Question
Tides typically range from three to six feet, but while some places show no tides at all, some others, such as the Bay of Fundy, have tides of at least thirty feet and more.
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
- Tides typically range from three to six feet, (Main Subject: Tides; Main Verb: range)
- but while some places show no tides at all, (Another independent clause. In ‘while dependent clause – Subject: some places; Verb: show)
- some others, such as the Bay of Fundy, have tides of at least thirty feet and more. (Within Second IC, Main Subject: some others; Main Verb: have)
The sentence first presents a usual range of height of tides and then presents a contrast that while some places have no tides, others have tides much higher than the usual range.
The sentence has the following problems:
- “some places do X… some others do Y” construction is not correct. The correct construction is ‘some places do X… others do Y’. In other words, the use of ‘some’ in ‘some others’ is incorrect.
- The use of ‘and more’ is redundant since ‘at least thirty feet’ already allows the height to be more than thirty feet.
Option Analysis
(A) Incorrect. For the reasons mentioned above.
(B) Incorrect. For the following reasons:
- There is no main clause after the ‘while clause’. ‘that have tides…’ modifies ‘the others’. Thus, there is no verb for the subject ‘the others’.
- The use of the article ‘the’ in ‘the others’ is incorrect since ‘others’ refers to an indefinite set of places.
(C) Correct.
(D) Incorrect. For the following reasons:
- There is no main clause after the ‘while clause’. ‘which has tides…’ modifies ‘Bay of Fundy’. Thus, there is no verb for the subject ‘those at the Bay of Fundy’.
- If ‘those’ refers to places, ‘places at the Bay of Fundy’ doesn’t make much sense since ‘Bay of Fundy’ is also a place.
(E) Incorrect. For the following reasons:
- If ‘the ones’ refers to places, ‘places at the Bay of Fundy’ doesn’t make much sense since ‘Bay of Fundy’ is also a place.
- Problem no. 2 of the original sentence
If you have any doubts regarding any part of this solution, please feel free to ask in the comments section.
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“but while some places show no tides at all, some others, such as the Bay of Fundy, have tides of at least thirty feet and more.”
The use of only others here would mean that all others, except the ones with no tides, have tides of 30 ft and more. I think this should be a meaning error?
Then, according to you, option C is wrong?
OG is the Bible. If it says correct, it is bound to be correct.
Per your logic, the correct option has a meaning error. No?
Hi Chiranjeev
Option C does not talk about the tides which are of thirty feet. The option only considers the tides which are of more than 30 feet. However, the original sentence mentions “greater than or equal to”. But this “equal to” part is missing in the option.
Please explain.
Thanks.
Regards,
Dibyajyoti
Hi Dibyajyoti,
So? Are you under the conception that the correct option needs to convey the same meaning as the original sentence?
Yes, as of now.
That’s misconception #9 on this link.
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