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Experts Help Needed: Comparison Tested to this Degree?

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Experts Help Needed: Comparison Tested to this Degree?

by wcheng57 » Tue Feb 12, 2013 1:20 pm
This is a question from the 3rd Ed. Aristotle SC Prep. Please explain the difference in the below 2 cases, and whether the GMAT will test it to such a degree:


The performance of the iron and steel industry this year has been better than that of any other year.

The correct answer is: The performance of the iron and steel industry this year has been better than in any other year.


The book's explanation is that the use of the preposition "in" makes all the difference. In the original question, while "that of" can refer back to performance, you are in essence comparing the performance of the iron and steel industry this year with the performance of any other year, but with whose performance?

Does this mean that if the original question were: "The performance this year has been better than that of any other year" then that would be correctly used? And if so, would " The performance this year has been better than in any other year" also be correct? What would be the difference in meaning in this case?

Will the GMAT test this concept to such a degree? If so, please explain. Thanks!
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by Tommy Wallach » Tue Feb 12, 2013 6:43 pm
Hey wcheng,

I would say yes, unfortunately. To be honest, it's not as complicated here as it looks. Whenever you get a pronoun like "that," just make sure you can plug something from the sentence in in a logical way. In the original sentence here, you'd get:

The performance of the iron and steel industry this year has been better than the performance of the iron and steel industry of any other year.

See the problem? What does it mean to say "The performance of the iron and steel industry of any other year"? That's not idiomatic.

In the correct sentence, there is an understood "it has been," but there isn't any mistaken pronoun:

The performance of the iron and steel industry this year has been better than it has been in any other year.

Your example would also be correct-ish. I'd prefer: "This year's performance has been better than that of any other year." Why? Because we have two possessives--this year's and of any other year. In your example, the second item in the comparison is possessed, but the first one isn't. I don't think it's a deal-breaker, but my version is slightly more parallel.

Hope that helps!

-t
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by tanviet » Tue Feb 12, 2013 10:12 pm
this kind of comparison is tested on og. similar question is og is

the small cars more efficient now than...

you can google search this question.

the point is

"that/those" refer to a noun different from the previous nouns
"it,they" refer to the same noun.

the comparision maybe is between 2 different nouns or between 2 differnt times of the same noun.

if you see "that/those" the comparision is between 2 different noun
if you see prepositional phrase at the end, it is possible that the comparision is between differnt times of the same noun.

I think you should look for the og question above before continue the discussion.
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by nisagl750 » Tue Feb 12, 2013 10:48 pm
Tommy Wallach wrote:Hey wcheng,

I would say yes, unfortunately. To be honest, it's not as complicated here as it looks. Whenever you get a pronoun like "that," just make sure you can plug something from the sentence in in a logical way. In the original sentence here, you'd get:

The performance of the iron and steel industry this year has been better than the performance of the iron and steel industry of any other year.

See the problem? What does it mean to say "The performance of the iron and steel industry of any other year"? That's not idiomatic.
Hi Tommy,

Can we always plug in something logical from the sentence and check whether the use of that is correct or not?
Can we use the same methodology of substituting for which and/or other modifiers as well?

thanks

-nisagl
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by Tommy Wallach » Wed Feb 13, 2013 9:51 am
Hey Nisagl,

Yes. Non-relative pronouns should generally be replaceable with a word/phrase already used in the sentence. However, be careful: "which" is a relative pronoun. Relative pronouns are simply modifiers, and there antecedent is defined by whatever they touch:

The house that I love is on fire.
The house, which is purple, is for sale.
The woman, whom I happen to love, is moving to the moon.

In these sentences, you don't need to replace the pronouns with anything, because that wouldn't make any sense!

That is a bit confusing, because it can be either a demonstrative pronoun or a relative pronoun. In the first of the three sample sentences listed above, you can see it operating as a relative pronoun. Here it is as a demonstrative pronoun:

I want that.
Give that to me.
The money made by the company's toy division was chump change next to that made by the defense division.

Demonstrative pronouns live by the rule that they should be replaceable by something already mentioned in the sentence.

Hope that helps!

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by nisagl750 » Wed Feb 13, 2013 8:57 pm
Tommy Wallach wrote: The money made by the company's toy division was chump change next to that made by the defense division.
Thanks Tommy,

In the above sentence we can replace that by The money

The money made by the company's toy division was chump change next to the money made by the defense division.

Is it right?

but is it wrong to say:
The money made by the company's toy division was chump change next to that of the company's defense division.

because, If we substitute that with the money

The money made by the company's toy division was chump change next to the money of the company's defense division.

Is this sentence grammatically and Idiomatically correct?

This does change the intended meaning because we want to compare the money made by two divisions and this sentence compares the money made by toy division with money that defense division currently has.
Am I right? Or there is a mistake in understanding?

One silly question: What is chump change?

thanks

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by Tommy Wallach » Thu Feb 14, 2013 4:41 pm
Hey Nisagl,

Absolutely right, in your explanation, and your example of a sentence that would be incorrect. Of course, as you noted, in your "incorrect" example, there is a possible legitimate read, if we are comparing the money made by the toy division to the money that the defense division just had already. So it would be slightly dependent on the meaning we were going for.

Chump change is a silly idiom (not tested on the GMAT!) meaning: "not much money":

"Investors at Merill Lynch were fined $100,000 for insider trading--big money to the average American, but chump change to the average employee of one of America's big banks."

-t
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