Sentence Correction

Certain pesticides can become ineffective if used repeatedly in the same place; one reason is suggested by the finding that there are much larger populations of pesticide-degrading microbes in soils with a relatively long history of pesticide use than in soils that are free of such chemicals.

(A) Certain pesticides can become ineffective if used repeatedly in the same place; one reason is suggested by the finding that there are much larger populations of pesticide-degrading microbes in soils with a relatively long history of pesticide use than in soils that are free of such chemicals.
(B) If used repeatedly in the same place, one reason that certain pesticides can become ineffective is suggested by the finding that there are much larger populations of pesticide-degrading microbes in soils with a relatively long history of pesticide use than in soils that are free of such chemicals.
(C) If used repeatedly in the same place, one reason certain pesticides can become ineffective is suggested by the finding that much larger populations of pesticide-degrading microbes are found in soils with a relatively long history of pesticide use than those that are free of such chemicals.
(D) The finding that there are much larger populations of pesticide-degrading microbes in soils with a relatively long history of pesticide use than in soils that are free of such chemicals is suggestive of one reason, if used repeatedly in the same place, certain pesticides can become ineffective.
(E) The finding of much larger populations of pesticide-degrading microbes in soils with a relatively long history of pesticide use than in those that are free of such chemicals suggests one reason certain pesticides can become ineffective if used repeatedly in the same place.

OA: A

Just wondering, can anyone please explain why GMAT can use "....much larger populationS"? How can they use much and with population(s)????

I'm not a native speaker so I may not understand the usage that well....

are you sure about the OA? It looks like (C) to me. The second sentence depends on the first for its existence, therefore a semicolon should not be used.

Yeah, I originally chose E but the OA is really A I have a copy of original OG#10 book so the OA is 100% correct.

I landed up with A and E. However, in E, after than "in those" of seems to be wrong and at the end is states that "suggests one reason certain pesticides"... I think "that" should be there after reason...

Oh I see, how silly (#^o^#) I get it now! Thanks

Hi,

Can somebody please explain why choice (E) is wrong???
I chose that and I am not able to find an error in that sentence..

Ron, the source of this problem is OG Verbal #63. Thanks for a great explanation. I did not realize E was not only contains unidiomatic phrases ("the finding of") but also distorts the original meaning of A (the meaning of the "finding" is the discovery is depicted in E instead of the finding itself being the discovery).

Ron,

I read in the MGMAT SC guide that an IF Construction needs a then, i.e. if this then that; however in all choices from B-E If Then construction is not used, in A IF is not used at all so that is why I marked it correct.

Can you please confirm that my understanding is correct.

I am really confused because nobody is mentioning If Then.

Thanks,

Vineet

vineetbatra wrote:Ron,

I read in the MGMAT SC guide that an IF Construction needs a then, i.e. if this then that; however in all choices from B-E If Then construction is not used, in A IF is not used at all so that is why I marked it correct.

Can you please confirm that my understanding is correct.

I am really confused because nobody is mentioning If Then.

Thanks,

Vineet

in a IF then type of construction use of then can be omited for more refrence follow the link....

https://www.beatthegmat.com/conditional- ... 47012.html

the details in the link is availble for only two more days....

Thanks man, will check it out. There is an exception for an exception, everytime I see light at the end of the tunnel it turns out to be headlight of a train.

Vineet

Bumping this post up again...
following the "if..then" construction
between A & D - the construction seems to be right in both....can someone explain why A and not D ????

...

This is all-is-underlined question. Other questions are a few words-underlined and we can use phrase difference to find errors. In all-is-underlined question, we need to attack differently. The following is 2 points:

1- find the errors in each answer choice without comparing.
we can see choice B and C contain errors.

2- use MEANING DIFFERENCE among answer choice to realize the correct meaning.
we can not use WORD DIFFERENCE to find errors as in normal easy cases.
In this question, the step 2 dose not apply. But, in many other questions in GMATPREP, we have to apply the step 2 to find error.

So, there are 2 points to attack this kind of question. I wish you share your comment with me.