Comparisons Flashcards
(30 cards)
Watch out for comparison of actions / inanimate objects performing compared actions
Incorrect: “French wines taste better than Australian wines.”
Correct:
- French wines taste better than Australian wines do.
- French wines taste better than Australian wines taste.
- French wines taste better than do Australian wines.
Compare like things only
Nouns to nouns, people to people, actions to actions
- Incorrect: The maximum acceleration of the F-22 is much greater than the F-16.
- Correct: The F-22’s maximum acceleration is much greater than the F-16’s.
Can omit words in the second part of a comparison
- Possessive pronouns: e.g., “My car is bigger than Brian’s [CAR].”
- You can omit words or even whole clauses if there is no ambiguity: e.g., “I walk as fast now as [I WALKED] when I was younger.”
Singular vs. Plural
Comparing singular and plural entities with each other is fine as long as doing so results in a logical comparison.
- Correct: Like the budgets of many CEOs, Jack’s budget appeared well reasoned.
- Correct: Like many CEOs, Jack had a budget that appeared well reasoned.
Mistakenly compared with itself
Example 1:
- Incorrect: Julie is more skilled at singing than any singer I’ve encountered.
- Correct: Julie is more skilled at singing than any other singer I’ve encountered.
Example 2 (with restrictive modifier):
- Incorrect: The bears that live in Pennsylvania survive longer than they do in Texas.
- Correct: The bears that live in Pennsylvania survive longer than those that live in Texas.
→ When this happens, just replace the pronoun with its antecedent and see if the sentence makes sense.
Verbs in Comparison
Can use multiple tenses: e.g., He swims faster than she swam.
Compare similar verbs:
- Incorrect: Significantly more people applied during this year’s application period than were during last year’s application period.
- Correct: Significantly more people applied during this year’s application period than did during last year’s application period.
Verbs in Comparison: Example
Incorrect: As is “ordinary” chocolate, which can be soft and sweet or dark and better, white chocolate contains most of the same ingredients, with the exception of cocoa solids, the darker, more flavorful parts of the cocoa mass.
→ Comparing how “ordinary” chocolate is with what white chocolate contains
Correct: Used in the making of “ordinary” chocolate, which can be soft and sweet or dark and bitter, but not included among the ingredients of white chocolate are cocoa solids, the darker, more flavorful parts of the cocoa mass.
Ellipsis
The omission, from a sentence, of words that are understood without their being stated.
→ She is quoted in the news less often than her sister is quoted in the news.
→ She is quoted in the news less often than her sister is.
→ She is quoted in the news less often than her sister.
Ellipsis Example
Incorrect: Approximately 75 million people visit France every year, more than any other country.
→ Compares people with country
- Incorrect: which is more than → compares year with country
- Incorrect: more than those of → 75M people is more than the people of any other country = illogical
- Correct: more than visit → ellipsis → “more (people) than visit any other country
Ambiguous Comparisons
- Incorrect: Sarah loves shark diving more than Scott.
- Correct #1: Sarah loves shark diving more than she loves Scott.
- Correct #2: Sarah loves shark diving more than Scott does.
Incomplete Comparisons
- Incorrect: While commuting by bike can be enjoyable, if it takes much longer, people may be resistant to traveling that much.
- Correct: While commuting by bike can be enjoyable, if it takes much longer than commuting by train, people may be resistant to traveling that much.
Incomplete Comparisons: even when the items are mentioned
“When compared” and “if compared” wordings may express illogical comparison.
- Incorrect: Although tigers can run fast, when compared with tigers, cheetahs can run faster.
- Correct: Although tigers can run fast, cheetahs run faster than tigers.
Incomplete Comparisons: even when the items are mentioned (part 2)
“When compared” and “if compared” wordings may NOT always express illogical comparison.
- Correct: When compared with a Kodiak grizzly bear, a three-hundred pound black bear may appear puny.
