Question: One of five computers are now purchased by people aged fifty years or more, compared with just one of nine purchased in 2001.

A) of five computers are now purchased by people aged fifty years or more, compared with just one of nine purchased
B) of five computers is now purchased by a person whose age is fifty or older, compared to just one of nine computers that were purchased
C) computer in five are now purchased by people aged fifty or older, compared to just one in nine
D) computer in five is now purchased by a person aged fifty or older, compared with just one in nine
E) in five computers is now purchased by people aged fifty years or more, compared with just one of nine purchased

Correct Answer: D
Explanation:

This line of reasoning can be in favor of the suggested linguistic alteration:

• Parallelism
• Considering two separate truths
• Modifiers

Let us check the given options.

A: Incorrect

This choice is an incorrect one. Compared to just one of nine purchased — "one of X" needs a singular verb — of five computers are now purchased by people fifty years of age or older. Eliminate. verbal agreement matter at hand. For "one of five," "are" is wrong.

B: Incorrect

B is an incorrect choice. Option B's poor writing is more obvious when we contrast it with Option A. (D).
The primary factor that makes option B preferable to option D is precision.
We don't need to repeat the details of the computers that were purchased because everyone is aware of what "one in nine" refers to. "a person whose age is (B)" is an unnecessarily verbose way of saying "a person aged."
GET RID OF B

C: Incorrect

It is an incorrect choice. People aged fifty or older now purchase one out of every five computers, compared to just one out of every nine in the past. For "one in five," "are" is wrong. It is eliminated.

D: Correct

This is the correct choice. Compared to just one in nine, a person over the age of fifty now purchases a computer in five cases. -> No subject-verb agreement issue. Maintain it. It is the right option.

E: Incorrect

It is an incorrect choice. Option E uses "or more" erroneously.
A construction problem is also present in Option E. Although it is modest and annoying, it is insufficient to get rid of E on its own.
The second "bought" is unnecessary and creates an odd structure where it almost sounds like the noun "computers," which is transformed by "one in five," is being compared with being purchased.
There will be times when each of you will have analyzed the grammar and style to the fullest extent possible, and one answer will not trouble you at all. This will happen to all of you.
Choose that option.

You might not be able to articulate why it does not bother you, but after you have a decent mastery of grammar rules and consistently read prose written in English, you will develop a sense for which option is better or worse than the others. This will happen after you have read prose written in English for a significant amount of time. (I beg of you, do not search for a single, definitive answer. Eliminate the four replies that are the poorest, which is an approach that is excellently captured by the cynically humorous line.)

“One of five computers are now purchased by people aged fifty years or” - is a GMAT sentence correction question. The text that is underlined in these questions has grammatical mistakes, and we must select the right response from the list of possibilities. The GMAT verbal section includes GMAT sentence correction.

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