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Data collected from various sources indicate that

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Data collected from various sources indicate that

by chetan86 » Sun Aug 17, 2014 10:37 am
Data collected from various sources indicate that in any given year, 2000 people should be struck by lightning, while approximately 30% of those struck will die.
(A) in any given year, 2000 people should be struck by lightning
(B) 2000 people should be struck by lightning in any given year
(C) lightning will strike human beings 2000 times per year
(D) each year, 2000 people will be struck by lightning
(E) each year, lightning should strike 2000 times

Source: Kaplan
Correct Answer : D
I found this question similar to OG11 SC#124.
If we use correct answer D, then sentence would become as below:
Data collected from various sources indicate that each year,[COMMA] 2000 people will be struck by lightning, while approximately 30% of those struck will die.

I want to know the significance of COMMA between 'year' and '2000'.
While solving this question I stuck between C and D, and in option D, '2000 people will be struck by lightning' was looking like a modifier so I selected option C over D.
Ideally 'that' clause should have SV Pair but by using option D it seems there is no SV pair (if we have COMMA between 'year' and '2000').
Could any expert please explain this sentence structure?
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by Jim@StratusPrep » Sun Aug 17, 2014 1:39 pm
Adverb phrases at the beginning of a clause must usually be followed by commas.

As soon as possible, I would like to take the GMAT.
Eventually, I will be done studying.
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by chetan86 » Sun Aug 17, 2014 8:30 pm
Hi Jim,

I agree with you that Adverbial phrase should be followed by a COMMA but here I am confused about 'THAT' clause. THAT clause should have SV pair but here COMMA makes sentence confusing.

OG13 SC#36
Along with the drop in producer prices announced yesterday, the strong retail sales figures released today seem to indicate that the economy is not nearing a recession.

If we remove comma in option D and rewrite the sentence then it makes sense, and sentence will correctly show the contrast also.
Data collected from various sources indicate that each year 2000 people will be struck by lightning, while approximately 30% of those struck will die.

If we use option D then 'That clause' does not have SV pair :(.
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by sidceg » Tue Aug 19, 2014 6:35 pm
Hi,

Can you please clarify the difference between these two sentences?

Data collected from various sources indicate that, in any given year, 2000 people will be struck by lightning, while approximately 30% of those struck will die.

or

Data collected from various sources indicate that 2000 people will be struck by lightning in any given year, while approximately 30% of those struck will die.

Since none of the answer choices have comma in the beginning and the non underlined part also doesn't have a comma, I chose C.

I would have picked B if the verb were 'will' instead of 'should' to maintain parallelism. So I ended up picking C. It was then I realized that in C, the lightning is the subject and the relative pronoun 'those' refers to lightening and not people. This is corrected by D. But still not able to understand the comma concept.
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by Jim@StratusPrep » Wed Aug 20, 2014 10:33 am
I agree with both of you that this is confusing. 'Each Year' is simply used to define the time frame, meaning a comma must be used. The subject verb pair comes after the comma; definitely unusual, but not incorrect.

What I will say is that the GMAT will rarely do this sort of stuff.
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