BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

The new mayor is certainly more progressive than

This topic has expert replies
Post new topic Locked
Previous Topic Next Topic
Moderator
Posts: 7187
Joined: Thu Sep 07, 2017 4:43 pm
Followed by:23 members

The new mayor is certainly more progressive than

by BTGmoderatorDC » Sun Mar 11, 2018 4:11 am
The new mayor is certainly more progressive than her predecessor, but she is not nearly as efficient.

1. but she is not nearly as efficient
2. but she, however, is not nearly as efficient
3. but she is nearly not as efficient
4. even though she is not nearly as efficient
5. despite being not as efficient

Can some experts explain what is wrong with options C and D?

OA A
Top
Source: — Sentence Correction |
Legendary Member
Posts: 2214
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2018 2:22 pm
Followed by:5 members

by deloitte247 » Sat Mar 17, 2018 4:55 am
I prefer option B as the correct answer. The reason is that the adverb "however" helps to indicate that a contrary option is being expressed.

Option C is wrong because it is being attempted to make a comparative quantification of a non-existent quality which is the absence of the new mayor's efficiency.
Option D is wrong because there would be no need for a comma if "even though" were going to be used as connecting words.
Top

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 503
Joined: Thu Jul 20, 2017 9:03 am
Thanked: 86 times
Followed by:15 members
GMAT Score:770

by ErikaPrepScholar » Mon Mar 19, 2018 11:52 am
I prefer option B as the correct answer. The reason is that the adverb "however" helps to indicate that a contrary option is being expressed.
The reason answer choice B is incorrect is that "but" and "however" both indicate a contrast - using both words is redundant.
Can some experts explain what is wrong with options C and D?
"Even though" in D and "despite" in E both indicate that there is a contradiction between being progressive and inefficient - that somehow her progressiveness should be affected by her lack of efficiency. Since efficiency should have no impact on progressiveness, contradiction words are inappropriate here. We instead want a contrast word (like "but" or "however") to indicate that there is a difference between her high progressiveness and low efficiency. We can eliminate D and E.

C is different from A only in word order: "not nearly as efficient" in A vs. "nearly not as efficient" in C. Putting that in our own words, A says that the new mayor is not even close to as efficient as the old mayor, while C says that the new mayor is almost not as efficient as the old mayor. Rephrased like this, we can see that these have two very different meanings, and that C doesn't actually make much sense. We can eliminate C.

This leaves us with A as the correct answer.
Image

Erika John - Content Manager/Lead Instructor
https://gmat.prepscholar.com/gmat/s/

Get tutoring from me or another PrepScholar GMAT expert: https://gmat.prepscholar.com/gmat/s/tutoring/

Learn about our exclusive savings for BTG members (up to 25% off) and our 5 day free trial

Check out our PrepScholar GMAT YouTube channel, and read our expert guides on the PrepScholar GMAT blog
Top
Post new topic Locked
• Page 1 of 1