Whereas lines of competition are clearly defined in the more established industries, in the Internet industry they are blurred and indistinct, as companies that compete one day may be partners the next.

A. Whereas lines of competition are clearly defined in the more established industries, in the Internet industry they are blurred and indistinct, as companies that compete

B. Although the lines of competition are clearly defined in industries that are more established, they are blurred and indistinct in the Internet industry, as competing companies

C. The lines of competition are clearly defined in the more established industries, unlike the Internet where they are blurred and indistinct, as companies that compete

D. Unlike more established industries, where the lines of competition are clearly defined, they are burred and indistinct in the Internet industry, as companies that compete

E. Unlike more established industries, with clearly defined lines of competition, those of the Internet industry are blurred and indistinct, as competing companies

Whereas lines of competition are clearly defined in the more established industries, in the Internet industry they are blurred and indistinct, as companies that compete one day may be partners the next.

A. Whereas lines of competition are clearly defined in the more established industries, in the Internet industry they are blurred and indistinct, as companies that compete
Correct.

B. Although the lines of competition are clearly defined in industries that are more established, they are blurred and indistinct in the Internet industry, as competing companies
Wrong.
"the more established industries" differs from "industries that are more established". If you say "THE more + Adjective + Noun" ==> [more adjective] plays as adjective that modifies the noun directly. But when you say "industries that are more established ....(than what?)" ==> you're comparing industries with some thing else. But there's nothing to compare here --> the comparison is incomplete. (correct grammar is: .... more ....than....)


C. The lines of competition are clearly defined in the more established industries, unlike the Internet where they are blurred and indistinct, as companies that compete
Wrong. Comparison problem: the lines vs. the internet.

D. Unlike more established industries, where the lines of competition are clearly defined, they are burred and indistinct in the Internet industry, as companies that compete
Wrong. Pronoun problem. "they" refers to what?

E. Unlike more established industries, with clearly defined lines of competition, those of the Internet industry are blurred and indistinct, as competing companies[/quote]
Wrong. Pronoun problem. "those" refers to what?

Hope it helps.

A. Whereas lines of competition are clearly defined in the more established industries, in the Internet industry they are blurred and indistinct, as companies that compete
- more appropriate, even though not perfect IMO.
B. Although the lines of competition are clearly defined in industries that are more established, they are blurred and indistinct in the Internet industry, as competing companies
- seems to imply that the internet industry is also among the "more established" industries.
C. The lines of competition are clearly defined in the more established industries, unlike the Internet where they are blurred and indistinct, as companies that compete
- should be internet industry
D. Unlike more established industries, where the lines of competition are clearly defined, they are burred and indistinct in the Internet industry, as companies that compete
- not clear what "they" refers to: industries or lines of competition
E. Unlike more established industries, with clearly defined lines of competition, those of the Internet industry are blurred and indistinct, as competing companies
- same argument as D

The first word after the comma has to be the word being modified OR have parallel reasoning.

A. Whereas lines of competition are clearly defined in the more established industries, in the Internet industry they are blurred and indistinct, as companies that compete
After the comma, the sentence should speak of 'lines of competition' to maintain parallelism.
A does not do that.

C. The lines of competition are clearly defined in the more established industries, unlike the Internet where they are blurred and indistinct, as companies that compete
Here, it is comparing clear definition of the 'lines of competition' with the 'internet'

D. Unlike more established industries, where the lines of competition are clearly defined, they are burred and indistinct in the Internet industry, as companies that compete
'They' does not clearly refer to the 'lines of competition'. It could also refer to industries.

E. Unlike more established industries, with clearly defined lines of competition, those of the Internet industry are blurred and indistinct, as competing companies
'Those' does not clearly refer to the 'lines of competition'. It could also refer to industries.

B. Although the lines of competition are clearly defined in industries that are more established, they are blurred and indistinct in the Internet industry, as competing companies
Correct answer.

