Shrinking faster than any other nation’s, the projected decline of Japan’s population is 17 percent during the next half century.
A. Shrinking faster than any other nation’s, the projected decline of Japan’s population is
B. Shrinking faster than any other nation, Japan’s population has a projected decline of
C. The population of Japan is shrinking faster than that of any other nation and is projected to decline by
D. The Japanese population is shrinking faster than any other nation, and it has a projected decline at
E. Japan’s population is shrinking faster than that of any other nation, with a projected decline at


Left with C and E

OA C

In E - with a projected decline at - modifies "is shrinking" ...

is it that decline by > decline at ?

With answer choice 'E' - the part 'with a projected decline..." refers to the nation. But the discussion is about Japan's population and 'C' is the best choice.

I disagree with Guest that "with a projected decline..." is necessarily modifying "nation." Prepositional phrases may be adjectival or adverbial modifiers, and here one could argue that "with a projected decline..." modifies the verb "is shrinking."

Guest660 is right that the key split between C and E is the idiom. "Decline at" is simply the wrong idiom.

Nice explanation Ray.

Could you clarify the following too?

A)Alaska regularly deposits some of its profits from the sale of oil into a special fund, with the intention to sustain the state’s economy after the exhaustion of its oil reserves.

What is the part of the sentence starting with "with" above ?Certainly not a prepositional phrase.
And is it being used correctly as a modifier in the sentence?

The correct answer though is :
C)Alaska regularly deposits some of its profits from the sale of oil into a special fund intended to sustain the state’s economy after oil reserves are exhausted

and i am confused between A and C!
Thanks,

it's definitely being used as an adverbial modifier. and yeah, it is a prepositional phrase (with the intention... -- and everything afterward basically just modifies intention)
this is the sort of construction that probably skirts the boundary of acceptability on the gmat - i'd think they would prefer other constructions (such as the one that's in the correct answer to this problem), although i would hesitate to declare this particular construction outright wrong.

in any case, there's a problem with the example you've cited here: 'the state's' should be its, because the use of this sort of modifier implies that alaska is still the subject.