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Exports by ECC, USA and Japan

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Exports by ECC, USA and Japan

by pareekbharat86 » Mon Nov 25, 2013 4:10 am
The European Economic Community exported just under $400 billion in goods in 1988, sixty percent more than the United States did and nearly twice as much as Japan's exports.

(A) the United States did and nearly twice as much as Japan's exports
(B) the United States' and nearly double what the Japanese exports were
(C) the United States exported and nearly twice as much as the Japanese did
(D) what the United States did and nearly twice as much as Japan's exports
(E) what the United States exported and nearly double the Japanese exports

OA is C

I know that this question has been addressed earlier on this site, but I found the replies lacking in explanation.

Kindly explain why 4 of the answers are incorrect and why Cis correct.
Thanks,
Bharat.
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by ilyana » Mon Nov 25, 2013 1:59 pm
Hello, Bharat!

This is clearly a problem on parallelism issue.

The exports of European Economic community are compared to those of the United States and those of Japan.
We'd like these two comparisons to be in parallel:

A --> the United States did and exports
Or: [subject + verb] and [noun] --> A is out

B --> the United States' [exports - omitted] and exports were
Or: [possessive noun] and [subject + verb] --> B is out

C --> the United States exported and the Japanese did
Or: [subject + verb] and [subject + verb] --> the parallelism seems alright

On Manhattan forum Ron pointed out that "the United States" (country) isn't parallel to "the Japanese" (people). It is so.
However, if this problem is from official source (it seems to be from paper tests), then we just have to learn that this sort of things is acceptable on the GMAT.

D --> the United States did and exports
Or: [subject + verb] and [noun] --> D is out

E --> the United States exported and exports
Or: [subject + verb] and [noun] --> E is out

Besides this parallelism issue, I have suspicions concerning the word "double" in B and E.

It can't be a verb, because "and" should connect two parallel elements/structures.
In B: we can't attach a verb to a possessive noun.
In E: we can't attach a verb without subject to a clause (because this clause has its own different subject).

If it's a noun, then it should be followed by "of":
double of what the Japanese exports were
double of the Japanese exports
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https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilyana-anderson-481846127/
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by pareekbharat86 » Tue Nov 26, 2013 1:38 am
ilyana wrote:Hello, Bharat!

This is clearly a problem on parallelism issue.

The exports of European Economic community are compared to those of the United States and those of Japan.
We'd like these two comparisons to be in parallel:

A --> the United States did and exports
Or: [subject + verb] and [noun] --> A is out

B --> the United States' [exports - omitted] and exports were
Or: [possessive noun] and [subject + verb] --> B is out

C --> the United States exported and the Japanese did
Or: [subject + verb] and [subject + verb] --> the parallelism seems alright

On Manhattan forum Ron pointed out that "the United States" (country) isn't parallel to "the Japanese" (people). It is so.
However, if this problem is from official source (it seems to be from paper tests), then we just have to learn that this sort of things is acceptable on the GMAT.

D --> the United States did and exports
Or: [subject + verb] and [noun] --> D is out

E --> the United States exported and exports
Or: [subject + verb] and [noun] --> E is out

Besides this parallelism issue, I have suspicions concerning the word "double" in B and E.

It can't be a verb, because "and" should connect two parallel elements/structures.
In B: we can't attach a verb to a possessive noun.
In E: we can't attach a verb without subject to a clause (because this clause has its own different subject).

If it's a noun, then it should be followed by "of":
double of what the Japanese exports were
double of the Japanese exports
Hi Ilyana,

Brilliant explanation! Thanks a lot.
Thanks,
Bharat.
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