More than 300 rivers.....

[chendawg]

More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

(A) More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

(B) With 20 percent of the world's fresh water, that is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal has more than 300 rivers that drain into it.

(C) Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, it holds more of the world's fresh water than all that of the North American Great Lakes combined, 20 percent.

(D) While more than 300 rivers drain into it, Siberia's Lake Baikal holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, which is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

(E) More than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water.

Source: GMAT prep

OA: A





This problem in question was part of an article written by Stacey from MGMAT, and she gave an explanation for answer choice [spoiler]A, she writes: Because "more than" appears after the comma, it is carrying the concept under comparison (a percentage of the world's fresh water) to the second comparison item; that is, we are comparing the relevant "world's fresh water percentage" figure for Lake Baikal and the Great Lakes.[/spoiler] Is this a general rule we can adhere to and apply to other problems?

[VivianKerr]

Hi chendawg,

The takeaway here is that a comma sets apart a subordinate clause.

"which holds 20 percent of the world' fresh water" describes "Lake Baikal" which immediately precedes the clause.

"more than all the North American Great Lakes combined" describes the first subordinate clause.

When you have sentences with multiple clauses like this, make sure to eliminate answer choices that contain an independent clause improperly combined with subordinate clauses, called a "run-on." This occurs in answer choices (B) and (C).

(D) and (E) are fragments.

[chendawg]

Hi chendawg,

The takeaway here is that a comma sets apart a subordinate clause.

"which holds 20 percent of the world' fresh water" describes "Lake Baikal" which immediately precedes the clause.

"more than all the North American Great Lakes combined" describes the first subordinate clause.

Thanks for the reply Vivian, however, I was asking more about the comparison in A instead of the other issues, which I understand. In A, the sentence reads:

More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

The modifier "more than all the North American Great Lakes combined" modifies the "20 percent of the world's fresh water". Since we are comparing percentages here, apparently the "missing percentage" is implied according to the explanation by Stacey.

She states: What's before the comma? "20 percent of the world's fresh water" So the "more than" modifier is modifying that - in other words, the "more than" modifier already includes the idea that we're talking about "a percentage of the world's fresh water."

You can think of it this way:
"Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, [an amount that is] more than all the North American Great Lakes combined"

The stuff in brackets is implied because we have a modifier set-up here, not just a "normal" comparison.

My question is if the comma + more than is something that always implies the missing comparison.

Thanks for your help!

[atulmangal]

Hi chendawg,

The takeaway here is that a comma sets apart a subordinate clause.

"which holds 20 percent of the world' fresh water" describes "Lake Baikal" which immediately precedes the clause.

"more than all the North American Great Lakes combined" describes the first subordinate clause.

When you have sentences with multiple clauses like this, make sure to eliminate answer choices that contain an independent clause improperly combined with subordinate clauses, called a "run-on." This occurs in answer choices (B) and (C).

(D) and (E) are fragments.

Hi vivian,

i'm bit confused from your explanation....pls clear my following confusions..
Doubt 1:--you mentioned that OP's B and C have an error "Run on" means an independent clause is improperly combined
with subordinate clauses...
(B) With 20 percent of the world's fresh water, that is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal has more than 300 rivers that drain into it.
the bold one is independent clause improperly combined to the rest: AGREED

But where is the independent clause in Op C, written below...please mark that in bold...

(C) Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, it holds more of the world's fresh water than all that of the North American Great Lakes combined, 20 percent.

Doubt 2:--you wrote that op D, E are fragments....well what i know is a group of words that doesn't stand alone either because it is begun by a subordinator or because it lacks a subject or a working verb...
why D, E are fragments....one more thing i understand why E is wrong but in D can u pls tell, the "it" used in the first clause is correct or not???????

[chendawg]

i'm bit confused from your explanation....pls clear my following confusions..
Doubt 1:--you mentioned that OP's B and C have an error "Run on" means an independent clause is improperly combined
with subordinate clauses...
(B) With 20 percent of the world's fresh water, that is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal has more than 300 rivers that drain into it.
the bold one is independent clause improperly combined to the rest: AGREED

But where is the independent clause in Op C, written below...please mark that in bold...

