Sentence Correction

Hi, I got this question in a GMAT Prep practice test.

At the annual stockholders meeting, investors heard a presentation on the numerous challenges facing the company, including among them the threat from a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for the company's powerful microprocessor chip.

A) including among them the threat from a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for
B) which includes the threat of a rival's multibillion-dollar paent-infrigenment suit and the declining sales of
C) included among these the threat from a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as a decline in sales for
D) among them the threat of a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the decline in sales for
E) among these the threat from a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as the decline in sales for


I picked B. The answer is D. I thought that you could only use among for more than 2 (i.e. between for 2 comparisons, among for 2+)?

I think I see now why my answer was wrong and why D is right. "The threat..." is not parallel to "declining sales..." in B, whereas in D, "the threat" is parallel to "the decline". Is this correct?

Can someone explain this one to me? Thanks

Hi,
"among" is correct in this case as there are multiple challenges :
" on the numerous challenges "
and I think in choice D "sales of" is there not "sales for".
PLEASE VERIFY.
Here the use of sales of makes difference.
"sales for" is incorrect so choice A,C,E are out.
From remaining choices i.e. B and D
"which" is incorrect in choice B as it is referring to Company not challenges.
so Correct ans is D.

krubinoff wrote:Hi, I got this question in a GMAT Prep practice test.

At the annual stockholders meeting, investors heard a presentation on the numerous challenges facing the company, including among them the threat from a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for the company's powerful microprocessor chip.

A) including among them the threat from a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for
B) which includes the threat of a rival's multibillion-dollar paent-infrigenment suit and the declining sales of
C) included among these the threat from a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as a decline in sales for
D) among them the threat of a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the decline in sales for
E) among these the threat from a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as the decline in sales for


I picked B. The answer is D. I thought that you could only use among for more than 2 (i.e. between for 2 comparisons, among for 2+)?

I think I see now why my answer was wrong and why D is right. "The threat..." is not parallel to "declining sales..." in B, whereas in D, "the threat" is parallel to "the decline". Is this correct?

Can someone explain this one to me? Thanks

krubinoff wrote: I picked B. The answer is D. I thought that you could only use among for more than 2 (i.e. between for 2 comparisons, among for 2+)?

We should use between when we are talking about distinct, and discrete items. For example, we could say, He had to choose between cycling and swimming.

On the other hand, we use among when we are talking about things that aren't distinct items or individuals; among is used when the connections are more collective (in this case challenges). Couple of examples from OG:

a) ..among pugnacious states of the Greek world (#60, OG-13)
b) among the 900 or so species of the world's social wasps (#102, OG-13)

krubinoff wrote: I think I see now why my answer was wrong and why D is right. "The threat..." is not parallel to "declining sales..." in B, whereas in D, "the threat" is parallel to "the decline". Is this correct?

Actually they are parallel: Both the threat and declining sales are Noun phrases. A big issue with B is that which modifies company; even if you thought which was modifying challenges, then the verb should have been include (and not includes).

Can anyone please help me understand the how to rule out E over D

veenu08 wrote:Can anyone please help me understand the how to rule out E over D

The correct idion here should be decline in sales OF (not Sales FOR)

The short answer is that these is a word that finds itself out of favor when it comes to correct options on GMAT.

The longer answer is that these is a demonstrative pronoun, and has multiple antecedents in this case; them is an object pronoun and is a more suitable pronoun for the indirect object challenges.

At the annual stockholders meeting, investors heard a presentation on the numerous challenges facing the company, including among them the threat from a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for the company's powerful microprocessor chip.

A) including among them the threat from a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for
B) which includes the threat of a rival's multibillion-dollar paent-infrigenment suit and the declining sales of
C) included among these the threat from a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as a decline in sales for
D) among them the threat of a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the decline in sales for
E) among these the threat from a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as the decline in sales for