A semi-colon question.

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In the 1980s advertising revenues accounted for approximately 40% of operating profits of a typical local newspaper ; in the 1990s this proportion increased to 57%.


A] newspaper; in the 1990s this proportion increased to 57%.

B] newspaper; in the 1990s they increased by 57%.

C] newspaper, in the 1990s they increased to 57%.

D] newspaper; increasing to 57% in the 1990s.

E] newspaper, which increased to 57% in the 1990s.






[spoiler]The OA is the sentence itself i.e A.

[/spoiler]


[spoiler]Option B: 'they' a pronoun is ambigious as it is unknown that 'they' refers to what, advertising revenues or the operating profits...

Option C: same as option B...

Option D: semicolon not required as in the second clause as mentioned in the option, the overall clause cannot stand on its own. There is no subject or the clear verb. Moreover, it seems to be a modifier and so a comma should be placed and not a semi-colon.

Option E: The use of a comma and then a which, modifies the word newspaper meaning that the newspaper increased to 57% in the 1990's and not the ratio. It changes the meaning of the sentence.[/spoiler]


Hope this helps...

[killer1387]

A is correct.

[GmatKiss]

In the 1980s advertising revenues accounted for approximately 40% of operating profits of a typical local newspaper ; in the 1990s this proportion increased to 57%.


A] newspaper; in the 1990s this proportion increased to 57%.

B] newspaper; in the 1990s they increased by 57%.

C] newspaper, in the 1990s they increased to 57%.

D] newspaper; increasing to 57% in the 1990s.

E] newspaper, which increased to 57% in the 1990s.

IMO: A

[Bill@VeritasPrep]

A] Semicolon used correctly, two independent clauses. Works pretty well.

B] "increased by" changes the meaning

C] cannot use a comma to link two independent clauses

D] need an independent clause after the semicolon

E] modifier error: it's not the newspaper that increased

[vikram4689]

C] cannot use a comma to link two independent clauses

Bill if we use a semi-colon in C then would it be correct. I think it wouldn;t
In the 1980s advertising revenues accounted for approximately 40% of operating profits of a typical local newspaper ; in the 1990s they increased to 57%

advertising revenues CANNOT increase to some % (57%) AND i do not see any parallelism going on here which can imply underlined part in italics - advertising revenues increased to 57% of operating profits

[vikram4689]

Experts please help me resolve this

[vikram4689]

It isn't so difficult that no one can reply

[vikram4689]

Come on friends

[chris@magoosh]

@vikram4689

Modified (C): In the 1980s advertising revenues accounted for approximately 40% of operating profits of a typical local newspaper ; in the 1990s they increased to 57%

This sentence is fine from a semi-colon perspective: two independent clauses are being joined together.

From a meaning standpoint, you are correct: it is not the % that is increasing, rather a % of operating profits. Therefore, 'they' is incorrect.

Hope that helps resolve any confusion .

[rahatali]

I need some clarification on the use of PRONOUN in clauses separated by a semi-colon. According to the rule of semi-colon, a pronoun in clause after semi-colon should not refer to a noun in clause before semi-colon. Clearly, Option A violates this rule. For instance, option A says that "newspaper; in the 1990s THIS PROPORTION increased to 57%". Use of THIS PROPORTION here is unclear because it is referring to something defined in previous clause.

I rejected option A from my choices just because of this logic. Now, I am confused whether the rule is wrong OR I don't understand it properly.

Please help.
Thanks.