Sentence Correction

The gyrfalcon, an Arctic bird of prey, has survived a close brush with extinction; its numbers are now five times greater than when the use of DDT was sharply restricted in the early 1970's.

(A) extinction; its numbers are now five times greater than
(B) extinction; its numbers are now five times more than
(C) extinction, their numbers now fivefold what they were
(D) extinction, now with fivefold the numbers they had
(E) extinction, now with numbers five times greater than

OA: A

P.S: I got this one right but would need a SOLID reasoning to eliminate B.
@ Experts - can you please share your thoughts ? Much thanks in advance.

RBBmba@2014 wrote:I got this one right but would need a SOLID reasoning to eliminate B.

B: Its numbers are now five times MORE.
Put another way:
There are now five times MORE NUMBERS.
Implication:
Whereas in the 1970s the list of numbers for the gyrfalcon was composed of x values, now the list is composed of x + 5x = 6x values.
Not the intended meaning.
Eliminate B.

The intention here is not to state that there are MORE NUMBERS but that the numbers have become LARGER.
This meaning is conveyed by the OA:
Its numbers are now five times GREATER.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

RBBmba@2014 wrote:I got this one right but would need a SOLID reasoning to eliminate B.

B: Its numbers are now five times MORE.
Put another way:
There are now five times MORE NUMBERS.
Implication:
Whereas in the 1970s the list of numbers for the gyrfalcon was composed of x values, now the list is composed of x + 5x = 6x values.
Not the intended meaning.
Eliminate B.

The intention here is not to state that there are MORE NUMBERS but that the numbers have become LARGER.
This meaning is conveyed by the OA:
Its numbers are now five times GREATER.

OK. So just to quickly understand whether I got you right or not - If x is the previous number in 1970s, then now the number is five times greater than x i.e. 5x.

This is what the OA conveys. Right ?

RBBmba@2014 wrote: OK. So just to quickly understand whether I got you right or not - If x is the previous number in 1970s, then now the number is five times greater than x i.e. 5x.

This is what the OA conveys. Right ?

In this context, numbers = populations.
Technically, five times GREATER means x + 5x = 6x.
The OA implies the following:
Whereas the average population size used to be x, the average population size is now x + 5x = 6x.

Oops...I'm getting confused now!

If in both the cases (re option A & B) the current numbers(= populations) is 6x then how EXACTLY A is different from B ?

@ GMATGuruNY- Please help!

RBBmba@2014 wrote:Oops...I'm getting confused now!

If in both the cases (re option A & B) the current numbers(= populations) is 6x then how EXACTLY A is different from B ?

Please help!

here is my 2cents!
When you can count something - use greater than example birds
when you cant count something - use more than example sand

RBBmba@2014 wrote:Oops...I'm getting confused now!

If in both the cases (re option A & B) the current numbers(= populations) is 6x then how EXACTLY A is different from B ?

@ GMATGuruNY- Please help!

B: Its numbers are now more.
This wording implies that there now are MORE NUMBERS.
Before: {100, 100}
Now: {1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1}.
As the case above illustrates, more numbers is not the same thing as more birds.
Since the intended meaning is that there are now more birds, eliminate B.

A: Its numbers are now greater.
This wording implies that the numbers have become GREATER.
Before: {100, 100}
Now: {600, 600}.
Greater numbers means MORE BIRDS.
This is the intended meaning.

In general:

Use MORE to modify the THING BEING COUNTED:
There are ten MORE BIRDS in Park A than in Park B.

Use GREATER to refer to the VALUE of the thing being counted:
The NUMBER of birds in Park A is GREATER than the NUMBER of birds in Park B.

@GMATGuruNY / Experts, please help me with this.

I eliminated options B,C, and D using POE but was stuck between A and E.

(A) extinction; its numbers are now five times greater than
(E) extinction, now with numbers five times greater than

A: uses 'its' to refer to "The gyrfalcon". This is what I follow whenever I encounter a pronoun. I replace it with all the nouns in the sentence and check for ambiguity. (is this method correct?)...And in doing so, I replaced 'Its' with DDT and the sentence somehow made sense to me..here's how:

"...DDT's numbers are now five times greater than when the use of DDT was sharply restricted in the early 1970's."

Also, I read somewhere, chances are that the correct answer may omit a pronoun. Hence I eliminated 'A'

Please advise on my mistake here.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

RBBmba@2014 wrote: OK. So just to quickly understand whether I got you right or not - If x is the previous number in 1970s, then now the number is five times greater than x i.e. 5x.

This is what the OA conveys. Right ?

In this context, numbers = populations.
Technically, five times GREATER means x + 5x = 6x.
The OA implies the following:
Whereas the average population size used to be x, the average population size is now x + 5x = 6x.

Dear Mitch,

Why is choice E wrong?

Here 'with......' is adverbial phrase describes:

How the gyrfalcon survived?

gyrfalcon survived ....with its number.....

Is 'now with numbers.......' incorrect usage in that case?if yes, why??

Thanks

Mo2men wrote:Dear Mitch,

Why is choice E wrong?

The present perfect (has + VERBed) serves to express a PAST ACTION THAT AFFECTS THE PRESENT.
E: The gyrlfalcon has survived, now with numbers
Here, now with numbers is an adverb surviving to modify has survived.
Conveyed meaning:
At some point in the PAST, the gyrfalcon survived NOW.
This meaning is nonsensical.
Eliminate E.