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Les mass!

by gmat_perfect » Tue Jul 20, 2010 9:45 am
A middleweight black hole weighs in at roughly 500 solar masses, hundreds of times more massive than the lightweight black holes produced by the collapse of individual stars, but thousands or even millions of times less in its mass as the heavyweight giants that lurk in the centers of galaxies.

(A) thousands or even millions of times less in its mass as
(B) it is thousands or even millions of times less massive as
(C) thousands or even millions of times less massive than
(D) yet it is thousands or even millions times less massive than
(E) yet it is thousands or even millions of times less in its mass than

I can have the right answer by applying the following reasoning:

Less X...than

=> We can rule out A and B.

But and yet are two coordinating conjunctions. They should not be used together, so I eliminate D and E.

Answer is C.

My question:

Can they, but and yet, be used together?

Experts, please help.
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by uwhusky » Tue Jul 20, 2010 10:44 am
I don't see how C can be right.
A middleweight black hole weighs in at roughly 500 solar masses, hundreds of times more massive than the lightweight black holes produced by the collapse of individual stars, but thousands or even millions of times less massive than the heavyweight giants that lurk in the centers of galaxies.
The main clause of the question is:

A middleweight black hole weighs in at roughly 500 solar masses, hundreds of times more massive than the lightweight black holes produced by the collapse of individual stars, but thousands or even millions of times less massive than the heavyweight giants that lurk in the centers of galaxies.

With conjunction "but", you are suppose to be connecting two clauses, and:
thousands or even millions of times less massive than the heavyweight giants that lurk in the centers of galaxies
does not have a subject nor a verb.
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by Haaress » Tue Jul 20, 2010 11:09 am
@Uwhusky, I have my doubts too.

I guess I read somewhere that a construction with coordinating conjunction should have one of the following constructions.

Either ....comma + but + pronoun antecedant as follows:

A middleweight black hole weighs in at roughly 500 solar masses, hundreds of times more massive than the lightweight black holes produced by the collapse of individual stars, but it is thousands or even millions of times less massive than the heavyweight giants that lurk in the centers of galaxies.

OR .... without a comma as follows:

A middleweight black hole weighs in at roughly 500 solar masses, hundreds of times more massive than the lightweight black holes produced by the collapse of individual stars BUT thousands or even millions of times less massive than the heavyweight giants that lurk in the centers of galaxies.

Experts, please clarify.
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by uwhusky » Tue Jul 20, 2010 12:26 pm
I'll use a different example:
The dog is small but bigger than other cats.
Doesn't that sound more ambiguous than to say:
The dog is small but it is bigger than other cats.
Another example:
The boxer weighs in at 200 lbs but less weight than the champion.
Shouldn't there be at least a verb following but?
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by diebeatsthegmat » Sun Aug 08, 2010 8:48 am
uwhusky wrote:I'll use a different example:
The dog is small but bigger than other cats.
Doesn't that sound more ambiguous than to say:
The dog is small but it is bigger than other cats.
Another example:
The boxer weighs in at 200 lbs but less weight than the champion.
Shouldn't there be at least a verb following but?
"the dog is small but its bigger than other cats", according to me is wordy. you jsut dont need "it
is" here and they still understand what it is here in the ST
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by e-GMAT » Sun Aug 08, 2010 10:16 am
You are correct in saying that whenever comma + but is used, clause should follow.

My guess is that this question has a typographical error. There should not be any "Comma" before "but".

The sentence structure produces a list as follows:

A middleweight black hole weighs in at roughly 500 solar masses, hundreds of times more massive than the lightweight black holes produced by the collapse of individual stars, but thousands or even millions of times less massive than the heavyweight giants that lurk in the centers of galaxies.

XYZ blackhole weighs 123, comparison 1 but comparison 2.

If this error is corrected, then this question tests 2 things:
1: Use of Idiom - Less..Than
2: Redundant use of yet with but - Both these words present a contrast and hence using both of them in the same sentence produces a redundant expression.
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by gmattaker20 » Sat Nov 05, 2011 1:00 pm
Other subtle grammatical error:

(C) thousands or even millions of times less massive than
(D) yet it is thousands or even millions (of missing) times less massive than
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