标题: OG16 VERBAL#38 [打印本页] 作者: 酸辣年糕 时间: 2017-1-3 10:12 标题: OG16 VERBAL#38 Around 1900, fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay area landed more than seventeen million pounds of shad in a single year, but by 1920, over-fishing and the proliferation of milldams and culverts that have blocked shad migrations up their spawning streams had reduced landings to less than four million pounds.
(A) that have blocked shad migrations up their spawning streams had reduced landings to less
(B) that blocked shad from migrating up their spawning streams had reduced landings to less
(C) that blocked shad from migrating up their spawning streams reduced landings to a lower amount
(D) having blocked shad from migrating up their spawning streams reduced landings to less
(E) having blocked shad migrations up their spawning streams had reduced landings to an amount lower
There is an adage which says that be wary of the obvious. The first obvious is to say that when there was an earlier event in 1990, a later event as in 1920 should never be assigned a past perfect. Second, obvious is that use of less is inappropriate because 17 million pounds is countable. Therefore, a lower amount should be the right one. Both these assumptions are wrong as per the custom of American English, including GMAT.
It is customary to use a past perfect for a later event, when there is a time reference such as 1920. Don’t we say that I started my GMAT preparation in 2005 and by 2015, I had completed it. As there are exceptions to every rule, the use of past perfect is taken for granted in such rare cases.
17 million pounds is taken as a mass quantity rather than as countable individual pounds. Therefore the use of less is justified
By this token of reasoning, B is an acceptable answer.
(A) that have blocked shad migrations up their spawning streams have
reduced landings to less that have blocked is a wrong tense for an event that was completed in the past
(B) That blocked shad from migrating up their spawning streams had reduced landings to less ------ Correct
(C) that blocked shad from migrating up their spawning streams reduced landings to a lower amount ----- 'lower' is out of sync
(D) having blocked shad from migrating up their spawning streams reduced landings to less ---Shad migrations were blocked by the hurdles and not the shads themselves
(E) Having blocked shad migrations up their spawning streams had reduced landings to an amount lower –amount lower is out of sync 作者: emmahiggins09 时间: 2017-1-4 05:56
过去完成时和现在完成时是基本一样的道理都是表示一个延续的动作且对其结果产生了影响，而它们的区别就在于：
作者: emmahiggins09 时间: 2017-1-4 06:13
首先 an amount 和 X million pounds 是 redundant 的
在英语中 time, money, quantities of weight, and distance 的表达通常都被认为是单数数，所以这里用的是 less 而不是lower amount less serves to refer to any noun that takes a SINGULAR VERB. fewer serves to refer to any noun that takes a PLURAL VERB.
这个考点在 OG2016 SC12 题中出现过，一下是SC12题，楼主可以体会下，答案是B
In 1979 lack of rain reduced India’s rice production to about 41 million tons, nearly 25 percent less than those of the 1978 harvest.
(A) less than those of the 1978 harvest
(B) less than the 1978 harvest
(C) less than 1978
(D) fewer than 1978
(E) fewer than that of India’s 1978 harvest
这是在beatthegmat 上一位大神的说的，这个大神和RON是齐名的
作者: SamKboardW 时间: 2018-10-13 09:21
引自beat the Gmat 论坛
Notice that, in B, the factors "reduced landings to less than four million pounds."
So less clearly refers to the weight, and so landings, which seems to be a plural noun, is recast as meaning something along the lines of "the of weight of shad."
When we talk about weight, as is the case when we talk about time and distance, we generally use less rather than fewer.
How far is it to the next town? Less than two miles.
How long until we get there? Less than ten minutes.
How much do our bicycles weigh? Less than twenty pound each.
To make this more clear, consider that each of these quantities often uses a singular verb.
