Laos has a land area

[RonPurewal]

thanks.

[RichaChampion]

"many of them" is a subject pronoun? .what is confusing me is how can "many of them" be a subject pronoun ? i always thought that "them" is object pronoun!!

Mr. Purewal → I also has this doubt. Can you Please reply.

____________________________________________________________

Mr. Purewal, I have summarized my takeaways from the 8 page reading. It took me around 1.5 hours to digest the entire discussion.

Summary of the Entire Discussion + Take away(Hopefully some one in future will benefit from this) →

"many of whom" is not a subject pronoun; It's a relative pronoun. It has EXACTLY the same grammar as plural "WHICH".

If you understand why
I adopted two dogs, which weigh approximately 100 pounds each
or
I adopted two dogs, each of which weighs approximately 100 pounds → are not a run-on sentence, then you also understand why (E) is not a run-on sentence.

By contrast, if the sentence had contained "many of them", then it would be a run-on. So,

*I adopted two dogs, they weigh approximately 100 pounds each → A run-on sentence (→ incorrect). For the same reason,
*I adopted two dogs, each of them weighs approximately 100 pounds
and
*... A population of only 4 million people, many of them are members of hill tribes → Would also be run-on sentences (→ Incorrect).

OK. When I said "them" was wrong, I didn't mean wrong in the pronoun/antecedent sense. "People" is a perfectly good antecedent.

The problem is that "Many of them are..." is a complete sentence. If this sentence is attached as though it were a modifier--as in choice C--then it creates a run-on sentence.

If "many of them" is replaced by "many of whom", then there's a modifier where there should be one.

If I said "them" was wrong, that is what I meant. Sorry for any lack of clarity.




Both "some of whom" and "some of them" can introduce modifiers. Those modifiers, however, have different structures.

"Some of whom" (like "which" or "who") needs a verb afterward.
"Some of them", if used to start a modifier, can't have a verb afterward; If there's a verb, a run-on sentence is created.

Example →

Shopping at a thrift store, Becky found several designer items. Some of them were worth hundreds of dollars.
Correct. → Two sentences.

Shopping at a thrift store, Becky found several designer items. Some of which were worth hundreds of dollars.
Incorrect. → "Some of which" must introduce a modifier. It can't be the subject of a sentence.

Shopping at a thrift store, Becky found several designer items, some of which were worth hundreds of dollars.
Correct.

Shopping at a thrift store, Becky found several designer items, some of them were worth hundreds of dollars.
Incorrect. → Complete sentence + comma + complete sentence = run-on sentence.

Question: Should we conclude that if we have "each of them" then "each of them" will follow the same grammar.

Subject Verb, each of them___ some verb(Subject-Verb pair) → I believe that this will also be considered as RUN ON SENTENCE?

[RonPurewal]

i'm sorry, but that's way too much for me to process in a single post. you're going to have to help me out here.

__


• i can't tell whether you are asking just one question, or more than one.
if you're asking more than one question, PLEASE number the questions (or use bullet points, or ... do something to indicate the actual questions).

__


• this is way too abstract for me:

Subject Verb, each of them___ some verb(Subject-Verb pair)

i can't understand that ^^ unless you provide an example of it. please give me an example. thanks.

[NicoleT643]

Hi Ron, would you please explain how does the modifier in choice C work?
"but in Laos with a population of only 4 million people, many of them are members of ..."
in Laos is an adverbial modifier, with a population is prep+noun modifies the previous noun which is Laos, so the usage "but in Laos with a population of only 4 million people" is correct?
Sorry I have been sensitive when dealing with prep+noun modifiers, I don't know if I am overthinking of such usage. Would you please advice?
Thank you

[belal.finance.du]

Hi Ron,
Thank you for your explanation.
I have two questions.
1. Is the comparison in option C correct?
2. What is the difference between the use of "the same as" and that of "the same +Noun+as"?


This is my first post in this forum.(sorry, if I violate any rule here)

Belal.

[RonPurewal]

1. Is the comparison in option C correct?

^^ no.
you can say that two AREAS are the SAME.
you can also say that two pieces of LAND (or two COUNTRIES) have the same SIZE.

it's incorrect to say that two AREAS have the same SIZE.

more on that here:
post44894.html#p44894

[RonPurewal]

2. What is the difference between the use of "the same as" and that of "the same +Noun+as"?

these aren't comparable to each other.

"X is the same as Y" means exactly what it says—that two things ARE ACTUALLY THE SAME.

the second thing has to be part of a larger comparison, whose meaning is going to depend on the larger structure.
e.g.,
I like the same kinds of music as my wife
I went to the same high school as my sister
etc.

if one of these two constructions makes sense, then the other will be nonsense.

