Sentence Correction

again oa is c but y not e?is thr ne differnce in use of despite and although?

283. Even though its per capita food supply hardly increased during two decades, stringent rationing and planned distribution have allowed the People’s Republic of China to ensure nutritional levels of 2,000 calories per person per day for its population.
(A) Even though its per capita food supply hardly increased during
(B) Even though its per capita food supply has hardly increased in
(C) Despite its per capita food supply hardly increasing over
(D) Despite there being hardly any increase in its per capita food supply during
(E) Although there is hardly any increase in per capita food supply for

OA -- B

OE - In choice A, the simple past tense hardly increased does not match the present perfect have allowed; consequently, it seems that two different time periods are being discussed. In B, the best choice, has hardly increased parallels have allowed to indicate that the events described took place at the same time. Also in is the best word here for making a comparison between the beginning and the end of the twenty-year period. Choices C and D are awkward and unidiomatic, and choice E fails to specify where there was no increase in per capita food supply.

Hope it is clear now..

cool

thnx alot rachi

i agree wuth eric we really lucky

thnx again

Yes, choice E fails to specify where there was no increase in per capita food supply.

[/quote](E) Although there is hardly any increase in per capita food supply for

Not able to understand why people are saying that E does not specify that there is hardly any increase in per capita food supply. The choice E does mention it.

Also in A, B & C, is the

[/b] "it's"

not placed far from China.

phewwww!! I see one blunder in all the options, which none of you have pointed out.

All the options have "IT" in them......but is there a clear referrent of "It" in any of these??

So, i picked E.

Anyone...with E ? or with any convincing explanation for OA-B??

I went for E too. I thought "its" is ambiguous pronoun here.

I understand the tense needed here is present perfect. But I can't tell which error is more serious in the eyes of GMAC... Or maybe "its" here is not an error since it can only refer to P.R. China?

yes! IT can only refer to "PR china" because there is no other noun.

so IT is not ambiguous!

Wonderful explanation Prachi!! But I figured out something else as well...
In the GMAT land, 'During + time period' is not accepted as correct. This is mentioned in Sahil's notes. So options A and D get cancelled there...
Also option E does not have a pronoun to represent the republic of china in the first clause after 'although'. There should be a pronoun used.

If I am wrong then you could rectify my mistake....