Question
Laos has a land area about the same as Great Britain but only four million in population, where many are members of hill tribes ensconced in the virtually inaccessible mountain valleys of the north.
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
Let’s understand the structure of the sentence:
- Laos has (Main clause. “Laos” – subject; “has” – verb)
- a land area (First element of the list “what Laos has”)
- about the same as Great Britain (modifier for “land area”)
- but only four million in population, (Second element of the list “what Laos has”. Laos has only four million in population)
- where many are members of hill tribes (“where” seems to refer to population. Out of the population, many are members of hill tribes)
- ensconced in the virtually inaccessible mountain valleys of the north. (verb-ed modifier modifying “hill tribes”)
- where many are members of hill tribes (“where” seems to refer to population. Out of the population, many are members of hill tribes)
- a land area (First element of the list “what Laos has”)
The sentence says that Laos has a land area that is as large as the land area of Great Britain. However, Laos has a population of just 4 million. Out of this population, many people are members of the hill tribes. What kind of hill tribes? The hill tribes that are ensconced in the hard-to-each mountain valleys of the north.
The sentence has the following problems:
- The sentence compares land area of Laos with Great Britain. The logical comparison should be with the land area of Great Britain.
- “four million in population” is a non-standard (non-idiomatic) way of saying “a population of four million”. Also, the correct version will be more parallel to “a land area”.
- “where” on GMAT must refer to a physical place. Here, “where” refers to “population”.
Option Analysis
(A) Incorrect. For the reasons mentioned above.
(B) Incorrect. For the following reasons:
- Land area compared with Great Britain.
- In this option, since “many are members…” is presented as an independent clause, it is not clear “many who?”
- The use of an independent clause “but in Laos there is…” to present an information that could be simply presented in parallel to the information in the first independent clause is overly redundant.
(C) Incorrect. The structure of this sentence is “Laos has a land area of xyz size but in Laos, many people are members of hill tribes”. We can see that the contrast presented in this option (contrast between Laos having land area and people being members of hill tribes) is illogical and unintended. Also, the reference of “them” is not structurally clear. The use of “whom” in place of “them” will make it clear that we are referring back to the people.
(D) Incorrect. For the following reasons:
- The land area is compared with the size of Great Britain. Now, size is a very broad term used to refer to the population size, land size, or economic size. The comparison is thus not clear.
- Error no. 2 of the original sentence
- Error no. 2 of option B
(E) Correct. The comparison is logical; it compares the land area of Laos with land area (“that”) of Great Britain. “a population of only four million” is idiomatically correct and parallel to “a land area”. Also, the use of “many of whom” makes it clear that this information is about the four million people.
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Hi CJ,
Wanted to ask a question about “but”. Every time but is separatedby a comma, should we not expect an independent clause?
If that is not the case, can you please give an example where but is not an independent clause and is separated by a comma from the main clause?
TYIA
Hi Samarth,
The answer is ‘No’. Here’s an example:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/at-the-end-of-the-1930-s-duke-ellington-was-looking-for-a-composer-to-137022.html
The correct option contains “comma+but”. However, there is no independent clause after it.
Hi CJ,
In option B – “of about the same size as Great Britain is, but in Laos there is a population of only four million, and many ”
The prepositional phrase “in Laos” is followed by an IC – “there is a population…”
Isn’t this also an error?
(An IC can’t follow a PP)
Nope. “In” is followed by “Laos”. If “Laos” had a verb, then we’d have an error.
Got it.
So, am I correct in understanding that if ‘object’ of preposition (in a PP) is immediately followed by a ‘verb’, then it is an error?
If the object of the PP acts as a subject, we have a problem.
Hello CJ,
As per below SC question, in correct option Author is comparing Land Area with Size of Colorado.
https://gmatclub.com/forum/since-1981-when-the-farm-depression-began-the-number-of-acres-overse-84780.html#p2201401
Could you pls suggest if Area Vs Size is correct for above question( FARM Depression SC) then why Area Vs Size is not correct for SC in the subject i.e. Laos has a land area /option D.
Technically, the comparison is not clear, as explained above for option D. However, what we can learn from the question you cited is that this level of flexibility is allowed in English. It’s confusing and fun 🙂
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