Sentence Correction

More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

(A) More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.
(B) With 20 percent of the world's fresh water, that is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal has more than 300 rivers that drain into it.
(C) Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, it holds more of the world's fresh water than all that of the North American Great Lakes combined, 20 percent.
(D) While more than 300 rivers drain into it, Siberia's Lake Baikal holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, which is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.
(E) More than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water.

OA: A

A) Here, "more...", refers to "water," not to "Lake Baikal."

"more than all the North American Great Lakes combined" is actually a MODIFIER of "20% of the world's fresh water", which is WITHIN the first MODIFIER. therefore, "20% of the world's fresh water" is a SUB-modifier

B) is wrong

With 20 percent of the world's fresh water, .......Siberia's Lake Baikal --> This part is right.


meaning of the sentence:

Siberia's Lake Baikal has world's fresh water, that is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.


Lake Baikal has 20% water then how can it contain more water than all the other lakes combined. Contradiction!


C) is wrong.


Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, it

it, it - this is odd!

D) Incorrect usage of which

(amount of water) IS MORE THAN (specific lakes)

fresh water, which is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.


E) when you have an INITIAL MODIFIER THAT'S NOT A CLAUSE (i.e., it doesn't have its own subject and verb), then it must modify the immediately following noun

Siberia's Lake Baikal holds,...More than all the North American Great Lakes combined,

Lake Baikal has 20% water then how can it contain more water than all the other lakes combined. Contradiction!

While all of the answer choices of this question have issues, one has the fewest issues and basically makes sense. So that's the one to go with.

A) While I find that in this version 20% of the world's water is incorrectly compared with the great lakes rather than with the water in the great lakes, this version works for the most part, and one could argue that the wording of that comparison makes sense.

B) The use of that creates a restrictive modifier, one that in this version incorrectly follow a comma and the usage of which creates a nonsensical meaning.

Restrictive modifiers separate things from other things not included in the category defined by the modifier. So this restrictive modifier seems to nonsensically convey that there is a certain part of the worlds fresh water that is "more than all the North American Great Lakes combined" and there is another part that is not.

C) This version has two subjects, Siberia's Lake Baikal, and it. So it is redundant.

D) The use of While does not make sense here. While is used to indicate that things are going on concurrently, and the idea of this sentence is not to say that concurrently the rivers flow into the lake and the lake holds water.

E) This one does not make sense either. It seems to be saying that while both the Great Lakes and Lake Baikal hold 20% of the world's water, Lake Baikal does this more.

So even with what seems to be a comparison issue, the best choice is A.

manhhiep2509 wrote:More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

A. More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.
B. With 20 percent of the world's fresh water, that is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined, More than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal
C. Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, it holds more of the world's fresh water than all that of the North American Great Lakes combined, 20 percent.
D. While more than 300 rivers drain into it, Siberia's Lake Baikal holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, which is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.
E. More than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water.

In B, that lacks a clear antecedent.
If that is standing in for 20% of the world's fresh water, we get:
With 20% of the world's fresh water, 20% of the world's fresh water is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.
This meaning is nonsensical.
Eliminate B.

In C, holds serves as the verb for it.
Thus, Siberia's Lake Baikal (subject) lacks a verb.
Eliminate C.

On the GMAT, which + singular verb must refer to the nearest preceding singular noun.
In D, which seems to refer to the world's fresh water, implying that the WORLD'S FRESH WATER
is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.
Not the intended meaning.
Eliminate D.

E implies that Siberia's Lake Baikal is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.
This meaning is nonsensical: a lake cannot be MORE than another lake.
Eliminate E.

The correct answer is A.

OA: More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.
Here, the modifier in red does not compare 20% of the world's fresh water to the North American Great Lakes.
Rather, it compares two ACTIONS: how much fresh water Lake Baikal HOLDS to how much fresh water the North American Great Lakes HOLD.
Implied comparison:
Lake Baikal HOLDS more fresh water than all the North American Great Lakes combined HOLD.

B: Siberia's Lake Baikal has more than 300 rivers.
A lake is a body of water.
A body of water does not HAVE rivers.
Another reason to eliminate B.