Sentence Correction

hksam07 wrote:A new hair-growth drug is being sold for three times the price, per milligram, as the drug's maker charges for another product with the same active ingredient.

A. as
B. than
C. that
D. of what
E. at which

OA: C

(a) and (b) are unidiomatic: (a) is wrong because the sentence doesn't contain "three times as much...", and (b) is wrong because the sentence doesn't contain "more".

(e) is bad diction: "the price at which the manufacturer charges" isn't right. you don't charge at a price; you just charge a price (for something).

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(d), taken literally, has an absurd meaning: it says "the price of what the drug's maker charges".
but you must notice that "what the drug's maker charges" is already the price of the product. therefore, "the price of what the drug's maker charges" would illogically refer to the price of a price.

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that leaves (c), the only answer that's idiomatic and semantically correct. as a bonus, it's concise, too.

goelmohit2002 wrote:

lunarpower wrote: (d), taken literally, has an absurd meaning: it says "the price of what the drug's maker charges".
but you must notice that "what the drug's maker charges" is already the price of the product. therefore, "the price of what the drug's maker charges" would illogically refer to the price of a price.

Hi Ron,

Can you please tell a bit more about the usage of "what" in GMAT....

Does it act like pronoun like "where", "when", "that".....

basically what role does "what" play in a GMAT sentence ?

Thanks
Mohit

in MOST cases of these kinds of constructions, in which "what" is a relative pronoun, you can replace it with "the NOUN that..."

so, for instance, in this construction ("what the drug's maker charges"), you can replace "what" with "the price that..."

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"what" can also be a question word, but these sentences aren't questions - so you shouldn't have to worry about that.

goelmohit2002 wrote:

lunarpower wrote:
in MOST cases of these kinds of constructions, in which "what" is a relative pronoun, you can replace it with "the NOUN that..."

so, for instance, in this construction ("what the drug's maker charges"), you can replace "what" with "the price that..."

Hi Ron,

Either I am misinterpreting you or misinterpreting OG...

but OG-12, Q50 option B explanation say that what cannot be used as relative pronoun instead of "that"...

Kindly tell what I am missing here...or in case I am misinterpreting you.

Thanks
Mohit

no, you're correct. you can't substitute "what" for "that".
but note that the meaning of "what" is, essentially, the same as "the NOUN that..."

i don't have a huge command of exact terminology (relative pronoun, etc.), so it's certainly possible that i may have misused the term "relative pronoun". apologies if that is the case.

in general, just make sure that you know the usage cited above for "what".