Whereas high speeds generally cannot be achieved by ramjets

OA is B. I chose (B) but is anything wrong with (E)?

Both the conjunctions - 'whereas' & 'although' has different usage.

Although - it is used to connect 2 different clauses which are related to one another. Some thing like despite the fact or but
Although she knew that it was dangerous, she walked home by herself.
Although I begged him not to, he decided to go.

Whereas - is used to compare to things totally unique by themselves. Like comaprison of apples to oranges on a common attribute

He must be about sixty, whereas his wife looks about thirty.
You eat a massive plate of food for lunch, whereas I have just a sandwich.

Moreover in 'E' the phrase 'does not have the capability' is wordy and it is out of synch with can attain

A " being " is wrong is A , "their " is ambiguous and the sentence is written in passive .
B is correct
C there is no contrast as the original sentence wants to convey also use of preposition with is wrong .
D The is meaning error and it is fragment without main verb .
E it long and wordy, there is a change in meaning it is saying that it is not capable to achieve high speeds .

Careful, arvind910619. Every incorrect answer choice has to actually be wrong in some clear way. Choices aren't wrong simply because of length/wordiness, passive voice, or the word "being." Try running back through this thread and seeing if you can identify grammar/meaning errors in all the incorrect choices.

GMATNinja daagh can you please explain this one. Unclear about the points below:
- Can we compare a singular noun to a plural noun?
- Also, the split between whereas and although.

Thanks!

Hi Experts,

Can you tell me what is the subject for "can attain" here?

Hi archanam9449,

The subject of can attain is a scramjet.

regarding choice D.
"generally unable..." present middle modifier problem. middle modifier problem can grammatically modify the preceding phrase or following phrase and ,so, become ambiguous.

thangvietnam I'm afraid I have to give a rather unsatisfying answer. There is no easy way to tell. It all depends on what the author seems to be trying to say, and how the parts of the sentence interact with each other. It's certainly valid to try to read the part in question as an adjectival modifier applying to "ramjets." That's part of what I was getting at earlier--the two initial modifiers slammed together make it hard to interpret what the author is trying to say. That in itself is a problem! Normally, if we wanted to apply "unable" to "ramjets," we would clarify that by putting "which." So we can say "Unlike the ramjets, which are unable," but we shouldn't say "Unlike the ramjets, unable."

can we also point that in option D it says the ramjets which is plural comparing to a scramjet is this wrong too ?

There's nothing inherently wrong with comparing a plural noun to a singular one. But, as Dmitry Faber noted in an earlier post, (D)'s comparison is illogical because a scramjet seems to be a kind of ramjet. To see why this is problematic, consider the following examples:

1) Although dogs are generally excellent companions, Tim's golden retriever smells like patchouli and is often sulky and lethargic.

2) Unlike dogs, which are excellent companions, Tim's golden retriever smells like patchouli and is often sulky and lethargic.

Notice that the first sentence makes sense. Dogs generally behave one way, but Tim's dog is an exception to this general canine rule. However, the second sentence doesn't work -- Tim's golden retriever isn't unlike dogs. It is a dog!

(D)'s logic is like the second sentence above. A scramjet can't be unlike ramjets, because it's a type of ramjet! Rather, it makes more sense to write that ramjets usually behave one way, but this particular ramjet behaves a different way. This is the meaning conveyed by (B).

I hope that helps!

Hi GMATNinja

Thanks for the explanation! I am confused since in this question (https://gmatclub.com/forum/while-the-ow ... 83493.html), the official explanation says that the singular and plural can't be compared

A couple of disclaimers: first, the people who write explanations in the OG are not the same people who actually write the questions. So, you have to take those explanations with a grain of salt.

Second, the question that you've linked is very old. While many old questions are valuable study resources, some don't align well with the modern-day test. This particular concept doesn't seem to be a "rule" that GMAC currently follows, so it's best not to worry about it too much.

On the whole, though, both of these questions come down to a decision about comparisons. Out of the available options for each question, which provides the most logicial comparison?

In the question on this thread, (B) wins out for the reasons explained in our previous post. In the question that you've linked, the main difference between answer choices is whether they compare a plural to a plural or a singular to a plural. If that's truly the only difference, then sure -- choose the one that compares a plural to a plural.

One final thought: the GMAT is a reasoning test, not a do-you-know-the-rules test. So if you can't find any black-and-white grammar errors, it's best not to rely on "rules" that may or may not hold true for every question. Looking for the most clear and logical comparison on both of these questions will lead you to the right answer, without invoking any special GMAT "rules."

I hope that helps!

"although " shows a supprise. "whereas" shows a contrast. we need a contrast here, so, whereas is good

i though'assistance of' as an incorrect idiom .

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