A decade after initiating the nation's most comprehensive ..

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A decade after initiating the nation's most comprehensive and aggressive antismoking program, per capita consumption of cigarettes in California declined from over 125 packs annually per person to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as in the nation as a whole.

(A) per capita consumption of cigarettes in California declined from over 125 packs annually per person to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as

(B) annual per capita consumption of cigarettes in California declined from over 125 packs to about 60, more than twice as great as that

(C) California's annual per capita consumption of cigarettes declined from over 125 packs per person to about 60, more than twice as great as the drop

(D) California has seen per capita consumption of cigarettes decline from over 125 packs annually to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as that

(E) California has seen annual per capita consumption of cigarettes decline from over 125 packs per person to about 60, more than twice as great as that

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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Fri May 16, 2014 1:50 pm
Important: When a sentence begins with a with noun modifier (as it does in the original sentence), stop at the comma and ask the question that the modifier raises.

So, once we read, A decade after initiating the nation's most comprehensive and aggressive antismoking program, we should stop and ask . . .

"Who or what initiated the nation's most comprehensive and aggressive antismoking program?"

If the sentence is properly constructed, the part that immediately follows the comma will answer that question in a logical manner.

Reading on we get...

(A) per capita consumption ...
Makes no sense. per capita consumption can't initiate an anti-smoking program.
ELIMINATE A

(B) annual per capita consumption ...
Makes no sense. annual per capita consumption can't initiate an anti-smoking program.
ELIMINATE B

(C) California's annual per capita consumption
Makes no sense. annual per capita consumption can't initiate an anti-smoking program.
ELIMINATE C

(D) California ...
Great. California could, indeed, initiate an anti-smoking program.
KEEP D for now

(E) California ...
Great. California could, indeed, initiate an anti-smoking program.
KEEP E for now

We've narrowed it down to D or E. Let's check each one.

(D) California has seen per capita consumption of cigarettes decline from over 125 packs annually to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as that
Looks fine.

(E) California has seen annual per capita consumption of cigarettes decline from over 125 packs per person to about 60, more than twice as great as that
Redundancy issue.
per capita means the same as per person
ELIMINATE E

Answer: D

Cheers,
Brent
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by Deependra » Sun Nov 27, 2016 10:55 am
Brent@GMATPrepNow wrote:Important: When a sentence begins with a with noun modifier (as it does in the original sentence), stop at the comma and ask the question that the modifier raises.

So, once we read, A decade after initiating the nation's most comprehensive and aggressive antismoking program, we should stop and ask . . .

"Who or what initiated the nation's most comprehensive and aggressive antismoking program?"

If the sentence is properly constructed, the part that immediately follows the comma will answer that question in a logical manner.

Reading on we get...

(A) per capita consumption ...
Makes no sense. per capita consumption can't initiate an anti-smoking program.
ELIMINATE A

(B) annual per capita consumption ...
Makes no sense. annual per capita consumption can't initiate an anti-smoking program.
ELIMINATE B

(C) California's annual per capita consumption
Makes no sense. annual per capita consumption can't initiate an anti-smoking program.
ELIMINATE C

(D) California ...
Great. California could, indeed, initiate an anti-smoking program.
KEEP D for now

(E) California ...
Great. California could, indeed, initiate an anti-smoking program.
KEEP E for now

We've narrowed it down to D or E. Let's check each one.

(D) California has seen per capita consumption of cigarettes decline from over 125 packs annually to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as that
Looks fine.

(E) California has seen annual per capita consumption of cigarettes decline from over 125 packs per person to about 60, more than twice as great as that
Redundancy issue.
per capita means the same as per person
ELIMINATE E

Answer: D

Cheers,
Brent


Dear Brent ,

This is a shoutout from a GMAT aspirant. I only logged in to say thankyou so much.. I am solving the Questions of SC as per the 250 Qs given by you in your free Course. However it becomes slightly difficult to get the solutions if they are wrong.. Can you point me in the direction where the questions of OG are solved by experts such as yourself. This is the first thread I bumpedin which you have solved the Qs.. I am following this set for working... https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gmat ... correction

Once again thanks a ton :)

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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Fri Dec 02, 2016 4:02 pm
Deependra wrote: Dear Brent ,

This is a shoutout from a GMAT aspirant. I only logged in to say thankyou so much.. I am solving the Questions of SC as per the 250 Qs given by you in your free Course. However it becomes slightly difficult to get the solutions if they are wrong.. Can you point me in the direction where the questions of OG are solved by experts such as yourself. This is the first thread I bumpedin which you have solved the Qs.. I am following this set for working... https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gmat ... correction

Once again thanks a ton :)
Thanks for that.

In general, the questions that feature a "EXPERT REPLIES" button are typically answered by someone with a strong understanding of the GMAT.

Cheers,
Brent
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