While it costs about the same to run nuclear plants as other types of

Hi GMATNinja AjiteshArun DmitryFarber - are there not 2 interpretations with regards to option B regarding the comparinson ?

Option B -interpretation # 1

While the cost of running nuclear plants is about the same as (the cost) for other types of power plants

Option B - interpretation # 2

While the cost of running nuclear plants is about the same as (the cost of running) for other types of power plants

Interpretation # 1 : cost of running nuclear plants vs overall cost of other plants

Interpretation # 2 : cost of running nuclear plants vs running cost of other plants

While the cost of running nuclear plants is about the same as for other types of power plants, the fixed costs that stem from building nuclear plants make the electricity they generate more expensive.

Hello GMATNinja, egmat,

While it costs about the same to run nuclear plants as other types of power plants, it is the fixed costs that stem from building nuclear plants that makes it more expensive for them to generate electricity.

(D) It costs about the same to run nuclear plants as for other types of power plants <independent clause>, whereas the electricity they generate is more expensive <dependent clause>, stemming from the fixed costs of building nuclear plants.

'they' in dependent clause could either be nuclear plants or power plants. Wouldn't nuclear plants be a preferred antecedent, since it is part of the subject of the 1st clause?
I believe the more critical error is usage of 'verb+ing modifer' followed by the 2nd clause. Since the usage of verb+ing is supposed to describe the preceding clause, which isn't the case here
Please share your comments on my analysis


Thanks a lot in advance. You have been very helpful...

Hello niyatisuri,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, your observation regarding the pronoun "they" is correct, however, your second point is not.

Here, the present participle ("verb+ing") phrase "stemming from the fixed costs of building nuclear plants" is correctly modifying the preceding clause - "whereas the electricity they generate is more expensive" - to convey the cause-effect relationship between the electricity generated by nuclear power plants being more expensive and these higher costs being tdue to the fixed costs of building nuclear plants; remember, the introduction of the present participle ("verb+ing"- “stemming” in this case) after a comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.

To understand the concept of "Comma + Present Participle for Cause-Effect Relationship" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~3 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Thanks for the explanation, so the question now is :
'What in particular makes D an incorrect answer choice?'

Hello GMATNinja, egmat,

While it costs about the same to run nuclear plants as other types of power plants, it is the fixed costs that stem from building nuclear plants that makes it more expensive for them to generate electricity.

(D) It costs about the same to run nuclear plants as for other types of power plants <independent clause>, whereas the electricity they generate is more expensive <dependent clause>, stemming from the fixed costs of building nuclear plants.

'they' in dependent clause could either be nuclear plants or power plants. Wouldn't nuclear plants be a preferred antecedent, since it is part of the subject of the 1st clause?

I believe the more critical error is usage of 'verb+ing modifer' followed by the 2nd clause. Since the usage of verb+ing is supposed to describe the preceding clause, which isn't the case here
Please share your comments on my analysis

I understand that it is implicit that if it is expensive to generate electricity, the electricity produced will also be expensive

I thought that option B distorts the meaning of the original sentence.

Options A says, it is expensive for nuclear plants to generate electricity (or the process of generating electricity is expensive), whereas Option B says, the electricity generated by Nuclear plants is expensive.

I understand that it is implicit that if it is expensive to generate electricity, the electricity produced will also be expensive but if someone can help clarify the meaning approach, that would be helpful.

BCDE choices all have the phrase "the electricity they generate". Should it be "the electricity that they generate"? Can the antecedent relative pronoun "that" or "which" of an attributive clause in GMAT exam be omitted? Though it is very normal to omit "that" or "which" when they are objects of a clause in oral English, I thought they are required in GMAT. Please correct me if I am wrong.

NEED HELP FROM EXPERT!

Thanks in advance for your help.

Hello, AcceleratorCC. Before I answer your question, I feel compelled to say that you might want to tone down the cry for assistance. Simply hitting the "request expert reply" button is enough for Experts to see that someone has a question.

Thank you so much Andrew! I am really sorry for the cry for assistance. I am new to GMAT club and wasn't aware of the "request expert reply" button . I will keep that in mind and won't make the same mistake in the future.

Thanks again for your help.

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Concepts tested here: Subject-Verb Agreement + Comparison + Pronouns + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• A pronoun can only have one referent in a sentence.
• A comparison must always be made between similar things.

A: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the plural noun "costs" with the singular verb "makes". Further, Option A incorrectly uses "it" as a placeholder pronoun in three contexts - "it costs about the same to run nuclear plants", "it is the fixed costs" and "makes it more expensive"; please remember, a pronoun can only have one referent in a sentence. Additionally, Option A uses the needlessly wordy phrase "makes it more expensive for them to generate electricity", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

B: Correct. This answer choice correctly refers to the plural noun "costs" with the plural verb "make". Further, Option B correctly compares "the cost of running nuclear plants" with "(the cost) for other types of power plants". Additionally, Option B avoids the pronoun errors seen in Options A and C, as it employs no pronouns. Besides, Option B is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

C: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the plural noun "costs" with the singular verb "makes". Further, Option C incorrectly uses "it" as a placeholder pronoun in two contexts - "it costs about the same to run nuclear plants" and "it is the fixed costs"; please remember, a pronoun can only have one referent in a sentence.

