American businesses

Expert replies

crackgmat007: Legendary Member; Posts: 882; Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:57 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 15 times; GMAT Score:690

by crackgmat007 » Thu Aug 06, 2009 7:31 am

Unlike mainstream American businesses, more than half of which fail, the failure rate for
businesses in the Amish community hovers around 5 percent.
A. Unlike mainstream American businesses, more than half of which fail
B. Unlike mainstream American businesses, in which the failure rate is more than
half
C. Unlike mainstream American businesses, where more than half of them fail
D. While the rate of mainstream American businesses failing is more than half
E. While more than half of mainstream American businesses fail

[spoiler]Between E & D, which one wins?[/spoiler]

Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Thu Aug 06, 2009 7:31 am

pandeyvineet24: Legendary Member; Posts: 527; Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2008 9:14 am; Location: Atlanta; Thanked: 17 times

by pandeyvineet24 » Thu Aug 06, 2009 7:53 am

Should be D, compare rates and not the American businesses.

madhur_ahuja: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 435; Joined: Sat May 02, 2009 3:55 am; Thanked: 17 times

by madhur_ahuja » Thu Aug 06, 2009 8:56 am

Should be E.

rate of American business failing is awkward.

It should be rate of failure of American business or failure rate of American businesses.

Kebab: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 20; Joined: Sun Mar 01, 2009 10:44 pm; Location: Canada

by Kebab » Fri Aug 07, 2009 9:54 am

why do you people eliminate UNLIKE?
is there any rule for that??
thx in advance for explanation

bignasty666: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 79; Joined: Fri Jul 10, 2009 8:02 am; Thanked: 1 times

by bignasty666 » Fri Aug 07, 2009 10:33 am

UNDOUBTEDLY D

psuv: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 3; Joined: Mon Aug 03, 2009 9:36 am; Location: New york

by psuv » Fri Aug 07, 2009 10:57 am

This is my first post on BTG.
I think the answer is D.. Please post the correct answer

Thanks,
Suv

georgeung: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 52; Joined: Thu Jul 23, 2009 2:44 pm; Location: Irvine, CA; Thanked: 1 times

by georgeung » Fri Aug 07, 2009 11:08 am

Kebab wrote:why do you people eliminate UNLIKE?
is there any rule for that??
thx in advance for explanation

Unlike should be eliminated because it compares businesses to failure rates, when it should remain parallel between rates and rates.

It looks like D should win because it does this. It is the only one I see that compares rates to rates.

E appears tricky because more than half looks like it refers to businesses when it says "More than half of American businesses."

OA?

dikku07: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 57; Joined: Fri Jan 02, 2009 8:59 am

by dikku07 » Fri Aug 07, 2009 1:19 pm

Im my opinion its E
its concise and comapres rates of failure.

crackgmat007: Legendary Member; Posts: 882; Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:57 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 15 times; GMAT Score:690

by crackgmat007 » Fri Aug 07, 2009 5:37 pm

OA - E

singh181: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 121; Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 8:44 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 9 times; GMAT Score:610

by singh181 » Fri Aug 07, 2009 9:09 pm

good one.
I also thought the correct answer to be "D". But compare to E, D has redudancy.

georgeung: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 52; Joined: Thu Jul 23, 2009 2:44 pm; Location: Irvine, CA; Thanked: 1 times

by georgeung » Sat Aug 08, 2009 7:07 am

Dang. I better review this one again. Thanks for the OA.

kamalsinghy: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 41; Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2009 5:09 am; Thanked: 2 times

by kamalsinghy » Sat Aug 08, 2009 6:21 pm

Undoubtedly E.

A,B, and C are out because wrong items are compared.

Between D & E. D is changing meaning and slightly awkward construction.

In the given sentence, rate is not more than half, rather more than half of the businesses fail.

JerryV: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 8; Joined: Thu Jun 02, 2011 11:29 pm

by JerryV » Wed Sep 28, 2011 11:08 pm

Are we eliminating D simply because 'the rate of mainstream American businesses failing' is redundant?

I end up eliminating three wrong choices, and when it comes to the last two options I pick the wrong one. I eliminated E as it was not comparing rates to rates.

JerryV: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 8; Joined: Thu Jun 02, 2011 11:29 pm

by JerryV » Wed Sep 28, 2011 11:11 pm

You know what,I read the sentence again and understood my mistake, D says 'while the rate of mainstream American businesses failing is more than half' which means that it can be 3/4th or 1,rate more than half, not 50%. So E it is.

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