Answer explanation required.

[dkumar.83]

Qn:168
Because the Earth's crust is more solid there and thus better able to transmit shock waves, an earthquake of a given magnitude typically devastates an area 100 times greater in the eastern United States than it does in the West.

(A) of a given magnitude typically devastates an area 100 times greater in the eastern United States than it does in the West
(B) of a given magnitude will typically devastate 100 times the area if it occurs in the eastern United States instead of the West
(C) will typically devastate 100 times the area in the eastern United States than one of the comparable magnitude occurring in the West
(D) in the eastern United States will typically devastate an area 100 times greater than will a quake of comparable magnitude occurring in the West
(E) that occurs in the eastern United States will typically devastate 100 times more area than if it occurred with comparable magnitude in the West


Official Answer: D

[Shawshank]

Eliminated A, B and C due to modifier problem..

Between D and E finding it difficult to elimiinate.. I had selected "E" as my answer.. but that is wrong.. I think "E" has been eliminated due to parallelsim issue.. not sure though..

Experts please comment..

[martin.jonson007]

wats d problem wid A

[nikhilkatira]

Eliminated A, B and C due to modifier problem..

Between D and E finding it difficult to elimiinate.. I had selected "E" as my answer.. but that is wrong.. I think "E" has been eliminated due to parallelsim issue.. not sure though..

Experts please comment..

I also selected E.

[RumpelThickSkin]

This really seems a bad question! Perhaps it just me! I picked D , but i am still convinced it modifies the sentence correctly. Picked it over E because greater than is preferred over more area than .. BAD QUESTION, I reckon.

[RumpelThickSkin]

This really seems a bad question! Perhaps it just me! I picked D , but i am still convinced it modifies the sentence correctly. Picked it over E because greater than is preferred over more area than .. BAD QUESTION, I reckon.

[lunarpower]

Qn:168
Because the Earth's crust is more solid there and thus better able to transmit shock waves, an earthquake of a given magnitude typically devastates an area 100 times greater in the eastern United States than it does in the West.

(A) of a given magnitude typically devastates an area 100 times greater in the eastern United States than it does in the West
(B) of a given magnitude will typically devastate 100 times the area if it occurs in the eastern United States instead of the West
(C) will typically devastate 100 times the area in the eastern United States than one of the comparable magnitude occurring in the West
(D) in the eastern United States will typically devastate an area 100 times greater than will a quake of comparable magnitude occurring in the West
(E) that occurs in the eastern United States will typically devastate 100 times more area than if it occurred with comparable magnitude in the West


Official Answer: D

like many of the other questions in the 1000sc set, this one is not the greatest thing in the world. (d) is definitely the best of the five answers, but it still has issues.

in particular, in that choice (d), "100 times greater..." is used as an adjective-type modifier on the noun "area". therefore, this comparison isn't really correct, since it compares a noun ("an area") to an entire clause.

one way in which this choice can be made better:
...A quake in the eastern United States will typically devastate 100 times as much area as will a quake of comparable magnitude occurring in the West

this is actually sort of subtle, so let me spell it out with a couple more examples.

if you see "a NOUN X times greater/more than...", this comparison should be completed by another NOUN". it is NOT OK to have a clause here.
e.g.,
i saw a dog twice as large as my friend's Newfoundland.

BUT
if you see "X times as many/much NOUN as...", this comparison can be completed in a variety of ways; the overarching principle is that the context must make sense.
e.g.,
i have twice as many dogs as does my friend --> completed with a clause
i have twice as many dogs as cats --> noun compared to object, no ambiguity
i have twice as many dogs as my friend --> noun compared to subject, no ambiguity

it's complicated.