While it Costs About the Same to Run Nuclear Plants as Other Types of Power Plants, It is the Fixed Costs that Stem from Building Nuclear Plants that Makes it More Expenive for them to Generate Electricity.

Question: While it costs about the same to run nuclear plants as other types of power plants, it is the fixed costs that stem from building nuclear plants that makes it more expenive for them to generate electricity.

1. While it costs about the same to run nuclear plants as other types of power plants, it is the fixed costs that stem from building nuclear plants that makes it more expenive for them to generate electricity
2. While the cost of running nuclear plants is about the same as for other types of power plants, the fixed costs that stem from building nuclear plants make the electricity they generate more expensive
3. Even though it costs about the same to nuclear plants as for other types of power plants, it is the fixed costs that stem from building nuclear plants that makes the electricity they generate more expensive
4. It costs about the same to run nuclear plants as for other types of power plants, whereas the electricity they generate is more expensive, stemming from the fixed costs of building nuclear plants
5. The cost of running nuclear plants is about the same as other types of power plants, but the electricity they generate is made more expensive because of the fixed costs stemming from building nuclear plants.

“While it costs about the same to run nuclear plants as other types of power plants, it is the fixed costs that stem from building nuclear plants that makes it more expenive for them to generate electricity.”- is a GMAT sentence correction question. This particular GMAT sentence correction topic has been taken from the book ‘The Official Guide of GMAT Verbal Review, 2nd Edition, 2009’. This question checks Parallelism, Comparison of two elements and Modifiers. GMAT Sentence Correction questions comprise 11-16 questions to be completed within 65 minutes. Each Sentence Correction question contains a sentence with an underlined portion that includes 0-2 errors.

Answer: B
Explanation: Following are the concepts used in the sentence:

1. Subject-verb agreement
2. Comparisons
3. Pronouns
4. Awkwardness

Option A: Incorrect
This option is incorrect because it incorrectly refers to the plural noun “costs” with the singular verb “makes”. Also, this option uses “it” as a placeholder pronoun in all three contexts, “it costs about the same to run nuclear plants”, “it is the fixed costs” and “makes it more expensive”. Always remember that a pronoun can only have one referent in a sentence. So, Option A is incorrect.

Option B: Correct
This option is correct because it correctly refers to the plural noun “costs” with the plural verb “make”. Also, it accurately compares “ the cost of running nuclear plants” with “for other types of power plants”. This option is also free of any awkwardness or redundancy. So, Option B is correct.

Option C: Incorrect
This option is incorrect because it refers to the plural noun “costs” with the singular verb: makes”. Also, it uses “it” as a placeholders pronoun in more than one context, just like in the case of Option A. Pronouns can only have one referent in a sentence. So, Option C is incorrect.

Option D: Incorrect
This option is incorrect because it uses the needless and awkward clause “It costs about the same to run nuclear plants as for other types of power plants”. This statement looks indirect and redundant. So, Option D is incorrect.

Option E: Incorrect
This option is incorrect because it incorrectly compares the “cost of running nuclear plants” to “other power plants”. Always remember that comparisons can only be made between similar elements. It also uses passive voice construction that leads to awkwardness and redundancy. So, Option E is incorrect.

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