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confusing question for me

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confusing question for me

by ace001 » Thu Jun 24, 2010 5:25 pm
The volatility of a balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds, less than eighty percent of the overall stock market.
A. no change

B. A balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds is less than eighty percent as volatile as the overall stock market.

C. A balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds is less than eighty percent as volatile as that of the overall stock market.

D. Volatility is less than eighty percent for a balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds compared to the overall stock market.

E. The volatility of a balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds is less than eighty percent of the overall stock market.

The answer is B but I have no idea why.. I thought it could maybe be C. Can you go over why all the other ones are wrong?
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by Patrick_GMATFix » Thu Jun 24, 2010 6:19 pm
Hi Ace,

To help analyze SC, consider the sentence core.

A is a sentence fragment; it has no working verb.

B nothing wrong here. At its core the sentence says "A balanced portfolio is less than 80% as volatile as the overall market"

C meaning error. C compares the volatility of "a balanced portfolio of stocks" to the volatility of "that of the overall market" In this sentence "that" can only stand for "a balanced portfolio". the meaning error is results because the author's point is to say that the overall stock market is volatile, not balanced. In addition it's awkward to refer to a portfolio of the overall market. 'Portfolio' is a subset of all the stocks & bonds in the market, not the overall market.

D. Very awckward; the phrasing makes it difficult to understand exactly what's compared.

E. Meaning error. At its core E states "The volatility of a balanced portfolio...is less than 80% of the stock market". This sentence fails to refer to the volatility of the stock market.


If you have trouble with advanced comparison questions, use the Drill Generator to create and take timed drills, and set topics='Parallelism, Comparison' and difficulty='600-700 & 700+'

Hope that helps,
-Patrick
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by albatross86 » Thu Jun 24, 2010 6:25 pm
A. This is a run-on sentence as it has no main verb. "The volatility..., less than 80%." ...And? As you can see it sounds like an incomplete sentence or a fragment.

B. Portfolio is less than 80% as volatile as the market. "Volatile" is an adjective, so we can directly compare two nouns as to the degree of each of their volatility. eg. You are as smart as I am. We wouldn't say, "You are as smart as that of me" right?

C. "That of".... what of the market? This is referring to some attribute of the stock market and comparing it directly with the portfolio. It isn't clear what this attribute is so this is wrong.

D. This suggests that volatility itself can be represented as a percentage, which changes the meaning. Also , "less than 80% for A compared to B" is unidiomatic.

E. 80% of the market is not equal to the volatility of the portfolio and thus cannot be compared. Actually, "The volatility of the portfolio is less than 80% of the volatility of the stock market"

That's why B is correct :)
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by questionbox » Fri Jun 25, 2010 2:51 am
B. A balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds is less than eighty percent as volatile as the overall stock market.

A balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds is less than eighty percent(, and is)as volatile as the overall stock market.
Is (, and is) needed?
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