Aristotle RC

Question

39. 2009 had fewer new individual buyers of life insurance than any year since Limca, a
market research firm, began tracking the data in 1988.
A. 2009 had fewer new individual buyers of life insurance than any year since Limca, a market research firm, began tracking the data in 1988.
B. 2009 had fewer new individual buyers of life insurance than any year since 1988 when Limca, a market research firm, began tracking this data.
C. 2009 had fewer new individual buyers of life insurance than in any year since 1988 when Limca, a market research firm, began tracking this data.
D. 2009 had lesser new buyers of individual life insurance than any year since Limca, a market research firm, began tracking the data in 1988.
E. 2009 had lesser new individual buyers of life insurance than any year since Limca, a market research firm, began tracking the data in 1988.

Can anyone please explain this problem ?

Thansk
Voodoo

[spoiler]OA : B[/spoiler][/spoiler]

AIM GMAT · Answer

A. 2009 had fewer new individual buyers of life insurance than any year since Limca, a market research firm, began tracking the data in 1988.
B. 2009 had fewer new individual buyers of life insurance than any year since 1988 when Limca, a market research firm, began tracking this data.
C. 2009 had fewer new individual buyers of life insurance than in any year since 1988 when Limca, a market research firm, began tracking this data.
D. 2009 had lesser new buyers of individual life insurance than any year since Limca, a market research firm, began tracking the data in 1988.
E. 2009 had lesser new individual buyers of life insurance than any year since Limca, a market research firm, began tracking the data in 1988.

IMO B.

Thanks & Regards,
AIM GMAT

rohu27 · Answer

AIM GMAT wrote:A. 2009 had fewer new individual buyers of life insurance than any year since Limca, a market research firm, began tracking the data in 1988.
B. 2009 had fewer new individual buyers of life insurance than any year since 1988 when Limca, a market research firm, began tracking this data.
C. 2009 had fewer new individual buyers of life insurance than in any year since 1988 when Limca, a market research firm, began tracking this data.
D. 2009 had lesser new buyers of individual life insurance than any year since Limca, a market research firm, began tracking the data in 1988.
E. 2009 had lesser new individual buyers of life insurance than any year since Limca, a market research firm, began tracking the data in 1988.

IMO B.

AIM,
plz explain the diff bet B and C in words? i dnt get it

are we not comparing the buyers in 2009 to those in other years?

bubbliiiiiiii · Answer

Even I have a similar question: why are we not using 'in' here? I suppose 'in' compares the number of indivudual life insurance buyers between 2009 and the period since 1988.

atulmangal · Answer

@aim

for Op B is it like this way...and that's why its correct??

2009 had fewer new individual buyers of life insurance than [had] any year since 1988 when Limca, a market research firm, began tracking this data.

and Op C is in this way...and that's why its incorrect???

2009 had fewer new individual buyers of life insurance than [had] in any year since 1988 when Limca, a market research firm, began tracking this data.

AIM GMAT · Answer

Guys "IN" in option C is an additional word that hampers the parallel structure of the sentence . As explained by Atul , its clear case of ellipses . We cannot treat language as mathematics equation and take for granted that 1 + 1 will always be 2 . The language aspects have a broader spectrum .

Thanks & Regards,
AIM GMAT

Stuart@KaplanGMAT · Answer

I'm really not in love with any of the choices (what's the source? I've never heard of Aristotle - well, at least the Aristotle I have heard of lived a couple of millenia pre-GMAT), but B is the clear winner of the available options.

Let's look at C again:

2009 had fewer new individual buyers of life insurance than in any year since 1988 when Limca, a market research firm, began tracking this data.

(C) compares 2009 to the number of new individual buyers in any year since 1988. We're allowed to compare years to years or numbers of buyers to numbers of buyers; what we're not allowed to do is mix and match.

So, the sentence could have been worded:

In 2009 there were fewer new individual buyers of life insurance than in any year since 1988 when Limca, a market research firm, began tracking this data.

but without the "in" at the beginning, adding "in" before the second half of the comparison makes the sentence illogical.

Let's look at another example just to clear things up:

Bob's bank has more money than Fred's.

vs

Bob's bank has more money than in Fred's.

Clearly, the "in" in the second sentence is incorrect. If we wanted an "in" comparison, we'd have to say something like:

There is more money in Bob's bank than in Fred's.

Stuart Kovinsky | Kaplan GMAT Faculty | Toronto

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