Organized in 1966 by the Fish and Wildlife Service,

[Crisc419]

which choices are you asking about? and which parts of those choices?

sorry, i have not asked my question clearly.

(C) to monitor changes in the populations of (250 bird species)
(D) that monitors population changes of (250 bird species)

I thought the difference between "changes in the populations of" and "population changes of" is :

in C, the "250 bird species "describes "the population", however,in D, 250 bird species "describes "the changes". therefore, using "population changes of" is wrong.

am i right?

[RonPurewal]

...but those changes would still be "population changes" (in the choices you're talking about), so, i'm not seeing a functional difference.

in any case, you shouldn't worry about this distinction. like other stylistic distinctions, it's basically just there as a distraction (as i already noted on the first page).

[Crisc419]

...but those changes would still be "population changes" (in the choices you're talking about), so, i'm not seeing a functional difference.

in any case, you shouldn't worry about this distinction. like other stylistic distinctions, it's basically just there as a distraction (as i already noted on the first page).

ok, but sometimes i don't know exactly which split matters, which does not.
Sometimes, just eliminate the right answer

[RonPurewal]

just be sure to look for more fundamental / black-and-white differences first.

[Crisc419]

that distinction is mainly there to distract you (it's a stylistic difference, and you aren't responsible for stylistics).

you can solve this problem on the basis of two VERY straightforward errors:
• D and E have disagreeing subjects/verbs
• "as many as ... or more than 250" makes no sense, since that description encompasses literally ALL numbers (it is saying "either ≤ 250 or > 250")

also, on top of being very straightforward, these splits are also perfectly vertical (the words are not rearranged or re-ordered in any way between choices).

when this happens -- i.e., when a problem can be decided entirely on the basis of VERY straightforward, easily identifiable differences -- the problem writers often toss in extra things purely as distractions, such as the thing you're asking about here.

Ron, i thought  "as many as ... or more than 250" means "at least as many as". and they could be used together.

for instance,

In the past several years, astronomers have detected more than 80 massive planets, most of them as large or larger than Jupiter, which circle other stars.

A)most of them as large or larger than Jupiter, which circle
B)most of them as large or larger than Jupiter and circling
C)most of them at least as large as Jupiter, circling (correct choice)
D)mostly at least as large as Jupiter, which circle
E)mostly as large or larger than Jupiter, circling

Please correct me, if i am wrong.

thanks

Cirs

[RonPurewal]

this isn't the same kind of situation as the sentence about jupiter.

this sentence is about a single number.
when you say that a single number is "as big as" or "as many as" something, that's a way of putting "≤" into english words.

e.g., Our restaurant is capable of serving as many as 500 people at once.
this means "≤ 500".

if you think about this for a second, it's pretty much common sense that "as many as 500" doesn't mean "= 500" when you're talking about a single number. (in that case, you'd just write "500".)

__

in the jupiter sentence, you're talking about a whole bunch of different individual numbers (= the sizes of lots and lots of different celestial bodies), so... not the same thing.

[Crisc419]

this isn't the same kind of situation as the sentence about jupiter.

this sentence is about a single number.
when you say that a single number is "as big as" or "as many as" something, that's a way of putting "≤" into english words.

e.g., Our restaurant is capable of serving as many as 500 people at once.
this means "≤ 500".

if you think about this for a second, it's pretty much common sense that "as many as 500" doesn't mean "= 500" when you're talking about a single number. (in that case, you'd just write "500".)

__

in the jupiter sentence, you're talking about a whole bunch of different individual numbers (= the sizes of lots and lots of different celestial bodies), so... not the same thing.

I thought what you said for a while, and now i get the feeling that even though in the example i cited in the last post, it's nonsense to use "as many as ... or more than " together :

In the past several years, astronomers have detected more than 80 massive planets, most of them as large as or larger than Jupiter....

the sentence is telling us that some massive planets <= jupiter, and the others > the jupiter.
actually, it does not give us any useful information. because even it does not say " most of them as large as or larger than Jupiter....", we of course know, right?

maybe we will not use those things what we are talking about in the test.
I am just used to figure out anyting i don't understand even in daily life, maybe just enjoy thinking.

sorry, if i have asked so many details.

[RonPurewal]

no, the "≤" thing ONLY applies in the very specific case of a sentence that says "[SINGLE QUANTITY] is/was as big as [number]".
for instance, the number of people who can eat at the restaurant (in the example i gave above) is a SINGLE QUANTITY.

in any other case, "as much/many as" means "=".
I am as tall as my brother means that my brother and i are the same height.
the sentence here means that most of the moons are either EQUAL to jupiter in mass, or else GREATER than jupiter in mass.