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There is a widespread belief in the United States and Wester

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There is a widespread belief in the United States and Wester

by aspirant2011 » Sun Jul 24, 2011 8:39 am
There is a widespread belief in the United States and Western Europe that young people have a smaller commitment to work and a career than their parents and grandparents and that the source of the change lies in the collapse of the "work ethic."

(A) a smaller commitment to work and a career than their parents and grandparents
(B) less of a commitment to work and a career than their parents and grandparents
(C) a smaller commitment to work and a career than that of their parents and grandparents
(D) less of a commitment to work and a career than their parents and grandparents had
(E) a lessening of the commitment to work and a career that their parents and grandparents had

[spoiler]OA: Will be posted later. Have two doubts in option C i.e

1. Isn't the usage of smaller better than less?
2. Isn't that in option C relate to commitment to work and a career, so that the latter part of the sentence becomes commitment to work and a career of their parents and grandparents????[/spoiler]
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by mj78ind » Sun Jul 24, 2011 10:12 am
There is a widespread belief in the United States and Western Europe that young people have a smaller commitment to work and a career than their parents and grandparents and that the source of the change lies in the collapse of the "work ethic."

(A) a smaller commitment to work and a career than their parents and grandparents
(B) less of a commitment to work and a career than their parents and grandparents
(C) a smaller commitment to work and a career than that of their parents and grandparents
(D) less of a commitment to work and a career than their parents and grandparents had
(E) a lessening of the commitment to work and a career that their parents and grandparents had

OA looks like D. Only D and E have "had" which is key, all others compare work and career to parents and grandparents! A lessening of the commitment is awkward.
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by Buix0065 » Sun Jul 24, 2011 5:33 pm
I think D.

I think you can be more committed or less committed to something. But smaller/larger doesn't seem to work with something intangible such as "commitment"

Also, D has 'had' which is parallel to 'young people have...'
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by aspirant2011 » Sun Jul 24, 2011 6:12 pm
Please answer my doubt asked in the question.......
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by navami » Sun Jul 24, 2011 9:07 pm
@aspirant2011 : less commintment is better here.
Hence we can over look option C too
This time no looking back!!!
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by aspirant2011 » Mon Jul 25, 2011 5:03 am
navami wrote:@aspirant2011 : less commintment is better here.
Hence we can over look option C too
what about the second doubt. Please answer that also.
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by smackmartine » Mon Jul 25, 2011 8:16 pm
aspirant2011 wrote:
navami wrote:@aspirant2011 : less commintment is better here.
Hence we can over look option C too
what about the second doubt. Please answer that also.
You are right. that refers to commitment. Option C is wrongly comparing young people with commitment, which is wrong.
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by aspirant2011 » Tue Jul 26, 2011 8:05 am
smackmartine wrote:
aspirant2011 wrote:
navami wrote:@aspirant2011 : less commintment is better here.
Hence we can over look option C too
what about the second doubt. Please answer that also.
You are right. that refers to commitment. Option C is wrongly comparing young people with commitment, which is wrong.
Thnks a lot smackmartine, I got it :-)
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by SticklorForDetails » Tue Jul 26, 2011 11:16 am
aspirant2011 wrote:
1. Isn't the usage of smaller better than less?
Not enough different to matter. Commitments can be measured in size (a big commitment, a great commitment, a small commitment, etc.) or as uncountable entities (less of a commitment, more of a commitment, etc.). Either one could play a part in the right answer and the GMAT will always -- as here -- provide another difference through which to identify the right answer.
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by gmat_for_life » Mon Mar 07, 2016 5:45 am
Hi Guys.

I don't understand what's wrong with option C here..

'a smaller commitment to work and a career than that of their parents and grandparents'. Doesn't 'that' refer to commitment??

Regards,
Amit
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Mon Mar 07, 2016 6:15 am
gmat_for_life wrote:Hi Guys.

I don't understand what's wrong with option C here..

'a smaller commitment to work and a career than that of their parents and grandparents'. Doesn't 'that' refer to commitment??

Regards,
Amit
Consider a simpler sentence: I have less money than Tom has. Seems okay. Now consider: I have less money than that of Tom. "That" seems to refer to money, but this doesn't make any sense. How can I have less money than Tom's money has? It sounds as though Tom's money is a subject that has its own money.

Same problem here. I can write: Jim has less of a commitment to democracy than Jon has. But it's not correct to write: Jim has less of a commitment to democracy than that of Jon, because now it sounds as though Jim has less of a commitment to democracy than Jon's commitment to democracy has. (Does Jon's commitment to democracy have its own commitment??)
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