Question
While it costs about the same to run nuclear plants as other types of power plants, it is the fixed costs that stem from building nuclear plants that makes it more expensive for them to generate electricity.
Option A
Option B
Option C
Option D
Option E
(This question is from Official Guide. Therefore, because of copyrights, the complete question cannot be copied here. The question can be accessed at GMAT Club)
Solution
Sentence Analysis
If we try to understand the meaning of the sentence, we see that it is presenting a contrast using ‘while’. The sentence structure is: While X, Y. Both X and Y include comparisons.
X: it costs about the same to run nuclear plants as other types of power plants
X says: costs to run nuclear plants = costs to run other types of power plants
Y: it is the fixed costs that stem from building nuclear plants that makes it more expensive for them to generate electricity
Y says: Fixed costs from building nuclear plants make the generation of electricity in these plants more expensive than in other types of power plants
The contrast is clear and logical: In the first part, we talk about something that is same; in the second part, we talk about something that leads to difference.
The sentence has the following problems:
- Subject Verb disagreement: the singular verb “makes” does not agree with plural subject “fixed costs”. (This is a deterministic error i.e. an error for which alone you can reject an option statement)
- The use of two placeholder “it”s in a sentence makes the sentence difficult to understand. (Non-deterministic error)
- The use of two “that” clauses one after the other, both referring to the same “fixed costs” makes the structure awkward. (Non-deterministic error)
Option Analysis
(A) Incorrect. For the reasons mentioned above.
(B) Correct. All the problems in the original sentence have been corrected in this option. The structure of the sentence is clear. The first comparison without ellipsis is:
- the cost of running nuclear plants is about the same as the costs for other types of power plants
Please note that in the second comparison, we have used “more” without ‘than’. Given that this construction appears in the correct option, we can learn that this construction (“more” without ‘than’) is not wrong. You’ll see this construction in other correct SC options too. This construction is allowed when the other part of the comparison is clear. In this case, we know that we are comparing electricity of nuclear plants with electricity of other power plants in terms of their ‘expensiveness’. Therefore, we can skip and have skipped the ‘than’ part in the comparison.
(C) Incorrect. For the following reasons:
- The comparison is worded wrongly. The comparison should be:
Even though it costs about the same to run nuclear plants as to run other types of power plants.
The given “for other types..” is not parallel to anything in the first part of the comparison.
- Singular verb “makes” does not agree with plural “costs”.
- Problems 2 and 3 of the original sentence
(D) Incorrect. For the following reasons:
- Error no. 1 of option C
- The antecedent for ‘they’ is not clear; ‘they’ can refer to either nuclear plants or other types of power plants
- The use of ‘stemming’ is incorrect. What is stemming from the fixed costs? Nothing. The fixed costs stem from building nuclear plants.
(E) Incorrect. For the following reasons:
- Illogical comparison: The sentence says: Cost of running nuclear plants = Other types of power plants. We can’t compare costs with power plants!
- The antecedent for ‘they’ is not clear; ‘they’ can refer to either nuclear plants or other types of power plants
- If we are using ‘made’, then the correct way is “is made more expensive by the fixed costs…”. Another correct way is “is more expensive because of the fixed costs”. However, the option mixes these two constructions to create a non-standard and confusing construction.
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Question:
Sir Regarding omission of Nouns or phrases such as “costs of running” in the correct answer choice.
the cost of running nuclear plants is about the same as for other types of power plants
But for noun phrases I have found this subtle difference.
The incidence of disease is higher among women than among men. (I assume on my learning this is CORRECT)
The incidence of disease among women is higher than among men. (INCORRECT)
The incidence of disease among women is higher than that among men. (CORRECT)
I similar question to quote “as a substitute for dollar bill more than for 4 quarters”
as a substitute OMITTED and CORRECT.
I am unable to reason this subtle distinction. we are compelled to use ‘that’ to CORRECT the incorrect choice but not in the other statements.
Both the below sentences are correct:
1. The incidence of disease among women is higher than among men.
2. The incidence of disease among women is higher than that among men.
What is most probably not correct is:
The incidence of disease among women is higher than men. (here, incidence is compared with men)
As you can see, if I’m repeating the preposition, as in the first sentence above, the comparison is correct. If I skip the preposition also, then it becomes incorrect. For example: the below would be incorrect:
the cost of running nuclear plants is about the same as other types of power plants
Hi CJ,
My question is more around Ellipsis. In option, E can we repeat “the cost of” automatically. Ambiguity of the meaning will be there ( 2 meanings). But is it allowed to repeat “The cost of ” here.
