Sentence Correction

Haaress wrote:Mitch,
Is there a preference between "confusion about" and "confusion over"...is it unidiomatic to use the latter.

If I may extrapolate on this, Is it similarly idiomatic to say "debate over" and "debate about".

GMATGuruNY wrote:

Haaress wrote:Mitch,
Is there a preference between "confusion about" and "confusion over"...is it unidiomatic to use the latter.

If I may extrapolate on this, Is it similarly idiomatic to say "debate over" and "debate about".

Both are correct, but they have different meanings. The word over suggests that a choice or decision needs to be made, that one thing needs to chosen over another:

There is confusion over whether Mary finished the race first or second. (Did Mary finish first or second?)

There is a dispute over who should take over the company. (Who would be the best choice?)

The idiom confusion about suggests only a lack of understanding.

There is a lot of confusion about chocolate. (People don't understand chocolate, its significance, the process by which it's made, etc.)

If you're debating between two answer choices, and one uses confusion over and the other uses confusion about, choose the answer that uses confusion over. It's more likely to be correct. (But use this reasoning only if you can't find a better reason to eliminate one of the answer choices.)

Does this help?

GMATGuruNY wrote:
I was asked specifically about answer choice E. It also contains the following errors:

The comparison is too wordy because the words it is are unnecessary. A correct and more concise comparison would be:

...whether obesity is a biological order posing serious health risks or a condition...

Also, the placement of the word more is incorrect. The correct placement would be:

...related more to appearance than to health
...more related to appearance than to health Hope this helps!

pnk wrote:

GMATGuruNY wrote:
I was asked specifically about answer choice E. It also contains the following errors:

The comparison is too wordy because the words it is are unnecessary. A correct and more concise comparison would be:

...whether obesity is a biological order posing serious health risks or a condition...

Also, the placement of the word more is incorrect. The correct placement would be:

...related more to appearance than to health
...more related to appearance than to health Hope this helps!

Thanks Mitch for making things so simple. Just one more query: 'related' can come after more but need not come after than...even thn the parrellism is maintained. Is my understanding correct. Would you elaborate a bit more.