a new hair-growth drug is being

[rtfact]

a new hair-growth drug is being sold for three times the price, per milligram, as the drug's maker charges for another product with the same active ingredient.

A. as
B. than
C. that
D. of what
E. at which

OA: C

I know I should be specific with my question, but in this case I really don't have a clue where to begin. 'at which' is clearly wrong, and using 'as' could equally mean 'while'. I chose 'of what', but it is probably too informal for the gmat. The answer sounds really odd to me. I would appreciate any explanation. Thanks.

[Selvae]

It should be 'than' because in the previous part of the sentence, we can see 'three times' the prices (more) than.

[RR]

Tricky. I would also have guessed 'of what'. But if that is wrong, then I would go with C. that.

It should be 'than' because in the previous part of the sentence, we can see 'three times' the prices (more) than.

I don't think that 'X is being sold for three times the price than Y' makes sense.

Please post the OA.

[RonPurewal]

a new hair-growth drug is being sold for three times the price, per milligram, as the drug's maker charges for another product with the same active ingredient.

A. as
B. than
C. that
D. of what
E. at which

OA: C

this one isn't that bad if you get down to the "skeleton" of the sentence. to do that, you should kill intervening prepositional phrases that don't affect the grammar of the main sentence.
to this end, you can simply get rid of the following:
"per milligram"
"for another product"
"with the same active ingredient"
and you're left with:
a new drug is being sold for three times the price ____ the drug's maker charges.
once you see this, it should be more clear that (c) is the correct answer. if you're a non-native speaker and you can't recognize "that" as the word belonging in that blank, then here's the reason: it's because "price" is the direct object of "charges". when you turn around such constructions, you use "that":
i hit the ball --> the ball that i hit
she delivered the baby --> the baby that she delivered
etc.

[BG]

Why E "at which" is wrong? "at which" is same as "that" ?

[RonPurewal]

Why E "at which" is wrong? "at which" is same as "that" ?

nope, unidiomatic.

you can't say that the drug's maker "charges at a price" for the drug; therefore, the derivative construction "the price ... at which the drug's maker charges" is also wrong.
the correct idiom is "charges a price"; i.e., "price" is a direct object here. therefore, you have to say the price that the drug's maker charges.

--

it's idiomatically correct to say that the drug's maker sells the drug at a price (which would be the price at which the drug's maker sells the drug), but we aren't using "sell" here.

i'm surprised to see "the drug's maker", a phrase that i would think gmac would consider "awkward". i'd expect to see "the maker of the drug" instead.

[water]

why is D wrong?

A new drug is being sold for three times the price 'of what' the drug's maker charges.

sounds good to me...is it bedcause it is wordier than 'that'?

thanks.

[RonPurewal]

A new drug is being sold for three times the price 'of what' the drug's maker charges.

you have to read these things very, very literally.

"what the drug's maker charges" is ... guess what ... a price.
therefore, "three times the price of what the drug's maker charges" would refer to the price of a price. that is illogical.
this construction is thus not only "wordy", but actually nonsensical.

[kramacha1979]

Ron,
You are the man! ... Excellent and crisp explanations! .. I wish I had your brain for 45mins during my Verbal section on the actual test.

I am struggling with the SC's from GmatPrep inspite of doing well on the MGMAT ones....

[StaceyKoprince]

Keep working at it - you'll get it! :)

[ritesh.bindal]

I would like to have Ron's brain for 75 mins instead of 45 :-) Just kidding.

[goelmohit2002]

i'm surprised to see "the drug's maker", a phrase that i would think gmac would consider "awkward". i'd expect to see "the maker of the drug" instead.

Hi Ron,

Can you please tell why in general GMAC considers "the drug's maker" type of constructions wrong ?

I guess these type of choices are quite common in GMAT options....probably in wrong ones....

What is the reasoning for the same....so that we can straightaway kick out similar options by recognizing the pattern ?

Thanks
Mohit

[goelmohit2002]

the correct idiom is "charges a price"; i.e., "price" is a direct object here. therefore, you have to say the price that the drug's maker charges.

Hi Ron,

Can you please tell a bit more about this rule ? What exactly is meant by direct object.....how to differentiate between direct and indirect object(if anything like that exist :-) )

Does direct objects always followed by "that" ?

Thanks
Mohit

[RonPurewal]

i'm surprised to see "the drug's maker", a phrase that i would think gmac would consider "awkward". i'd expect to see "the maker of the drug" instead.

Hi Ron,

Can you please tell why in general GMAC considers "the drug's maker" type of constructions wrong ?

I guess these type of choices are quite common in GMAT options....probably in wrong ones....

What is the reasoning for the same....so that we can straightaway kick out similar options by recognizing the pattern ?

Thanks
Mohit

there's no absolute rule on this; any hope of such a rule is destroyed by this problem.

you will never find "awkwardness" as the only criterion for elimination on a problem, so you don't strictly have to know what is considered awkward.
however, if you want an idea, the best place to look is the back of the OG: go to the answer key, and check out the constructions that are designated "awkward". there are lots of them.

[RonPurewal]

the correct idiom is "charges a price"; i.e., "price" is a direct object here. therefore, you have to say the price that the drug's maker charges.

Hi Ron,

Can you please tell a bit more about this rule ? What exactly is meant by direct object.....how to differentiate between direct and indirect object(if anything like that exist :-) )

Does direct objects always followed by "that" ?

Thanks
Mohit

the best way to get an idea of "direct object" is to look at lots of examples. to get lots of examples in a hurry, search "direct object" on the internet; you'll find pages that can give much more thorough explanations than i can give in a forum post.

here's the first hit i got on google:
http://www.englishlanguageguide.com/eng ... object.asp

in any case, when you reverse constructions with direct objects, you normally use "that":
i hit the ball --> this is the ball that i hit
etc.