Help analyzing a wrong answer

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gmat62k10: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 11; Joined: Tue May 04, 2010 3:57 am; Thanked: 1 times

by gmat62k10 » Sun Nov 21, 2010 10:01 am

For the first time in the modern era , Non-Hispanic whites are officially a minority in California,which amounts to a little less than half the population of the state, down from nearly three-quarters only a decade ago.

B and that amounts to a little less than half the population of the state, down from a decade ago, when they were nearly three quarters

D amounting to little less than half the population of the state,down from three quarters a decade ago

This question is straightforward and the OA is D. But the hard part was making a call between B and D. I can see a bunch of problems with B ,"down..", the second "they"...
Some additional analysis would be helpful

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Sun Nov 21, 2010 10:01 am

shovan85: Community Manager; Posts: 991; Joined: Thu Sep 23, 2010 6:19 amFollowed by: 24 members; Location: Bangalore, India; Thanked: 146 times

by shovan85 » Sun Nov 21, 2010 10:15 am

Please edit the above post and submit the full question. This will help others as well. Thanks

In B "THAT" has ambiguous antecedent.

In D the usage of "amounting" correctly refers to the preceeding clause.

If the problem is Easy Respect it, if the problem is tough Attack it

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uwhusky: Legendary Member; Posts: 1172; Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2010 6:20 pmFollowed by: 4 members; Thanked: 74 times

by uwhusky » Sun Nov 21, 2010 10:19 am

Unlike most grammar authority, GMAT doesn't like the usage of "that" for people.

Yep.

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Jim@Grockit: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 641; Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2009 3:07 pmFollowed by: 45 members; Location: Madison, WI; Thanked: 162 times; GMAT Score:760

by Jim@Grockit » Sun Nov 21, 2010 10:05 pm

gmat62k10 wrote:For the first time in the modern era , Non-Hispanic whites are officially a minority in California,which amounts to a little less than half the population of the state, down from nearly three-quarters only a decade ago.

B and that amounts to a little less than half the population of the state, down from a decade ago, when they were nearly three quarters

D amounting to little less than half the population of the state,down from three quarters a decade ago

This question is straightforward and the OA is D. But the hard part was making a call between B and D. I can see a bunch of problems with B ,"down..", the second "they"...
Some additional analysis would be helpful

"That" has an unclear referent; in common usage, it can even refer to the entire preceding clause ("He embezzled millions of dollars from the company; that's why they fired him.")

It's also a small consideration, but never forget that the GMAT's dislike of extra words is matched only by its undying love of parallelism: "and that amounts" is three words, and "amounting" is one.

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gmat_perfect: Legendary Member; Posts: 1083; Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2010 9:38 pmFollowed by: 14 members; Thanked: 127 times

by gmat_perfect » Sun Nov 21, 2010 10:41 pm

gmat62k10 wrote:For the first time in the modern era , Non-Hispanic whites are officially a minority in California,which amounts to a little less than half the population of the state, down from nearly three-quarters only a decade ago.

B and that amounts to a little less than half the population of the state, down from a decade ago, when they were nearly three quarters

D amounting to little less than half the population of the state,down from three quarters a decade ago

This question is straightforward and the OA is D. But the hard part was making a call between B and D. I can see a bunch of problems with B ,"down..", the second "they"...
Some additional analysis would be helpful

Look at another problem in B:

B and that amounts to a little less than half the population of the state, down from a decade ago, when they were nearly three quarters

"Down from X", where X should be a number.

--> So B is wrong for using "Down from a decade ago".

Thanks.

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