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Astronomers and Massive Planets

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Astronomers and Massive Planets

by shoot4greatness » Wed Sep 21, 2011 12:46 pm
In the past several years, astronomers have detected more than 80 massive planets, most of them as large or larger than Jupiter, which circle other stars.

A. most of them as large or larger than Jupiter, which circle
B. most of them as large or larger than Jupiter and circling
C. most of them at least as large as Jupiter, circling
D. mostly at least as large as Jupiter, which circle
E. mostly as large or larger than Jupiter, circling

OA is C

I thought this was a pretty good question!
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by cans » Wed Sep 21, 2011 6:20 pm
which circle and 'and circling' are incorrect
thus C and E left. most of them at least as large as Jupiter is better
IMO C
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by Tani » Wed Sep 21, 2011 8:07 pm
"Mostly as large" is incorrect. Another vote for C
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by gunjan1208 » Wed Sep 21, 2011 8:42 pm
C for me 2.
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by GmatKiss » Wed Sep 21, 2011 10:46 pm
shoot4greatness wrote:In the past several years, astronomers have detected more than 80 massive planets, most of them as large or larger than Jupiter, which circle other stars.

A. most of them as large or larger than Jupiter, which circle
B. most of them as large or larger than Jupiter and circling
C. most of them at least as large as Jupiter, circling
D. mostly at least as large as Jupiter, which circle
E. mostly as large or larger than Jupiter, circling

OA is C

I thought this was a pretty good question!
IMO:C
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by mad2011 » Thu Sep 22, 2011 12:00 am
what if B had circle

B. most of them as large or larger than Jupiter and circle
C. most of them at least as large as Jupiter, circling

Now which one is better ?
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by bubbliiiiiiii » Thu Sep 22, 2011 12:15 am
Still C seems to be better.

In B,

most of them as large as or larger than Jupiter and circle

Change of tense in circle will change the meaning of the sentence.
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by GmatKiss » Thu Sep 22, 2011 12:24 am
mad2011 wrote:what if B had circle

B. most of them as large or larger than Jupiter and circle
C. most of them at least as large as Jupiter, circling
Now which one is better ?
C again!
Circling is always good to refer an on-going event!

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by EducationAisle » Thu Sep 22, 2011 6:55 am
mad2011 wrote:what if B had circle

B. most of them as large or larger than Jupiter and circle
So, we are looking at the following sentence:

In the past several years, astronomers have detected more than 80 massive planets, most of them as large or larger than Jupiter and circle other stars.

At least four issues with the above sentence exist:

1. I really doubt whether this is a correct construct from parallelism point of view: "...most of them as large or larger than Jupiter and circle other stars". "as large or larger than Jupiter" is a comparative, while "circle" is a verb.

2. If you think the latter part ofthe sentence translates into "most of them circle other stars", that is an even bigger problem:
a. This is a run-on sentence: Two Independent clauses connected by a comma:
i) astronomers have detected more than 80 massive planets
ii)most of them circle other stars.

b. Even if it were not a run-on, it changes the meaning, since it says "most of them circle other stars". The intent of the original sentence is to convey that "all" of those massive planets circle other stars.

3. A way to interpret this is as if the "astronomers" circle other stars:
Astronomers have detected more than 80 massive planets, (most of them as large or larger than Jupiter) and circle other stars.

4. The correct construction is "as large as" and not just "as large"
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by shoot4greatness » Thu Sep 22, 2011 1:47 pm
In the past several years, astronomers have detected more than 80 massive planets, most of them as large or larger than Jupiter, which circle other stars.

A. most of them as large or larger than Jupiter, which circle
B. most of them as large or larger than Jupiter and circling
C. most of them at least as large as Jupiter, circling
D. mostly at least as large as Jupiter, which circle
E. mostly as large or larger than Jupiter, circling

Here is how I broke down the question. First, "as large or larger than Jupiter" seemed too wordy and can be condensed into a shorter phrase. Then, I looked at "Jupiter, which circle other stars." The intended meaning is that the 80 massive planets (plural) circle other stars." Employing POE, I immediately eliminated a and d. "as large or larger" can be condensed into a math phrase, which we are all accustomed to from quant section, "at least as large as". Then, the modifier "circling" describes the action of the 80 massive planets. The subject of the sentence is "astromomers" and the object is "the 80 massive planet" and thus c is the answer. I thought the question and the answer choices were cleaver. Food for thought!
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by shraddha jaiswal » Thu Sep 22, 2011 2:36 pm
In the past several years, astronomers have detected more than 80 massive planets, most of them as large or larger than Jupiter, which circle other stars.

A. most of them as large or larger than Jupiter, which circle
B. most of them as large or larger than Jupiter and circling
C. most of them at least as large as Jupiter, circling
D. mostly at least as large as Jupiter, which circle
E. mostly as large or larger than Jupiter, circling

Error analysis: In the underlines portion, we find a mix of two idiom: x (most of them) as large as y (Jupiter) and x larger than y. This kind of usage is wrong. We must use an idiom which is correct and logically conveys the meaning of the sentence too. So, on the basis of this, choices A and B can be eliminated right away.

On applying POE, we realize that mostly is an adverb that modifies frequency of an action. For example: She mostly stays home on Sundays., meaning her frequency of staying home on Sunday is very high. But in this sentence, mostly has been used to mean the maximum number of the planets. Adverb "mostly" is used to modify noun "planets" which is incorrect. Thus, choice D and E can be eliminated. Now we are left with choice C. This choice uses the correct idiom most of them at least as large as Jupiter, clearly indication that few of these planets are larger than Jupiter too. Modifier "circling" correctly modifies all the planets meaning that they all circle round the stars. Thus C seems to be a pretty clean choice.
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by gmatblood » Fri Sep 23, 2011 11:37 am
IMO:C
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by thuyduong91vnu » Mon Oct 03, 2016 8:45 pm
Hi,

Could someone help to explain this one, as "most of them..." serves as modifier for the noun "planets", is it reasonable to understand "which" in choice D is used to "planets" instead of "Jupiter"?

Thank for helping me!
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by bubbliiiiiiii » Mon Oct 03, 2016 9:03 pm
thuyduong91vnu wrote:Hi,

Could someone help to explain this one, as "most of them..." serves as modifier for the noun "planets", is it reasonable to understand "which" in choice D is used to "planets" instead of "Jupiter"?

Thank for helping me!
Nope. 'Which' always refers to the *immediately* preceding noun. Jupiter in this case. However, the subject and verb agreement is improper, making this choice incorrect.

Hope it helps.
Regards,

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