The concert this weekend promises

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The concert this weekend promises

by BTGmoderatorDC » Fri Nov 03, 2017 6:46 am
The concert this weekend promises to attract an even greater amount of people than attended the last one.

a) an even greater amount of people
b) an even larger amount of people
c) an amount of people even greater
d) a number of even larger
e) an even greater number of people

Why is Option D not the best Option?

OA E

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by MartyMurray » Fri Nov 03, 2017 10:56 pm
lheiannie07 wrote:The concert this weekend promises to attract an even greater amount of people than attended the last one.

a) an even greater amount of people
b) an even larger amount of people
c) an amount of people even greater
d) a number of even larger
e) an even greater number of people

Why is Option D not the best Option?

OA E
Here's the sentence created using option D.

The concert this weekend promises to attract a number of even larger people than attended the last one.

That sentence does not really make sense. The comparison does not really work. It seems to be attempting to convey that the concert this weekend will attract people even larger than those who attended the last concert.

For one thing, common sense tells us that the point of this sentence is likely not that the people themselves will be larger, but that the number of people attending the concert will be larger.

However, in official questions, the reasons for eliminating answer choices are more clear than the reason I just gave.

So, while this question is not that tightly constructed, perhaps we could say that the best reason for eliminating D is that the sentence creating via using D is not well constructed. It it does not say "larger than those who attended". It says "larger than attended", which is awkward and does not convey a clear meaning.

Overall, I would say that the writer of this question felt that D is incorrect because of the low probability that the meaning conveyed by the version created using D is the one that the sentence is meant to convey and the awkwardness and ineffectiveness of the wording.
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by EconomistGMATTutor » Mon Nov 20, 2017 2:38 pm
Hello!

To answer your question, option D says "a number of even larger," but doesn't say what that's referring to. A number of even larger what? You could probably make an assumption that the writer means "people" or "audience members," but that's asking the reader to do most of the work!

Also, as Marty Murray pointed out, wording it this way could confuse the reader into thinking that larger people are going to show up, not a larger number of people (regardless of their size).

I hope this helps! I'm available if you'd like any follow up.
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by BTGmoderatorDC » Wed Jan 10, 2018 9:00 pm
EconomistGMATTutor wrote:Hello!

To answer your question, option D says "a number of even larger," but doesn't say what that's referring to. A number of even larger what? You could probably make an assumption that the writer means "people" or "audience members," but that's asking the reader to do most of the work!

Also, as Marty Murray pointed out, wording it this way could confuse the reader into thinking that larger people are going to show up, not a larger number of people (regardless of their size).

I hope this helps! I'm available if you'd like any follow up.
Thanks a lot!