(C) Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, it holds more of the world's fresh water than all that of the North American Great Lakes combined, 20 percent.

Doubt 2:--you wrote that op D, E are fragments....well what i know is a group of words that doesn't stand alone either because it is begun by a subordinator or because it lacks a subject or a working verb...
why D, E are fragments....one more thing i understand why E is wrong but in D can u pls tell, the "it" used in the first clause is correct or not???????

She did say that C has no independent clause, and that it's a run on sentence. There IS no independent clause in C, as C says Siberia's Lake Baikal, <modifier>, IT holds more of the <rest of sentence>. Because of the word it, the sentence becomes a run on sentence, so there's nothing to mark in bold for you.

D is a fragment because of the word "while" at the beginning of the sentence. While is used like the word although in this instance, and the use of it here makes it a fragment.

E is a fragment because of the "more than" at the beginning of the sentence. The way more than is used here needs something to compare it to, as the sentence never tells us what Lake Baikal is more than.

As for the it in "drain into it", I'm pretty positive there isn't an issue using the word it there.

[atulmangal]

i'm bit confused from your explanation....pls clear my following confusions..
Doubt 1:--you mentioned that OP's B and C have an error "Run on" means an independent clause is improperly combined
with subordinate clauses...
(B) With 20 percent of the world's fresh water, that is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal has more than 300 rivers that drain into it.
the bold one is independent clause improperly combined to the rest: AGREED

But where is the independent clause in Op C, written below...please mark that in bold...

(C) Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, it holds more of the world's fresh water than all that of the North American Great Lakes combined, 20 percent.

Doubt 2:--you wrote that op D, E are fragments....well what i know is a group of words that doesn't stand alone either because it is begun by a subordinator or because it lacks a subject or a working verb...
why D, E are fragments....one more thing i understand why E is wrong but in D can u pls tell, the "it" used in the first clause is correct or not???????

She did say that C has no independent clause, and that it's a run on sentence. There IS no independent clause in C, as C says Siberia's Lake Baikal, <modifier>, IT holds more of the <rest of sentence>. Because of the word it, the sentence becomes a run on sentence, so there's nothing to mark in bold for you.

D is a fragment because of the word "while" at the beginning of the sentence. While is used like the word although in this instance, and the use of it here makes it a fragment.

E is a fragment because of the "more than" at the beginning of the sentence. The way more than is used here needs something to compare it to, as the sentence never tells us what Lake Baikal is more than.

As for the it in "drain into it", I'm pretty positive there isn't an issue using the word it there.

Hi chendawg,

Thanks for your reply, but i have one more doubt in Op D, why the use of "while" is incorrect, as it is working as "although"...it means it introduce a subordinate clause....and thats fine here...also in this option all the modifers are at the correct place and correctly modifying their referents...pls explain???

[chendawg]

why the use of "while" is incorrect, as it is working as "although"...it means it introduce a subordinate clause....and thats fine here...also in this option all the modifers are at the correct place and correctly modifying their referents...pls explain???

While is incorrect because of the meaning. You're right that we can introduce a subordinate clause with a word like while, but we also need to make it make sense. For example I can say:

While playing softball, I drank beers when my team was on the bench.

This makes sense as while is used to say I'm drinking beer at the same time as playing softball.

While the San Antonio Spurs are the team with the best record, which is a reflection of the tough defense the Spurs play.

This makes no sense because while is used as although in this sentence, and it is used to introduce contrast. There's no contrast in this sentence. In order to have this make sense I would need to say something like this:

While the San Antonio Spurs are the team with the best record, they are not the best team in the league.

As for having all the modifiers in the correct place, in D the last modifier is not used correctly as which modifies fresh water.

[atulmangal]

Hii, Thanks Buddy, i got it....as we are discussing an eternal phenomenon "300 rivers drain into it" use of while make no sense...

Thanks