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555-605 (Medium)|   Grammatical/Rhetorical Construction|   Modifiers|                  
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jcerdae
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With only 5 percent of the world's population, United States citizens 19 Jan 2021, 18:46
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I still dont get why the option is not D!!

Please help me!!
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With only 5 percent of the world's population, United States citizens 19 Jan 2021, 22:54
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jcerdae
I still dont get why the option is not D!!
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Hi jcerdae, D says:

Despite having only 5 percent of the world's population, United States citizens consume 28 percent of its nonrenewable resources, drive more than one-third of its automobiles, and use 21 times more water per capita than Europeans do.

Despite having only 5 percent of the world's population is a participial phrase, modifying United States citizens.

So, D seems to suggest that US citizens have 5 percent of the world's population (citizens have population). But that's absurd; US citizens comprise/account for 5 percent of the world's population.
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With only 5 percent of the world's population, United States citizens 20 Jan 2021, 16:14
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jcerdae
I still dont get why the option is not D!!
Hi jcerdae, D says:

Despite having only 5 percent of the world's population, United States citizens consume 28 percent of its nonrenewable resources, drive more than one-third of its automobiles, and use 21 times more water per capita than Europeans do.

Despite having only 5 percent of the world's population is a participial phrase, modifying United States citizens.

So, D seems to suggest that US citizens have 5 percent of the world's population (citizens have population). But that's absurd; US citizens comprise/account for 5 percent of the world's population.
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Thank you very much for the fast explanation! now I understand what the error is!!

These posts also helped me to understand better:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-use-of-p ... 52478.html
https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-growth-o ... 75679.html
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With only 5 percent of the world's population, United States citizens 13 Dec 2021, 00:30
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jcerdae
I still dont get why the option is not D!!

Please help me!!
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The problem with option D is meaning based.
The subject of the sentence is US citizens and citizens cannot have population ( in terms of possession).
IF the subject was US ( or any country), Having word as modifier would make sense.
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With only 5 percent of the world's population, United States citizens 13 Dec 2021, 12:05
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I have learnt that Despite is always used to show positive contrast followed by negative contrast, eg- Despite winning, team didn't receive the prize money. Whereas although is to be used to show negative contrast followed by positive contrast, eg: Although he lost , he still won the hearts of people.

So using above logic , I chose despite as an option (as per current context). Please correct me If I am wrong in above understanding.
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With only 5 percent of the world's population, United States citizens 13 Dec 2021, 23:49
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VIGHNESHKAMATH
I have learnt that Despite is always used to show positive contrast followed by negative contrast, eg- Despite winning, team didn't receive the prize money. Whereas although is to be used to show negative contrast followed by positive contrast, eg: Although he lost , he still won the hearts of people.

So using above logic , I chose despite as an option (as per current context). Please correct me If I am wrong in above understanding.
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Hi Vignesh, you might want to go thru this post.
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With only 5 percent of the world's population, United States citizens 26 Apr 2022, 00:40
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I have a doubt in answer choice (D). "Despite having" implies that "US despite having 5% of ...., US citizens consume 28% ...". Is the implication correct, if correct then why this choice should be incorrect?
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With only 5 percent of the world's population, United States citizens 26 Apr 2022, 02:17
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oldmonk1
I have a doubt in answer choice (D). "Despite having" implies that "US despite having 5% of ...., US citizens consume 28% ...". Is the implication correct, if correct then why this choice should be incorrect?
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This post answers your question.
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With only 5 percent of the world's population, United States citizens 22 Oct 2023, 06:04
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With only 5 percent of the world's population, United States citizens consume 28 percent of its nonrenewable resources, drive more than one-third of its automobiles, and use 21 times more water per capita than Europeans do.

(A) With
(B) As
(C) Being
(D) Despite having
(E) Although accounting for
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Hi AjiteshArun,

My understanding is that here the pronoun 'its' is referring to "world's". Is my understanding correct ?
If my understanding is correct, then I'm little confused because both 'its' and "world's" are in possessive case.

Thanks
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With only 5 percent of the world's population, United States citizens 23 Oct 2023, 03:27
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perseverance2021
Hi AjiteshArun,

My understanding is that here the pronoun 'its' is referring to "world's". Is my understanding correct ?
If my understanding is correct, then I'm little confused because both 'its' and "world's" are in possessive case.

Thanks
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Hi perseverance2021,

You're right about its and world's.

1. Noun

{Ankit} {he} {him} {his} {himself}

2. Possessive noun

{Ankit's} {he} {him} {his} {himself}

Some people think that the subject and object forms (in this case, he and him) are impossible when the noun is in the possessive (in this case, Ankit's), but even they wouldn't have a problem with the possessive his. So, to sum up, some people may object to using it with world's, but they wouldn't have a problem with its and world's.

Just keep in mind that we should try not to use this rule, and we should definitely not use it as an absolute [04:27]:

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With only 5 percent of the world's population, United States citizens 14 Nov 2024, 01:32
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