Farming in China

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Farming in China

by soumyopriyosaha » Fri Jan 29, 2010 8:39 am
Although some officials noted that using machines for farming in China costs more than traditional hand cultivation, the mechanization of farming in the village of Long Bow doubled the corn yield while the previous year's costs were cut in half.

(A) mechanization of farming in the village of Long Bow doubled the corn yield while the previous year's costs were cut in half
(B) mechanization of farming in the village of Long Bow doubled the corn yield while cutting costs to half those of the previous year
(C) mechanization of farming in the village of Long Bow doubled the corn yield as cost were cut to half of the previous year's
(D) farming mechanization in the village of Long Bow doubled the corn yield as it cut in half the previous year's costs
(E) farming mechanization in the village of Long Bow doubled the corn yield while costs were cut to half that of the previous year
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by sumanr84 » Fri Jan 29, 2010 9:49 am
IMO : C
I am choosing this option mainly coz later part of the sentence 'as cost were cut to half of the previous...' is correct.

Usage of 'While' in A,B and E does not look fine.
D- awkward, usage of 'it' is wrong

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by soumyopriyosaha » Fri Jan 29, 2010 9:54 am
OA is B. In C one problem I found was "cost were cut" is wrong. Shouldn't it be "cost was cut" or "costs were cut"?
I am not sure about B as well. Need help on this !!!

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by thephoenix » Fri Jan 29, 2010 10:00 am
IMO B is correct

firstly the s/c is contradicting the observation of officials regarding the use of machines for farming in China costs more than traditional hand cultivation,by saying it not only inc yiels but also brought down the cost...
a) meaning changed previous year cost is not cut into half
c) the yeild inc due to cut in cost (meaning changed)
d) farming m/c meaning changed
e)mening changed

use of while is correct in B as it indicates that mechanization of farming inc yield along with cut in cost

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by mmon » Fri Jan 29, 2010 10:08 am
imo b
A. 'mechanization doubled yield... while costs were cut..' - illogical separation into two sentences with two diff. subjects while the idea is that one subject - 'mechanization' - both doubled yield and cut costs.

B. correct

C. 'as' means either 'because' or 'when'. Wrong cause-effect relation and illogical agreement respectively.

D. 'it cut' mistakenly refers to 'corn yield'.
E akward

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by astvansh » Tue Jul 19, 2011 9:23 pm
'b' reads: "cutting costs to half those of the previous year"

Isn't 'of' missing after 'half'?

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by gmat25 » Tue Jul 19, 2011 10:27 pm
soumyopriyosaha wrote:Although some officials noted that using machines for farming in China costs more than traditional hand cultivation, the mechanization of farming in the village of Long Bow doubled the corn yield while the previous year's costs were cut in half.

(A) mechanization of farming in the village of Long Bow doubled the corn yield while the previous year's costs were cut in half
(B) mechanization of farming in the village of Long Bow doubled the corn yield while cutting costs to half those of the previous year
(C) mechanization of farming in the village of Long Bow doubled the corn yield as cost were cut to half of the previous year's
(D) farming mechanization in the village of Long Bow doubled the corn yield as it cut in half the previous year's costs
(E) farming mechanization in the village of Long Bow doubled the corn yield while costs were cut to half that of the previous year
Hi, the first thing that came into my mind when i was reading this question is the use of "WHILE"...see "WHILE" is almost always correct when simultaneous actions are involved. GMAT also follows the standard ways of writing so in such cases u can always trust on such ans choices. B/W A and B, In A, "previous year's costs were cut in half" is unidiomatic. hence Op B

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