D: This answer choice uses the needlessly indirect clause "It costs about the same to run nuclear plants as for other types of power plants", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

E: This answer choice incorrectly compares the "cost of running nuclear plants" to "other power plants"; please remember, a comparison must always be made between similar things. Further, Option E uses the passive voice construction "made more expensive because of the fixed costs stemming from building nuclear plants", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

Hence, B is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

The comparison error is in A as well or is it in E only?
I think it's in A as well.
Can you please confirm. Thanks.

Posted from my mobile device

Hm, there’s some weird pronoun stuff going on here. The first “it” is a non-referential pronoun: in the phrase “it costs”, “it” doesn’t refer to anything at all. It’s sort of like saying “it is raining” or “it is a bad idea to lick frozen doorknobs.” (I may or may not speak from experience on that last one.)

Non-referential pronouns can be fine, but you don’t see them very often in correct GMAT answers, so they make me nervous.

And of course, there are three of those non-referential pronouns in the sentence! Both “…it is the fixed costs…” and “makes it more expensive” have non-referential versions of “it.” I can’t call them DEFINITE errors, but I don’t love them, and I can’t imagine that a correct GMAT sentence would have THREE non-referential pronouns. Non-referential pronouns just aren’t that awesome, and there’s no good reason to overuse them.

I also see no reason to use “them” toward the end of the sentence: why say “makes it more expensive for them to generate electricity” when you could just shorten it to “makes it more expensive to generate electricity”? Wasted words aren’t cool.

And if you’re not convinced by any of that stuff, there’s a wonderfully serious mistake in (A). “…the fixed costs… makes it more expensive…” That’s a clear subject-verb error.

I’m tired of (A) now. Let’s eliminate it.


I don’t see any major issues in (B). The pronoun “they” jumps out at me, and it seems to refer to the nearest plural, “nuclear plants.” And that works just fine: “the fixed costs that stem from building nuclear plants make the electricity [nuclear plants] generate more expensive.” No problem.

The only other potential objection I see is the comparison at the beginning of the sentence, but… hang on, it’ll be easier to explain WHY that comparison is OK if we put it side-by-side with another answer choice.

So for now, let’s keep (B), and I’ll say more about the comparison at the end of this post.


(C) has a few of the same problems we saw in (A). The subject-verb problem is the biggest issue: “the fixed costs… that makes” is definitely wrong.

We also have a couple of non-referential pronouns in the phrases “it costs about the same” and “it is the fixed costs…” These aren’t WRONG, exactly, but there’s no compelling reason to include them in the sentence unless they somehow clarify the meaning. For more detail, please see the explanation for (A).

But even if you’re OK with the funny non-referential pronouns, the subject-verb thing lets us eliminate (C).


(D) is just plain old confusing. For starters, the pronoun “they” logically needs to refer to “nuclear power plants”, since we know from the context (“stemming from the fixed costs of building nuclear plants”) that the nuclear plants generate more expensive electricity. But “they” is actually closer to “other types of power plants.” That’s confusing – and probably a good enough reason to eliminate (D).

Plus, I still don’t see any good reason to use a non-referential pronoun (“it costs…”) at the beginning of the sentence. See the explanation for (A) for more detail on this.

So (D) is out.

I promised that I’d come back to the comparison in (B), so here it is again, right next to (E):


The comparison error at the beginning of (E) is pretty darned subtle: “the cost of running nuclear plants is about the same as other types of power plants…” Wait, no. We’re trying to compare the COSTS of running the two types of plants, but (E) literally compares the costs of running nuclear plants to the other plants themselves. That doesn’t work.

The version in (B) (“the cost of running nuclear plants is about the same as for other types of power plants”) might not be perfect, but it’s definitely better: the use of the preposition makes it clear that we’re comparing the costs of running nuclear plants with the corresponding costs “for other types of plants.” Fair enough.

You could also argue that the second half of the sentence is clearer in (B) than in (E). (B) is in active voice and more direct: “the fixed costs… make the electricity… more expensive.” (E), on the other hand is passive: “the electricity… is made more expensive because of the fixed costs stemming from building nuclear plants.” (E) isn’t necessarily WRONG in this section, but it’s definitely not as clear and direct as (B).

So (B) is our answer.

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Hi GMATNinja,

Thanks for the explanation. I have one doubt about E though, in E as the 2nd sentence is formed by ",but" and can act as a independent clause does "they" at the start of the sentence refer to nuclear plants instead of nearest power plants (present in 1st sentence another independent clause) ?
Is that the reason for 2nd sentence in E to be correct?

Thanks in advance.