Nope.
Hi CJ,
I would like to have your views on this first portion of original sentence.
“While it costs about the same to run nuclear plants as other types of power plants”
Is the construction of this sentence correct? In saying that it costs about the same to run NP AS other types of Power Plants, doesn’t it imply that NP are being RUN AS PP. Isn’t the part after AS depicting a role of a function rather than a comparison?
Nope. The construction here is “same… as”, not a standalone “as”.
Thanks CJ
Hi Chiranjeev Singh
As you explained, the comparison in option E is illogical whereas same comparison has used in option B ( correct option). Would you pls let me know how does it make sense in correct option.
Thanks in advance
Regards
Refer to my response to Kanishka’s question above.
Thank you CJ for your reply 🙂
Actually the confusion stems from this question
Bihar is India’s poorest state, with an annual per capita income of $111, lower than in the most impoverished countries of the world.
Analysis
Annual per capita income of $111 is lower than [that] in the most impoverished countries of the world.
Here we could not omit the “that”
The answer choice without that says comparison is unclear.
I understood there is no preposition in the first half to compare it to but then again I came across this question:
Although Napoleon’s army entered Russia with far more supplies than they had in their previous campaigns, it had provisions for only twenty-four days.
I request your attention to choice D) and E)
E) for any previous campaign. [correct choice]
Here the comparison is
supplies than [supplies] for any previous campaign.
But there is no prepositional phrase in the first half.
After analysing several examples i felt that
the “in prep phrase” is adverbial as well as adjectivial in nature.
For eg.
had the above example been like the Bihar eg.
entered Russia with far more supplies than in any previous campaign
One could argue that the comparison is between
1) entered Russia with supplies in any previous campaign &
2) entered Russia with supplies
But the latter was far more. The comparison though illogical.
Therefore in order to eliminate the adverbial capacity we use the “that” to associate with in any previous campaign.
With for any previous campaign cannot modify
“what for” they entered Russia as in the army entered Russia for any previous campaign would make no sense and stands to reason that we might not need the “that”.
Pardon me if my reasoning is wrong. I know it might be a minor issue worth not much heed in such a larger context (there are so many splits) but just an inquisitive mind. Also until i recently found this question I felt that its not much tested.
“Because of the sharp increases in the price of gold and silver, the value of Monica Taylor’s portfolio rose as her daughter-in-law’s dropped.”
I enjoyed reading your post 🙂 I can see you are making a lot of effort to understand things. Worth admiring!
Coming back to your question, I believe option A in Bihar question is wrong for the use of ‘in’ preposition rather than for the absence of ‘that’. I believe the following construction should work:
Bihar is India’s poorest state, with an annual per capita income of $111, lower than the most impoverished countries of the world.
Another correct construction would be:
Bihara’s annual per capita income of $111 is lower than the most impoverished countries of the world.
If you search on google – “than of” site:wsj.com – you’ll see many such results.
I’m not sure about what you said about “in” prep phrase. In the Russia question, the correct option is quite a new construction. However, it’s in line with the idea that we need not have ‘that’ after ‘than’.
Hi sorry there was a typo in the comparison : What i meant was that in the question
X’s army entered Rusia, with far more supplies than for any previous campaign
Vs
X’s army entered Rusia, with far more supplies than in any previous campaign
I reasoned that the 2nd comparison was inappropriate:
X’s army entered Rusia, with more supplies.
X’s army entered Rusia, in any previous campaign
What i meant was that with more supplies fall in to comparison with in any previous campaign as in any previous campaign can modify “when they entered”. Therefore to correct we use “those” to link the in phrase with those.
X’s army entered Rusia, with more supplies.
X’s army entered Russia, with more supplies {because of those} in any campaign
and so the comparison would make sense.
However Sir in For i mean that for can probably not modify what for the entered Russia because the meaning doesn’t seem logical.
X’s army entered Russia for any previous campaign and so the prepositional comparison would not make sense and therefore only the noun comparison would and no need for those.
supplies than {supplies missing} for any previous campaign.
I will go through your reply now as I couldnt explain what i meant earlier. Thanks again !
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