BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

Coronary Patients

This topic has expert replies
Post new topic Locked
Previous Topic Next Topic
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 193
Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2012 6:53 am
Thanked: 4 times
Followed by:5 members

Coronary Patients

by amysky_0205 » Thu Jan 31, 2013 2:02 am
Several studies have found that the coronary patients who exercise most actively have half or less than half the chance of dying of a heart attack as those who are sedentary.

(A) have half or less than half the chance of dying of a heart attack as those who are sedentary
(B) have half the chance, or less, of dying of a heart attack than those who are sedentary do
(C) have half the chance that they will die of a heart attack, or less, than those who are sedentary do
(D) are at least fifty percent less likely to die of a heart attack as those who are sedentary
(E) are at least fifty percent less likely than those who are sedentary to die of a heart attack


OA: E

can someone explain this one?

thank you!
Top
Source: — Sentence Correction |
User avatar
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 31
Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2013 9:53 am
Thanked: 6 times
Followed by:2 members
GMAT Score:770

by HerrGrau » Thu Jan 31, 2013 10:52 am
Several studies have found that the coronary patients who exercise most actively have half or less than half the chance of dying of a heart attack as those who are sedentary.

(A) have half or less than half the chance of dying of a heart attack as those who are sedentary
This is awkward and non-standard. Should be less than half the chance

(B) have half the chance, or less, of dying of a heart attack than those who are sedentary do
This is awkward and non-standard. Should be less than half the chance. The "do" is not parallel. It should be parallel with the have from the first half of the sentence.

(C) have half the chance that they will die of a heart attack, or less, than those who are sedentary do
The meaning is different. And there is also the parallelism issue.

(D) are at least fifty percent less likely to die of a heart attack as those who are sedentary
Improper comparison - It should be Person X is at least 50% less likely than person Y to die of Z.

Not Person X is at least 50% less likely to die of a heart attack than Person Y. This one sounds like person Y is another disease that person x could die of.

(E) are at least fifty percent less likely than those who are sedentary to die of a heart attack
Correct

I hope this helps!

HG.
"It is a curious property of research activity that after the problem has been solved the solution seems obvious. This is true not only for those who have not previously been acquainted with the problem, but also for those who have worked over it for years." -Dr. Edwin Land

GMAT Blog and GMAT Tutoring: www.AtlanticGMAT.com
Top
Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Feb 18, 2009 9:48 pm
Thanked: 4 times

by insanejuxtapose » Thu Jan 31, 2013 12:26 pm
E changes the meaning, it says people who are sedentary to die of a heart attack but does not clearly refer to the coronary patients who exercise.

I would probably go with D. Though 'as' does not sound right to me but would think it is the best of the options available. Experts please comment.

HerrGrau wrote:Several studies have found that the coronary patients who exercise most actively have half or less than half the chance of dying of a heart attack as those who are sedentary.

(A) have half or less than half the chance of dying of a heart attack as those who are sedentary
This is awkward and non-standard. Should be less than half the chance

(B) have half the chance, or less, of dying of a heart attack than those who are sedentary do
This is awkward and non-standard. Should be less than half the chance. The "do" is not parallel. It should be parallel with the have from the first half of the sentence.

(C) have half the chance that they will die of a heart attack, or less, than those who are sedentary do
The meaning is different. And there is also the parallelism issue.

(D) are at least fifty percent less likely to die of a heart attack as those who are sedentary
Improper comparison - It should be Person X is at least 50% less likely than person Y to die of Z.

Not Person X is at least 50% less likely to die of a heart attack than Person Y. This one sounds like person Y is another disease that person x could die of.

(E) are at least fifty percent less likely than those who are sedentary to die of a heart attack
Correct

I hope this helps!

HG.
Top

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 451
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2010 11:58 am
Location: New York City
Thanked: 188 times
Followed by:120 members
GMAT Score:770

by Tommy Wallach » Fri Feb 01, 2013 12:00 pm
Hey Guys,

HerrGrau did a pretty good job with this one, but just to mention a few other quick things.

The only way I can think of correctly using "half" in a comparison, as many of these answer choices do, is to use "that":

"I have less than half the chance of dying that you do."

(A) Even ignoring the "half or less than half" thing, we have:

"I have half the chance of dying of a heart attack as you."

We could possibly get away with: "I have half as much of a chance of dying of a heart attack as you do." That would be the "as...as..." comparison. But a single "as" won't cut it.

(B) Actually, there is no parallelism issue here. "I have half as much money as you do." That sentence is totally parallel. The "do" at the end of this sentence is attempting to create that parallelism. Unfortunately, this answer choice still makes many of the same mistakes as (A). Also, it incorrectly uses "than" instead of "as". "Than" can only be used with comparative words, such as "more" "less" "stronger" "smarter" etc.

(C) Makes the "than" mistake again.

(D) This answer uses "as" when it needed "than". This is because we have the comparative "less".

(E) Wins!

Hope that helps!

-t
Tommy Wallach, Company Expert
ManhattanGMAT

If you found this posting mega-helpful, feel free to thank and/or follow me!
Top
Post new topic Locked
• Page 1 of 1