Can someone explain correct and incorrect answers.

Due to poaching and increased cultivation in their native habitats, researchers have dertermined that there are fewer than 100 Arabian leopards left in the wild, and that these leopards are thus many times as rare as China's giant panda.

a. same

b. due to poaching and increased cultivation in their natvie habitats, there are fewer than 100 Arabian leopards left in the wild, researchers have determined, making them many times more rare than

c. There are fewer than 100 Arabian leopoard left in the wild du to poaching and increased cultivation in their native habitats, researchers have determined, which makes the leopards many times more rare compared to

d. Researchers have determined that, because of being poached and increased cultivation in their native habitats, there are fewer than 100 Arabian leopards left in the wild, thus making them many more times as rare as

e. Researchers have determined that, because of poaching and increased cultivation in thier native habitats, there are fewer than 100 Arabian leopards left in the wild, and that these leopards are thus many times more rare than

Is the OA -->"E"?

first of all, let it be said that i don't like the mathematical illiteracy of this question: what does 'many times as/more rare' mean? i daresay that's meaningless, although 'many times as/more common' would of course make sense. (as an analogy, 'twice as long' makes perfect sense, but 'twice as short' is nonsense.) i guess the people who write the math questions don't moonlight in verbal...

yikes, i can find errors in all of the choices. i'm guessing that the oa is probably 'e', but they're all bad:

ALL choices:
- plural 'leopards' is not parallel to singular 'panda'
- 'x times as/more rare than' is meaningless, per above comments

choice a
- the modifier that begins the sentence ostensibly refers to researchers, creating the absurd interpretation that poaching and cultivation are occurring in the researchers' habitats.

choice b
- the pronoun 'them' is ambiguous (leopards / researchers)

choice c
- 'compared to' is unidiomatic
- 'which' is used incorrectly (the antecedent of 'which' must be a noun or noun phrase; it can't stand for the idea of the preceding clause, as it tries to here)

choice d
- 'them' and 'their' are both ambiguous
- 'many more times as rare as' is just ... terrible

choice e
- 'their' is ambiguous

i guess 'e' is the best of the lot, but they're all terrible. this is without a doubt the worst gmatprep question i have ever seen.

Ron:
Is "compared to" unidiomatic in general or just in this sentence? Would "compared with" have been ok, if everything else in the sentence were correct?

Thanks.

Officially, "compared to" is used to note similarities in different things, and "compared with" is used to note either similarities or differences in similar things.

Which is totally confusing. And the OG breaks this rule numerous times. So don't worry about this rule - note that we can use other things to eliminate C, so use those other things.
:)

Couple questions:

- Let's say the pronoun problem in B is fixed. Can I say that B is wrong because "researchers have determined" can only be inserted right behind a noun (phrase) with comma so that it clearly modifies the preceding noun (phrase)? Or there is no such rule?

- When I read B, I wonder whether the following participle phrases are ambiguous:
1. [main clause], which/where/...., [present participle phrase].
2. [main clause], which/where/...., [past participle phrase].

Will the present participle phrase be ambiguous because it probably modifies the preceding [which/where/...] clause or the main clause? Or no, because [which/where...] clause is non-restrictive?
Will the past participle phrase be ambiguous because it probably modifies the object of the main clause or the "last" noun in the [which/where/...] clause?

Thanks in advance.

umm...isn't the comparative form of "rare" "rarer"?
If it is, then how come E is correct?
shouldn't "many times more rare than" be rewritten to "many times rarer than"?
thanks.

rarer is certainly considered correct, but so is more rare, for reasons of euphony; i.e., it sounds a lot better, and is easier to pronounce.
rarer, after all, is almost impossible to pronounce correctly for those who aren't blessed with a new england accent.