In the default statement the contrast is b/w "lines of competition" and "in internet industry"

whereas lines of competition are clearly defined in the more established industries, in the Internet industry they are blurred and indistinct,

- the sentence can be easily reworded -"whereas LOC are clearly........they are blurred and indistinct in the internet industry"

The contrast is correct in Option B, but the official answer is A. Why so?

What should the approach in such Q`s where the contrast in the default statement is not proper.

Can someone please explain why A is right and E is wrong

For one thing, pronoun ambiguity (a pronoun with multiple eligible antecedents, in this case lines of competition and industries) is acceptable on GMAT. Also, generally in such sentences, what works is to split the sentence into corresponding clauses:

i) Whereas lines of competition are clearly defined in the more established industries
ii) In the Internet industry they are blurred and indistinct

lines of competition (a noun) and they (a pronoun) are subjects in their respective clauses. Hence, they would refer to lines of competition.

Nevertheless, it is not a good idea to eliminate an answer choice because of pronoun ambiguity.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses the scenarios of pronoun usage, their application and examples in significant detail. If you can PM you email-id, I can send you the corresponding section.
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Whereas lines of competition are clearly defined in the more established industries, in the Internet industry they are blurred and indistinct, as companies that compete one day may be partners the next.

A. Whereas lines of competition are clearly defined in the more established industries, in the Internet industry they are blurred and indistinct, as companies that compete - Correct

B. Although the lines of competition are clearly defined in industries that are more established, they are blurred and indistinct in the Internet industry, as competing companies
Two issues:
1) that are -> is not required
2) competing companies -> Not parallel with "may be partners the next"

C. The lines of competition are clearly defined in the more established industries, unlike the Internet where they are blurred and indistinct, as companies that compete
Two issues
1) unlike X Y
So "Lines" cannot be compared to/with internet companies.
2) The original sentence talks about Internet industries and not internet.

D. Unlike more established industries, where the lines of competition are clearly defined, they are burred and indistinct in the Internet industry, as companies that compete
Wrong comparsion -> Industries compared with/to lines

E. Unlike more established industries, with clearly defined lines of competition, those of the Internet industry are blurred and indistinct, as competing companies
Comparison should be made between industries and industries
Those refers to industries and industries of Internet industry is wrong.

HI Daagh, thanks for prompt response, I know that "they" logically should refer to lines, but my concern is we cant assume that "they " is referring to lines since grammatically it can refer to both lines and the industries,


Just as in many SC questions when we have multiple antecedents of it , we omit that choice , however we know logically "it" should refer to one clear antecedent

This is a comparison between the fledgling Internet industry and other industries that are more established than the Internet industry. Again logically speaking, they can only refer to the lines and not the established Industries. Although and whereas are both contrast markers and I would feel any of them is good enough.

However, we can decide this question through grammatical clues.



A. Whereas lines of competition are clearly defined in the more established industries, in the Internet industry they are blurred and indistinct, as companies that compete ---'One day' is an adverb and requires a verb such as compete to modify. That is what A provides. Correct.

B. Although the lines of competition are clearly defined in industries that are more established, they are blurred and indistinct in the Internet industry, as competing companies -- The adverb ‘one day’ cannot modify 'companies', a noun.

C. The lines of competition are clearly defined in the more established industries, unlike the Internet where they are blurred and indistinct, as companies that compete – The Internet is a not a physical place. ‘Where’ is not the appropriate relative pronoun to refer to ‘Internet’.

D. Unlike more established industries, where the lines of competition are clearly defined, they are blurred and indistinct in the Internet industry, as companies that compete --- Industries are not places that can be referred by ‘where’.

E. Unlike more established industries, with clearly defined lines of competition, those of the Internet industry are blurred and indistinct, as competing companies -- ‘those’ is wrong since the comparison is with Internet Industry and not those of the internet industry. In addition, competing companies 'has' modification problems as in B
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