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Sentence correction explanation

by deepakk » Sun Dec 08, 2013 10:43 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.

I have confusion between option A and E.
How I eliminated B,C,D:
1)After comma Option B is using prepositional phrase 'In which' which is not correct.
Its not correct because immediately after comma 'Which' should come not 'in which'
2)Option C is using 'where' which should be used for Place only.
3)Option D is incorrect because Failing indicates an ongoing activity whereas in the question it is about something which is permanent.

so between A and E I got confused.
If I need to make an educated guess I would go with 'E' because it is concise.

I would appreciate if anyone can suggest me a better approach to solve this question.

Additionally I want to know the difference between Unlike and While.

I know that both are used for comparison purpose but I don't know the difference between these two.
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by abhimak » Sun Dec 08, 2013 11:34 am
What is the OA?

A is wrong because "mainstream American business" is compared with the "failure rate".

In D, "rate of XYZ... half" is unidiomatic. I go with E.
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by ilyana » Sun Dec 08, 2013 12:43 pm
deepakk wrote: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.
Hello!

The OA is E.

Let's see how we can solve this problem quickly.

1) The first split here is "Unlike" vs. "While".

"While" is a conjunction here and it takes a clause after itself. Its usage seems alright in D and E.

"Unlike" is a preposition and takes noun (or something that plays the role of a noun) after itself.
unlike X, [subject] [verb]. --> this is a structure used in A, B and C.
In this structure X is compared with the subject of the sentence.

When we are comparing nouns, we should compare identical things: businesses with businesses, and rates with rates.
In A, B and C businesses are compared with the rate --> you can eliminate A, B and C.

2) Now we are left with D and E.
As it was pointed out by Abhimak, "rate is half" is not a proper usage. We should say: "rate is 50%".
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by ilyana » Sun Dec 08, 2013 1:24 pm
1)After comma Option B is using prepositional phrase 'In which' which is not correct.
Its not correct because immediately after comma 'Which' should come not 'in which'
I don't think that this is a valid reason for elimination. The comma just indicates that we're dealing with non-essential (or non-restrictive) type of modifier. That is, the information after the comma is not essential to the meaning of the sentence.

The sentence, in which there are two types of modifier presented, is beautifully written.

Whether "in which" itself is correct I'm not sure.
If it's acceptable to say: "the failure rate in businesses is 50%", then "in which" here is not a mistake.
2)Option C is using 'where' which should be used for Place only.
It is a useful approach, but unfortunately it doesn't work always. Check the problem from GMAT Prep "many population studies have linked":
Many population studies have linked ... and shown that in societies where little salt is consumed ... (an excerpt from the correct answer)
3)Option D is incorrect because Failing indicates an ongoing activity whereas in the question it is about something which is permanent.
I'm not sure about this explanation. "Failing" is a Present Participle here (it is not the verb in Present Continuous to show any ongoing actions, if under "ongoing" you mean "currently taking place/happening"), so basically it plays the role of an adjective.

I cautiously approached the woman standing by the bus stop.
"Standing" here just describes the woman.
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by [email protected] » Sun Dec 08, 2013 10:11 pm
Hi deepakk,

Most SCs on the GMAT are built on 2-4 grammar rules and in many cases you won't need to know all of the rules to get the correct answer. In this prompt, you don't technically have to deal with the "unlike vs. while split." Instead, you could focus on:

1) The comparison: The non-underlined portion of the sentence mentions "the failure rate", so the first part of the sentence must be comparable. Answers A, B and C compare "American businesses", which is not correct. Only D and E mention a rate/value.

2) Idioms/Style: The phrase "the rate of...failing" is clunky sounding (it should be "the failure rate" or "the rate of failure"). Eliminate D.

Final Answer: E

For reference, the GMAT typically uses the words "like" or "unlike" to introduce a comparison, but it's not a mutually exclusive rule. Not all comparisons will use one of those words.

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