OG-12 SC Q-43 Laos has a land area

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OG-12 SC Q-43 Laos has a land area

by ankit0411 » Wed Apr 18, 2012 10:38 am

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Laos has a land area about the same as Great Britain
but only four million in population, where many
are
members of hill tribes ensconced in the virtually
inaccessible mountain valleys of the north.
(A) about the same as Great Britain but only four
million in population, where many
(B) of about the same size as Great Britain is, but inLaos there is a population of only four million,
and many
(C) that is about the same size as Great Britain's
land area, but in Laos with a population of only
four million people, many of them
(D) comparable to the size of Great Britain, but onlyfour million in population, and many
(E) comparable to that of Great Britain but a
population of only four million people, many of
whom

I chose answer C . I was confused between E and C ; though E seems to be correct how is C eliminated ?

Thanks :)

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by GmatKiss » Wed Apr 18, 2012 10:43 am

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ankit0411 wrote:Laos has a land area about the same as Great Britain
but only four million in population, where many
are
members of hill tribes ensconced in the virtually
inaccessible mountain valleys of the north.
(A) about the same as Great Britain but only four
million in population, where many
(B) of about the same size as Great Britain is, but inLaos there is a population of only four million,
and many
(C) that is about the same size as Great Britain's
land area
, but in Laos with a population of only
four million people, many of them - wordy and confusing
(D) comparable to the size of Great Britain, but onlyfour million in population, and many
(E) comparable to that of Great Britain but a
population of only four million people, many of
whom

I chose answer C . I was confused between E and C ; though E seems to be correct how is C eliminated ?

Thanks :)

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by ankit0411 » Wed Apr 18, 2012 10:54 am

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Thanks for the reply !
Is that the only reason for elimination ? what's them referring to in the sentence ?

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by rohitmanglik » Mon Nov 11, 2013 9:02 pm

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We use "compared to" to compare unlike object and "compared with" to compare like objects.

Here we are comparing land area with land area so why do we have comparable to rather than comparable with?

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by GMATGuruNY » Tue Nov 12, 2013 8:17 am

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rohitmanglik wrote:We use "compared to" to compare unlike object and "compared with" to compare like objects.
The GMAT does not draw a distinction between compare to and compare with.
For the purposes of the test, consider the two interchangeable.
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by guptas » Fri Nov 15, 2013 12:47 pm

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Why E is correct answer?

land area is comparable to Britain- doesn't make sense.

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by pareekbharat86 » Fri Nov 15, 2013 9:39 pm

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guptas wrote:Why E is correct answer?

land area is comparable to Britain- doesn't make sense.
Hi Guptas,

E actually says 'land area that is comparable to...'. Since it uses 'that', it makes it sensible.
Thanks,
Bharat.

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by iongmat » Tue Dec 10, 2013 9:17 am

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GMATGuruNY wrote: The GMAT does not draw a distinction between compare to and compare with.
For the purposes of the test, consider the two interchangeable.
Hello Mitch, I had a question about option A. Basically I wanted to ask why we can't interpret A as:

Laos has a land area about the same as Great Britain (has) but only four million...

If we interpret A this way, then the comparison in A seems to be correct. Can you please advice.

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by GMATGuruNY » Tue Dec 10, 2013 12:31 pm

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iongmat wrote:
GMATGuruNY wrote: The GMAT does not draw a distinction between compare to and compare with.
For the purposes of the test, consider the two interchangeable.
Hello Mitch, I had a question about option A. Basically I wanted to ask why we can't interpret A as:

Laos has a land area about the same as Great Britain (has) but only four million...

If we interpret A this way, then the comparison in A seems to be correct. Can you please advice.
In A, the placement of about the same implies the following:
Laos has a land area [that is} about the same as Great Britain.
As a result, this answer choice seems to be saying that the LAND AREA IS about the same as GREAT BRITAIN IS -- not the intended comparison.
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by iongmat » Tue Dec 10, 2013 11:00 pm

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Thanks Mitch. Would the following be correct then:

Laos has about the same land area as Great Britain.

Can we interpret the above as:

Laos has about the same land area as Great Britain (has).

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by GMATGuruNY » Wed Dec 11, 2013 4:52 am

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iongmat wrote:Thanks Mitch. Would the following be correct then:

Laos has about the same land area as Great Britain.

Can we interpret the above as:

Laos has about the same land area as Great Britain (has).
Your interpretation is correct, but it is not crystal clear what is meant by the same land area.
A reader might construe that this phrase refers to the SAME PARCEL OF LAND.
The intended meaning is to discuss the SQUARE FOOTAGE of each country.
By saying that Laos has a land area COMPARABLE to -- not the same as -- that of Great Britain, the OA conveys the intended meaning more clearly.
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by ngk4mba3236 » Tue May 10, 2016 10:10 am

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hi gmatguru,
on top of what you mentioned as error in A, does the following constitute further error in A:

"4 million in population,where" -- here, where incorrectly modifies population, but in GMAT where can serve to modify actual places only. right ?

as for C, "with a population of only 4 million people, many of them are members of hill tribes" -- here,the usage of with seems incorrect, resulting into nonsensical meaning.

am I correct ?
Last edited by ngk4mba3236 on Wed May 25, 2016 11:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

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by GMATGuruNY » Thu May 26, 2016 8:25 am

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ngk4mba3236 wrote:hi gmatguru,
on top of what you mentioned as error in A, does the following constitute further error in A:

"4 million in population,where" -- here, where incorrectly modifies population, but in GMAT where can serve to modify actual places only. right ?
Correct.
as for C, "with a population of only 4 million people, many of them are members of hill tribes" -- here,the usage of with seems incorrect, resulting into nonsensical meaning.
C: Laos with population of only 4 million people
Here, the with-modifier in red implies that there is MORE THAN ONE Laos -- Laos with a population of only 1 million people, Laos with a population of only 2 million people, Laos with a population of only 3 million people -- and that the sentence is referring to ONE SPECIFIC Laos:
Laos WITH A POPULATION OF ONLY 4 MILLION PEOPLE.
This meaning is nonsensical.
There is not more than Laos.
Eliminate C.
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by ngk4mba3236 » Fri May 27, 2016 3:25 am

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GMATGuruNY wrote:
as for C, "with a population of only 4 million people, many of them are members of hill tribes" -- here,the usage of with seems incorrect, resulting into nonsensical meaning.
C: Laos with population of only 4 million people
Here, the with-modifier in red implies that there is MORE THAN ONE Laos -- Laos with a population of only 1 million people, Laos with a population of only 2 million people, Laos with a population of only 3 million people -- and that the sentence is referring to ONE SPECIFIC Laos:
Laos WITH A POPULATION OF ONLY 4 MILLION PEOPLE.
This meaning is nonsensical.
There is not more than Laos.
Eliminate C.
I can understand your point, but couple of quick questions on C -

1. is the reason to eliminate choice C that I mentioned in the above quote completely wrong ?

2. as for the just comparison portion of C , "Laos has a land area that is about the same size as Great Britain's land area" : can you please shed some light why/how this comparison is incorrect ?

I thought, although this comparison is ok (because land area of Laos seems to be correctly compared to the land area of Great Britain), C is still wrong for other reasons discussed earlier.

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by ngk4mba3236 » Mon May 30, 2016 10:12 pm

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gmatguru,
any thoughts on these concerns ? curious to know your thoughts on the above doubts!

thank you!