Employment Costs

Expert replies

cbenk121: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 202; Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2009 11:34 pm; Thanked: 15 times; GMAT Score:760

by cbenk121 » Sun Nov 15, 2009 7:10 pm

Employment costs rose 2.8 percent in the 12 months that ended in September, slightly less than they did in the year that ended in the previous quarter.

(A) less than they did
(B) less than it did
(C) less than they were
(D) lower than
(E) lower than they were

OA: [spoiler]A: Would it have been correct to say "lower than they did" as well?[/spoiler]

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Sun Nov 15, 2009 7:10 pm

pandeyvineet24: Legendary Member; Posts: 527; Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2008 9:14 am; Location: Atlanta; Thanked: 17 times

by pandeyvineet24 » Sun Nov 15, 2009 7:56 pm

i think "lower" would have been correct here, since we are comparing the same entity, "rise of employment costs" over a period of time, but lets see what experts have to say.

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sunnyjohn: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 344; Joined: Mon Sep 14, 2009 5:40 amFollowed by: 3 members; Thanked: 28 times; GMAT Score:700

by sunnyjohn » Sun Nov 15, 2009 9:31 pm

Hi,

I think the answer should be A.

this is comparison Question:

employment costs ROSE by 1.2% in 12 months...., slightly less than
they did in the year...!

employment costs <--> they
Rose by 1.2% <---> did

no other option shows the good comparison.

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cbenk121: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 202; Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2009 11:34 pm; Thanked: 15 times; GMAT Score:760

by cbenk121 » Mon Nov 16, 2009 12:13 pm

sunnyjohn wrote:Hi,

I think the answer should be A.

this is comparison Question:

employment costs ROSE by 1.2% in 12 months...., slightly less than
they did in the year...!

employment costs <--> they
Rose by 1.2% <---> did

no other option shows the good comparison.

Agreed - this is what I realized after I posted. All the other answer choices compare the action to something else (i.e. state of being).

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tanviet: Legendary Member; Posts: 1404; Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 6:55 pmFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 18 times

by tanviet » Fri Nov 20, 2009 7:09 pm

I think there are 2 way to write

costs rose less than they did

or

cost rose 2.8%, lower than the percent is

in the first we compare verb, in the second we compare percent number. because d have no second compared element, D is wrong

pls. help me, is my thinking correct?

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cbenk121: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 202; Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2009 11:34 pm; Thanked: 15 times; GMAT Score:760

by cbenk121 » Sun Nov 22, 2009 10:43 pm

duongthang wrote:I think there are 2 way to write

costs rose less than they did

or

cost rose 2.8%, lower than the percent is

in the first we compare verb, in the second we compare percent number. because d have no second compared element, D is wrong

pls. help me, is my thinking correct?

Hard to say without the context of the sentence. Write out the whole sentence for both scenarios, so we can see your thinking in action.

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tanviet: Legendary Member; Posts: 1404; Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 6:55 pmFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 18 times

by tanviet » Mon Nov 23, 2009 12:59 am

cbenk121,

I am refering to this question. Pls, help answer my following question

if I change the sentence to ",lower than the percent is"

is this correct?,

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tanviet: Legendary Member; Posts: 1404; Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 6:55 pmFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 18 times

by tanviet » Mon Nov 23, 2009 1:12 am

cbenk121 wrote:
duongthang wrote:I think there are 2 way to write

costs rose less than they did

or

cost rose 2.8%, lower than the percent is

in the first we compare verb, in the second we compare percent number. because d have no second compared element, D is wrong

pls. help me, is my thinking correct?
Hard to say without the context of the sentence. Write out the whole sentence for both scenarios, so we can see your thinking in action.

Ok, pls, tell me whether the 2 following sentences are correct?

costs rose 2.8% this year, less than they did last year

costs rose 2.8% this year, lower than the percent is last year

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brick2009: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 171; Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:59 pm; Thanked: 8 times

by brick2009 » Mon Nov 23, 2009 7:17 am

--"Lower" is the comparative of "low," so it should only be applied to things that could be described as low.

The average temperature is lower in the winter than in the summer.
Lower the water level in the pool by pulling the drain plug.

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cbenk121: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 202; Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2009 11:34 pm; Thanked: 15 times; GMAT Score:760

by cbenk121 » Mon Nov 23, 2009 12:00 pm

Ok, pls, tell me whether the 2 following sentences are correct?

costs rose 2.8% this year, less than they did last year

costs rose 2.8% this year, lower than the percent is last year

First of all, it would need to be "percent WAS", since it's referring to an event in the past.

Outside of that, the comparison doesn't make that much sense to me. The percentages here represent degree of change, which is tied to the verb.

Let's say costs rose 4% last year. The most logical comparison is comparing how much costs rose this year versus last year. If you just compare 4% to 2.8%, that doesn't make any sense because there's no context. Did they rise? Fall? Or are the percentages referring to some percentage of a whole (i.e. employee costs made up 4% of the total budget last year, but now comprise 2.8%).

@Brick: Do you have a source for that? My gut agrees with you, but also thinking costs could be described as low, IF low can be used to describe anything relatively. If use of "lower" s strictly limited to things that can be physically lower (i.e. thermometer, water level), then no, lower can't be used here.

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