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 Post subject: comparison problem
 Post Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 10:13 am 
Discrimination in wages paid in occupations that are predominantly male over the predominantly female have given rise to substantial differentials between the wage of housepainters and secretaries and between the wages of parking-lot attendants and library assistants.

(A) paid in occupations that are predominantly male over the predominantly female have
(B) paid in occupations that are predominantly make over those that are predominantly female have
(C) that favors predominantly male occupations over the predominantly female have
(D) that favors predominantly male occupations over those that are predominantly female has
(E) paid in predominantly male occupations over the predominantly female has


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 Post subject:
 Post Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 5:33 pm 
A, B, and C are out because "have" doesn't agree with the singular subject - discrimination.
D doesn't make any logical sense - "wages that favors predominantly male occupations"
E?
What's your question?


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 Post subject:
 Post Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 5:34 am 
Can you tell the OA?

I would choose D because:

1. 'has' should be used instead of 'have' since 'Discrimination in wages' is uncountable and singular
Discrimination in wages .... has given

2. "Over those" allows for the right comparison
....predominantly male occupations over those that are predominantly female...


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 Post subject:
 Post Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 9:33 pm 
umm...however, the restrictive clause behind "those" in D makes the sentence illogical.
"those" refers to "occupations", so D reads:
that favors predominantly male occupations over occupations that are predominantly female has

in other words, some occupations are predominantly female?
you can say, some occupations are predominated by female. but occupations can never equal to female, right?


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 Post subject:
 Post Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 9:08 am 
looks D to me.


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 Post subject: Re: comparison problem
 Post Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 10:59 am 
nitin86 wrote:
Discrimination in wages paid in occupations that are predominantly male over the predominantly female have given rise to substantial differentials between the wage of housepainters and secretaries and between the wages of parking-lot attendants and library assistants.

(A) paid in occupations that are predominantly male over the predominantly female have
(B) paid in occupations that are predominantly make over those that are predominantly female have
(C) that favors predominantly male occupations over the predominantly female have
(D) that favors predominantly male occupations over those that are predominantly female has
(E) paid in predominantly male occupations over the predominantly female has


Source of the problem is "Beat the Gmat"


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 Post subject:
 Post Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 7:36 pm 
Offline
ManhattanGMAT Staff


Posts: 7146
this doesn't look like an official problem to me. this is the GMATPREP folder, meaning that you should only be posting OFFICIAL problems from the mba.com GMATPREP software.

--

nevertheless, on the chance that this is an official problem:
(a), (b), and (e) are all unidiomatic: "discrimination in wages paid in X over Y" is incorrect usage.
(d) has better clarity than (c). in choice (d), it's clear that "those that are predominantly female" is meant to refer to occupations that are predominantly female. while a little bit of common sense will establish that this is also the intended meaning of (c), you're not allowed to use "common sense" on the gmat. the wording of choice (c) is too vague for the rules of gmat land.


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 Post subject: Re: comparison problem
 Post Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 4:30 pm 
Offline


Posts: 18
well,
what is "that" refer in this sentence; wages or Discrimination

pls clarify


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 Post subject: Re: comparison problem
 Post Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 4:49 am 
Offline
ManhattanGMAT Staff


Posts: 7146
in the correct choice (d), "that" refers to discrimination.
you know this because the verb following that (i.e., favors) is singular.

there is plenty of official precedent for not placing the word "that" directly next to its antecedent (unlike, say, "which", which must come DIRECTLY after the antecedent).
see problem #50 in the OG diagnostic test for an example in which there are two prepositional phrases intervening between "that" and its antecedent.


--

you can also just use your intuition about the meaning of the sentence - i.e., discrimination could "favor" someone, but wages themselves couldn't. this is risky, though; you're better off using mechanical factors to judge grammar. you should only use intuition / clarity of meaning as an afterthought.


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