[MdAbuAsad]

by contrast, if the sentence had contained "many of them", then it would be a run-on.
so:
*i adopted two dogs, they weigh approximately 100 pounds each
is a run-on sentence (--> incorrect). for the same reason,
*i adopted two dogs, each of them weighs approximately 100 pounds
and
*... a population of only 4 million people, many of them are members of hill tribes...
would also be run-on sentences (--> incorrect).

.
If I knew that 'many of them' makes this sentence run-on, I would not pick C in your yesterday's online class!
'them' comes from 'they',
and 'whom' comes from 'who'.
So, 'many of them' indicates something like 'they', which introduces a subject, but 'many of whom' introduces 'who', which introduces a modifier, right?


1/ There is no 'antecedent' of 'them' of these 2 sentences. So, can we say these are legitimate sentence?
Many of them are genius who write in this forum.
Many of them who write in this forum are genius.
-----------------
2/ also, does B compare 'land area' with 'Great Britain'?
------------
3/ C is a run-on sentence. Is there any other problem in C other than run-on?
Thanks a ton...

[RonPurewal]

So, 'many of them' indicates something like 'they', which introduces a subject, but 'many of whom' introduces 'who', which introduces a modifier, right?

^^ correct.

1/ There is no 'antecedent' of 'them' of these 2 sentences. So, can we say these are legitimate sentence?
Many of them are genius who write in this forum.
Many of them who write in this forum are genius.

^^ these are 2 separate issues that have nothing to do with each other.

• whether the sentence is actually a complete sentence (vs. a sentence fragment)
• whether a pronoun stands for a valid noun

these issues are completely independent.

(also, no SC sentence will ever just randomly start with "most of them".)

[RonPurewal]

2/ also, does B compare 'land area' with 'Great Britain'?

^^ yes, that's an issue in B.

3/ C is a run-on sentence. Is there any other problem in C other than run-on?

^^ please read through the entire discussion thread.

[Sandeepv889]

OG's solution says that reference to them is unclear. Isn't them clearly referring to people?

Not sure if this is the right place to post, I apologize if it isn't-

I am a re-taker and already have a good score but want to improve it further. In my previous attempt I haven't referred to OG solutions at all, but for this attempt I started to read the solutions just to make sure if I am eliminating the answer choices for the same reason that test maker thinks I should. But, I find some of these solutions contradictory to what I have learnt, leaving me confused.
Do you think it is a good idea to skip them or am i missing something?

[Sandeepv889]

ah, see, this sentence does not fit your template.

your template is 'A has more stuff than B'.
if the sentence were actually written this way, then 'that of' would be incorrect.
Laos has more land area than Country X (correct)
Laos has the same land area as Country X (correct)
*Laos has more land area than that of Country X (incorrect)
*Laos has the same land area as that of Country X (incorrect)

on the other hand, this sentence is
Laos has a land area comparable to that of Great Britain.

the core sentence is just Laos has xxxx. this is NOT a comparison sentence; it is perfectly possible to write 'Laos has xxxx' if xxxx is just one thing.
the comparison structure exists within the blue part, and does not involve the subject 'Laos'. (the comparison structure is an area comparable to [another area].)

by contrast, note that the four sentences above MUST be comparisons. (it is impossible to write Laos has more xxxx or Laos has the same xxxx as a stand-alone sentence.)

Ron,
You said Laos has the same land area as country X is correct. However, isn't country X a noun?
I remember in one of your study halls, you said as should be followed by a noun phase only if it is a function. In the case of comparisons, it should always be followed by a clause or a prepositional phrase.
Please let me know what I have misunderstood

[RonPurewal]

i'm not sure what you're referring to, but, you're overthinking this.
if the thing following "than"/"as" has a match on the left-hand side of the sentence, then, the comparison is fine.

e.g.,

Grocery store X has more processed foods than grocery store Y.
...correct sentence

Grocery store X has more processed foods than fresh foods.
...also a correct sentence.

__

also, if you're going to try to criticize the correct answer, then you MUST have a DIFFERENT choice in mind as "better".
which OTHER choice were you ready to defend as "correct"?

[MdAbuAsad]

Hi Ron, Hope you're well. I've a query about E.

3/ C is a run-on sentence. Is there any other problem in C other than run-on?

^^ please read through the entire discussion thread.

It's ok. But, in E, how do someone be convinced ''that of'' refers to the ''land area'' of Great Britain?
Thank you__

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Because the first part of the sentence says 'land area'.