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Since around 1970, with world population of 3.5 billion, they have doubled it to our current level of over 7 billion in 2012.
  • a)
    with world population of 3.5 billion, they have doubled it
  • b)
    with a world population of 3.5 billion, doubling it
  • c)
    when the world’s population was 3.5 billion, doubling it
  • d)
    when the world’s population was 3.5 billion, it has doubled
  • e)
    when the world’s population were 3.5 billion, they have doubled it
Correct answer is option 'D'. Can you explain this answer?
Verified Answer
Since around 1970, with world population of 3.5 billion, they have dou...
One split is the “with” phrase vs. the “when” clause at the beginning. “When” is the correct word to use here because we’re describing the year 1970, and that’s time. Compare that to the prepositional phrase “with X” has to modify the thing that has X. Here, the phrase is “with a world population of 3.5 billion”, and this raises the fascinating question: what is the thing, or what could be the thing, that has “a world population of 3.5 billion”? It doesn’t make sense to refer to the year 1970 this way, and there’s nothing following the comma that is a likely target, so this preposition phrase structure is problematic. (A) & (B) are wrong.
Now, let’s look at the split after the comma–we have “they have doubled …”, “doubling”, or “it has doubled.” The “they” is a mystery pronoun, a pronoun with no properly defined antecedent. The GMAT hates mystery pronouns. The choices with the mystery pronoun, (A) & (E), are wrong. The participle “doubling” is also wrong. The only circumstance where “doubling” could be right is if it were modifying some noun that was performing the action of doubling, and such a noun doesn’t exist in this sentence. Therefore, the choices with the participle “doubling”, (B) & (C), are wrong. This leaves only (D), which has an elegant structure that is 100% grammatically correct: “it [Earth’s population] has doubled.”
(D) is the correct answer.
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Most Upvoted Answer
Since around 1970, with world population of 3.5 billion, they have dou...
One split is the “with” phrase vs. the “when” clause at the beginning. “When” is the correct word to use here because we’re describing the year 1970, and that’s time. Compare that to the prepositional phrase “with X” has to modify the thing that has X. Here, the phrase is “with a world population of 3.5 billion”, and this raises the fascinating question: what is the thing, or what could be the thing, that has “a world population of 3.5 billion”? It doesn’t make sense to refer to the year 1970 this way, and there’s nothing following the comma that is a likely target, so this preposition phrase structure is problematic. (A) & (B) are wrong.
Now, let’s look at the split after the comma–we have “they have doubled …”, “doubling”, or “it has doubled.” The “they” is a mystery pronoun, a pronoun with no properly defined antecedent. The GMAT hates mystery pronouns. The choices with the mystery pronoun, (A) & (E), are wrong. The participle “doubling” is also wrong. The only circumstance where “doubling” could be right is if it were modifying some noun that was performing the action of doubling, and such a noun doesn’t exist in this sentence. Therefore, the choices with the participle “doubling”, (B) & (C), are wrong. This leaves only (D), which has an elegant structure that is 100% grammatically correct: “it [Earth’s population] has doubled.”
(D) is the correct answer.
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Community Answer
Since around 1970, with world population of 3.5 billion, they have dou...
Population was 3.5 billion, it was doubled
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