GMAT Prep Question

This topic has expert replies
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 30
Joined: Thu Jan 17, 2008 5:38 pm
Followed by:1 members
GMAT Score:680

GMAT Prep Question

by dongkim2 » Wed Mar 10, 2010 8:19 am
To meet the rapidly rising market demand for fish and seafood, suppliers are growing fish twice as fast as their natural growth rate, cutting their feed allotment by nearly half and raising them on special diets.

A: their natural growth rate, cutting their feed allotment
B: their natural growth rate, their feed allotment cut
C: growing them naturally, cutting their feed allotment
D: they grow naturally, cutting their feed allotment
E: they grow naturally, with their feed allotment cut

OA: C
Last edited by dongkim2 on Thu Mar 11, 2010 1:19 am, edited 2 times in total.

User avatar
MBA Student
Posts: 403
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2009 7:32 pm
Thanked: 98 times
Followed by:22 members

by fibbonnaci » Wed Mar 10, 2010 10:57 pm
Initially it may seem that their is a pronoun anbiguity. But since the error repeats in every option, you assume it to correctly refer back to fish. You need to find yet another issue with the question.

-> the suppliers are doing 3 things
1) growing fish
2) cutting their feed allotment
3) raising them on special diets.

Therefore all the 3 items need to be parallel.
This eliminated B and E

-> items on either side of 'as fast as' need to be parallel.
Growing fish is parallel tp growing them naturally

This eliminates A and D

Thus
C remains and is the correct answer.

Hope this helps!

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 194
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2010 5:18 am
Thanked: 2 times

by girish3131 » Wed Mar 10, 2010 11:32 pm
am not convince on why D is wrong... ?

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 189
Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2008 2:03 pm
Location: USA
Thanked: 21 times

by rohan_vus » Thu Mar 11, 2010 2:56 am
I am also surprised to see OA = C and landed googling

The OA mentioned here seems a typo . Refer thread on MGMAT forum https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/to- ... t3622.html . Here D is the answer.

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 526
Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 11:47 pm
Location: India
Thanked: 68 times
GMAT Score:680

by harshavardhanc » Thu Mar 11, 2010 3:50 am
fibbonnaci wrote:

-> items on either side of 'as fast as' need to be parallel.

Growing fish is parallel tp growing them naturally
How is this possible? How are they || ? participle growing on the right creates more of a confusion. It gives a hint that suppliers are growing fishes naturally. Does it make sense? No. The author wants to compare the speed at which suppliers are growing fishes and the speed at which fishes grow naturally. Hence, C cannot be correct at all.


as we all know, things on either side of as twice as should be parallel.

Here on the left, we have an activity "are growing fish", speed of which is being compared using twice as fast as.

The original sentence erroneously compares an activity with a noun :"growth rate". So, you need another activity on the right side as well : they grow naturally fits the bill.

IMO, D should be the correct answer.
Regards,
Harsha

User avatar
MBA Student
Posts: 403
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2009 7:32 pm
Thanked: 98 times
Followed by:22 members

by fibbonnaci » Thu Mar 11, 2010 4:39 am
Hey i am sorry. Ya i agree that 'growing fish naturally' is not correct.

I answered this question in a hurry. I checked for parallelism and went ahead without checking for the meaning offered by the sentence.

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 526
Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 11:47 pm
Location: India
Thanked: 68 times
GMAT Score:680

by harshavardhanc » Thu Mar 11, 2010 4:45 am
fibbonnaci wrote:Hey i am sorry. Ya i agree that 'growing fish naturally' is not correct.

I answered this question in a hurry. I checked for parallelism and went ahead without checking for the meaning offered by the sentence.
:) that was the trap, I guess. We generally jump the gun and go for structural parallelism first. But here, logical ||ism is more important.

Moreover, this question is a clear-cut example of GMAC's dictatorship :)

I think that pronoun ambiguity is clearly present here. But as all the options have this flaw, we need to pick the better among the worse.
Regards,
Harsha

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 194
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2010 5:18 am
Thanked: 2 times

by girish3131 » Thu Mar 11, 2010 4:45 am
no issue... small small things keeps on happening in big cities...RELAX....:) BY SRK...

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1083
Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2010 9:38 pm
Thanked: 127 times
Followed by:14 members

by gmat_perfect » Thu Mar 11, 2010 10:11 am
To meet the rapidly rising market demand for fish and seafood, suppliers are growing fish twice as fast as their natural growth rate, cutting their feed allotment by nearly half and raising them on special diets.

A: their natural growth rate, cutting their feed allotment
B: their natural growth rate, their feed allotment cut
C: growing them naturally, cutting their feed allotment
D: they grow naturally, cutting their feed allotment
E: they grow naturally, with their feed allotment cut

Some grammar:]

1. We are comparing two clauses "suppliers are growing" VS "Another clause" since we are given "as fast as" after a clause.
2. Every clause must have a subject and a finite verb.
3. The non-underlined portion has "rising". We should keep it in mind.

Now, come to the options:
A, B, and C are out because they are not using clauses after "as fast as". In E, "cut" is not parallel with "rising". Who remains? D.
Answer is D.