- Incorrect: Although bison can be quite aggressive, when they are compared with ultra aggressive cape buffalo, which some call “the black death,” bison can be friendlier.
- Correct: Although bison can be quite aggressive, when they are compared with ultra aggressive cape buffalo, which some call “the black death,” bison can seem friendly.
Incomplete Comparisons: missing elements (#1)
Incorrect: Researchers who have compared the two approaches say that both manual therapy and steroid injections are equally as effective in relieving shoulder pain.
→ As equally effective as what?
Correct: Researchers who have compared the two approaches say that manual therapy and steroid injections are equally effective in relieving shoulder pain.
Incomplete Comparisons: missing elements (#2)
Incorrect: Like the way in which “ordinary” chocolate, which can be soft and sweet or dark and better, is made, the way in which white chocolate is made is similar, except in that there is no use of cocoa solids, the darker, more flavorful parts of the cocoa mass.
→ Similar to what?
Correct: Used in the making of “ordinary” chocolate, which can be soft and sweet or dark and bitter, but not included among the ingredients of white chocolate are cocoa solids, the darker, more flavorful parts of the cocoa mass.
Like, such as, including
“Like” is strictly a comparison word on the GMAT and cannot be used to introduce examples. For introducing examples, use “such as” and “including.”
- Correct: The country could get its economy back on track via the use of such approaches as improving the quality of the educational system, revamping bureaucracies, and negotiation of better trade deals.
Like vs. As
“Like” can be used only as a preposition. Prepositions always take an object, and the object of a preposition is always a noun or pronoun. Can’t use “like” to connect clauses. In comparison between two clauses, “as” must be used.
- Incorrect: The teacher acts like she were a drill sergeant.
- Correct #1: The teacher acts as though she were a drill sergeant.
- Correct #2: The teacher acts like a drill sergeant.
As Opposed To vs. Unlike
“As opposed to” doesn’t mean “unlike.” The meaning of “as opposed to” is along the lines of “rather than” or “not.”
Few vs. Less
Few → countable nouns
Less → uncountable nouns
- Incorrect: Although Jeffrey finds the dishes bland, he cooks with less salt, pepper, and spices than normal when he prepares dinner for his kids, who are picky eaters.
- Correct: Although Jeffrey finds the dishes bland, he cooks with less salt and pepper and fewer spices than normal when he prepares dinner for his kids, who are picky eaters.
Many vs. Much
Many → countable noun
Much → uncountable noun
- Incorrect: The ship, which was carrying many more passengers and cargo than it was rated for, was in danger of tipping over and sinking.
- Correct: The ship, which was carrying many more passengers and much more cargo than it was rated for, was in danger of tipping over and sinking.
Number vs. Amount
Number → countable noun
Amount → uncountable noun
Quantities of Time, Money, or Weight
Unless the units themselves are being counted, time, money, and weight are treated as uncountable nouns similar to water.
- About the units themselves: How many minutes are left? Many Euros have been spent.
- Not about the units themselves: The tank currently contains less than 2 gallons of water.
Example:
- Incorrect: Aware that they didn’t have many more than 2 hours to finish setting up, the stage crew decided to postpone the sound check.
- Correct: Aware that they didn’t have much more than 2 hours to finish setting up, the stage crew decided to postpone the sound check.
Greater than vs. More than
- “Greater than” = “larger than” or “higher than”
→ Compares the levels, sizes, degrees, magnitudes, or extents of things - “More than” ≠ “larger than” or “higher than”
→ “More than” is a determiner that modifies what follows it
e. g., Greater than: The amount of money misdirected to the bank’s small branch in Florida was much greater than the amount that that branch could put to work.
e. g., More than: Sara has more space than Olivia has.
Greater than vs. More than: Statistics
When statistics are compared, use “greater than” instead of “more than.”
e.g., The standard deviation of the test scores of the students in group A was greater than that of the test scores of the students in group B.
