting “the” allows #3 to imply that there must be more than 100 students in the 9th grade.

vinay.kaipra · Answer

eslege, very good explanation. But, all these sentences are correct in their own means. But, whether this kind of usages are tested in GMAT? The reason being each of the above 3 sentences have their own context and we will not be able to identify which one is most apt for the context. Please clarify.

esledge · Answer

Good point, vinay.kaipra. Grammar errors are clear reasons to eliminate choices, but meaning differences alone are not.

It is rare for a GMAT question to be determined by meaning alone, and even then you will be able to first eliminate 2-3 choices based on grammar errors. And then, the GMAT writers will always give a clue to the correct/intended meaning.

Just some examples off the top of my head:
--One of the options will have a ridiculous meaning if the grammar is taken literally.
--To indicate order in which events happen, they will use dates, or ordinal language such as "before...after..."
--A active verb will be erroneously paired with an inanimate subject.

When all else fails, you can use the original sentence as the meaning tie-breaker.

adalfu · Answer

very good refresher on the subtleties of the article  the

reminds me of subtleties of the commas!

thanks! kudos to you

What is the difference between the following three

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards