Verbal problems from the *free* official practice tests and
problems from mba.com
RonPurewal
Students
 
Posts: 19744
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2007 8:23 am
 

Re: over 75% of the energy produced in france derives from

by RonPurewal Thu Jan 26, 2012 7:05 am

j69, that's insightful.
davetzulin
Forum Guests
 
Posts: 135
Joined: Wed Sep 28, 2011 5:56 pm
 

Re: over 75% of the energy produced in france derives from

by davetzulin Fri Apr 06, 2012 3:09 am

Ron,

After reading how you eliminated the "compared to/with" answer choices in such a strict manner, I realized it is one of the idioms that requires a parallel structure.

So am i correct in assuming that the reason "whereas" is used because this sentence is trying to compare a whole clause? this subordinator allows a second clause to be compared to the first in a very flexible manner. compared to/with forces parallelism.

"Over 75 percent of the energy produced in France derives from nuclear power"

and the more i think about it, i don't see how "compared to/with" could ever compare that above clause to something else. unless you only compare a component of that clause like:

"Over 75 percent of the energy produced in France derives from nuclear power compared to wind power"

the reason i ask is because I often see "compared to/with" used incorrectly on official problems
RonPurewal
Students
 
Posts: 19744
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2007 8:23 am
 

Re: over 75% of the energy produced in france derives from

by RonPurewal Mon Apr 23, 2012 2:18 pm

dave, this may help your understanding:
post56655.html#p56655
dixitsandeep
Students
 
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Apr 29, 2012 9:56 pm
 

Re: over 75% of the energy produced in france derives from

by dixitsandeep Mon Jul 16, 2012 9:01 am

Over 75% of the energy produced in France derives from nuclear power,whereas nuclear power accounts for just over 33% of the energy produced in Germany.

I did not choose option C, because I did not think comparison in choice C was parallel. I have read Ron's explanation. That makes it extremely difficult to compare parallel elements. Official explanation does not even discuss parallelism.
jnelson0612
ManhattanGMAT Staff
 
Posts: 2664
Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2010 10:57 am
 

Re: over 75% of the energy produced in france derives from

by jnelson0612 Sun Jul 29, 2012 11:53 pm

dixitsandeep Wrote:Over 75% of the energy produced in France derives from nuclear power,whereas nuclear power accounts for just over 33% of the energy produced in Germany.

I did not choose option C, because I did not think comparison in choice C was parallel. I have read Ron's explanation. That makes it extremely difficult to compare parallel elements. Official explanation does not even discuss parallelism.


Fair enough, dixitsandeep. Let us know if you have a question that we can answer--thanks!
Jamie Nelson
ManhattanGMAT Instructor
sachin.w
Forum Guests
 
Posts: 173
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2012 4:29 am
Location: Bangalore
 

Re: over 75% of the energy produced in france derives from

by sachin.w Sun Nov 04, 2012 9:51 am

JonathanSchneider Wrote:We've already described "energy" in France. To now say "the energy" sounds as though we are describing that energy. If we wish to be clear in referring to German energy, we must use some words to signal the transition.


frankly , never knew that gmat tests subtle concepts like usage of 'the'
tim
Course Students
 
Posts: 5665
Joined: Tue Sep 11, 2007 9:08 am
Location: Southwest Airlines, seat 21C
 

Re: over 75% of the energy produced in france derives from

by tim Fri Nov 09, 2012 7:33 pm

let us know if you have a question on this one..
Tim Sanders
Manhattan GMAT Instructor

Follow this link for some important tips to get the most out of your forum experience:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/forums/a-few-tips-t31405.html
thanghnvn
Prospective Students
 
Posts: 711
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2009 9:09 pm
 

Re: over 75% of the energy produced in france derives from

by thanghnvn Tue Jan 15, 2013 7:32 am

Thank you manhantan experts,

comma+do-ed

alway modifies ONLY the immediately preceding noun. It can not modify other entity .

I learn English, prefered by most persons.

is that right?

if that is righ, we can eliminate B and D quickly.

pls explain.
thanghnvn
Prospective Students
 
Posts: 711
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2009 9:09 pm
 

Re: over 75% of the energy produced in france derives from

by thanghnvn Tue Jan 15, 2013 7:39 am

Over 75% of the energy produced in France derives from nuclear power, while in Germany it is just over 33%.
A) while in Germany it is just over 33%
B) compared to Germany, which uses just over 33%
C) whereas nuclear poweraccounts for just over 33% of the energy produced in Germany
D) whereas just over 33% of the energy comes from nuclear power in Germany
E) compared with the energy from nuclear power in Germany, where it is just over 33%

in contrast to "that", "it" pronoun refer to the same previous noun. This point means "it" refer to "75% of the energy produced in France". this make no sense.
RonPurewal
Students
 
Posts: 19744
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2007 8:23 am
 

Re: over 75% of the energy produced in france derives from

by RonPurewal Mon Jan 21, 2013 5:25 am

thanghnvn Wrote:comma+do-ed


you shouldn't consider "compared to/with" as a case of this kind of modifier; you should just know how to use it specifically.

here's a discussion:
post56655.html#p56655
HanzZ
Students
 
Posts: 56
Joined: Sat Jul 20, 2013 9:03 am
 

Re: over 75% of the energy produced in france derives from

by HanzZ Sun Jul 21, 2013 10:53 pm

christina.ng Wrote:Over 75% of the energy produced in France derives from nuclear power, while in Germany it is just over 33%.
A) while in Germany it is just over 33%
B) compared to Germany, which uses just over 33%
C) whereas nuclear poweraccounts for just over 33% of the energy produced in Germany
D) whereas just over 33% of the energy comes from nuclear power in Germany
E) compared with the energy from nuclear power in Germany, where it is just over 33%

OA is C. Would you be able to explain the right answer choice and why the others are wrong?



Hi Ron,

Would C be better than B if it reads "whereas just over 33 percent of the energy in Germany (or produced in Germany) comes from nuclear power"? I feel that "over 75 percent" should be somehow parallel with "over 33 percent".

Thanks!

Henry
jnelson0612
ManhattanGMAT Staff
 
Posts: 2664
Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2010 10:57 am
 

Re: over 75% of the energy produced in france derives from

by jnelson0612 Wed Jul 31, 2013 4:15 pm

zhanghan.neu Wrote:
christina.ng Wrote:Over 75% of the energy produced in France derives from nuclear power, while in Germany it is just over 33%.
A) while in Germany it is just over 33%
B) compared to Germany, which uses just over 33%
C) whereas nuclear poweraccounts for just over 33% of the energy produced in Germany
D) whereas just over 33% of the energy comes from nuclear power in Germany
E) compared with the energy from nuclear power in Germany, where it is just over 33%

OA is C. Would you be able to explain the right answer choice and why the others are wrong?



Hi Ron,

Would C be better than B if it reads "whereas just over 33 percent of the energy in Germany (or produced in Germany) comes from nuclear power"? I feel that "over 75 percent" should be somehow parallel with "over 33 percent".

Thanks!

Henry


C would still be better than B in that case, Henry. B has some major problems!
Jamie Nelson
ManhattanGMAT Instructor
HanzZ
Students
 
Posts: 56
Joined: Sat Jul 20, 2013 9:03 am
 

Re: over 75% of the energy produced in france derives from

by HanzZ Wed Jul 31, 2013 4:26 pm

jnelson0612 Wrote:
zhanghan.neu Wrote:
christina.ng Wrote:Over 75% of the energy produced in France derives from nuclear power, while in Germany it is just over 33%.
A) while in Germany it is just over 33%
B) compared to Germany, which uses just over 33%
C) whereas nuclear poweraccounts for just over 33% of the energy produced in Germany
D) whereas just over 33% of the energy comes from nuclear power in Germany
E) compared with the energy from nuclear power in Germany, where it is just over 33%

OA is C. Would you be able to explain the right answer choice and why the others are wrong?



Hi Ron,

Would C be better than B if it reads "whereas just over 33 percent of the energy in Germany (or produced in Germany) comes from nuclear power"? I feel that "over 75 percent" should be somehow parallel with "over 33 percent".

Thanks!

Henry


C would still be better than B in that case, Henry. B has some major problems!


Hi Jamie,

Thanks for your reply. Would you mind shedding more light on this issue? I am still confused.

Thanks a lot!
see-ucici
Forum Guests
 
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Aug 01, 2013 10:25 pm
 

Re: over 75% of the energy produced in france derives from

by see-ucici Fri Aug 02, 2013 5:43 am

Hi, Ron.
What if the "in Germany" is preceded in choice D ?
"Over 75 percent of the energy produced in France derives from nuclear power, whereas just over 33 percent of the energy in Germany comes from nuclear power."
Is it avoid the ambiguity that the "33% of the energy" is in someplace unknown and keep the parallel well?
Or if I make any other mistakes... Let me know. Thanks.
RonPurewal
Students
 
Posts: 19744
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2007 8:23 am
 

Re: over 75% of the energy produced in france derives from

by RonPurewal Tue Aug 06, 2013 7:04 am

see-ucici Wrote:Hi, Ron.
What if the "in Germany" is preceded in choice D ?
"Over 75 percent of the energy produced in France derives from nuclear power, whereas just over 33 percent of the energy in Germany comes from nuclear power."
Is it avoid the ambiguity that the "33% of the energy" is in someplace unknown and keep the parallel well?
Or if I make any other mistakes... Let me know. Thanks.


in general, it's not a good idea to try to edit the sentences. (if they contain mistakes, they're often not things that the gmat actually tests -- resulting in this awkward situation in which we have to say, basically, "no that's wrong, but you don't have to know why.")

here, that's almost ok, but you'd still need "produced" in front of "Germany".
the phrase "energy in Germany" doesn't really make any sense by itself, because "energy" is not something that physically sits in one country or another.
it can, however, be produced in one country or another.