Questions involving "comparison" a huge confusion

[inc.manni]

Is the usage more ---- Rather than -- unidiomatic.

I have always seem More --- Than

If more ---Rather than is unidiomatic then

we can easily eliminate A &E

B& D can be eliminated as comparison is wrong.

In B & D - FOR has to be repeated to get the correct meaning.

Now A presents the correct comparison - more as a substitute for four quarters rather than ( a substitute) for the dollar bill

Only problem I see with A is the use of Rather than.

Regards

[inc.manni]

One more comparison is presented in the problem.

A - Its (Dollar's) weight is far less the four quarters -- Dollar weight wrongly compared to four quarters.

B & C - it (Dollar) weighs only 8.1 grams, far less than four quarters - Correct comparison between Dollar and four quarters

D & E - its weight of only 8.1 grams is far lighter than it is for - NOT Parallel - Wordy



Kindly help reply whether my thinking on above is correct.

Regards

[RonPurewal]

ABC yes.
in DE 'it' is also a huge problem:

its weight of only 8.1 grams is far lighter than it is for

here, 'it' must refer specifically to the 8.1-gram weight just mentioned. that's nonsense, of course, because the sentence is clearly intended to describe a heavier weight at that point.

for more on this see here:
post17023.html#p17023

[aflaamM589]

Can someone help me understand parallelism in B,
more X than Y, here more X than Y acts like parallel marker both X and Y

X and Y, in B, are not parallel, hence faulty parallelism.

Whereas in C, parallelism is perfect
X more than Y ,here more than (as one single piece) acts like parallel marker and

Ron,
Is my understanding of parallelism in comparison correct ?

[RonPurewal]

not necessarily.
the major problem with choice B is that it's impossible to determine what choice B even says!

__

consider.
both of these are correct sentences:
1/ Sam has played hockey longer than baseball.
2/ Sam has played hockey longer than Tommy.

in each of the above sentences, there is NO ambiguity about the meaning.
• baseball isn't a person, so it's impossible to read #1 in the same way as #2.
• tommy isn't a sport/game, so it's impossible to read #2 in the same way as #1.

__

on the other hand, consider this sentence:
Sam has known Sarah longer than Tommy.

here, we can't tell what this sentence is saying.
• it could work like #1 above—sam knows both sarah and tommy, but met sarah first.
• it could work like #2 above—sam and tommy both know sarah, but sam met her first.
it's impossible to tell.
choice B in this problem has the same issue.

[aflaamM589]

Thanks for the explanation Ron.

[tim]

[RonPurewal]

Thanks for the explanation Ron.

you're welcome.

[AmanT701]

Hey,

One last question on this, Can we also use the logic of parallel structure between the modifier of four quarters "which weigh X" and the modifier of coin "it weighs Y"? Since only B and C use this kind of construction, we can eliminate the rest and post that, use the second elimination logic(either lighter/less split or comparison split).

please let me know if the understanding is correct.

[RonPurewal]

those are not parallel structures.
one of them is a subject+verb; the other is a modifier attached to another modifier that is attached to that subject+verb.

thus, whatever resemblance they may have is basically coincidental.

[AvinashR698]

I have a doubt with option C



1. far less than four quarters. what is the significance of comma. it looks far less than four quarters trying to modify 8.1 grams.

Thanks
Avinash

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

It's great to learn from the correct answers of GMAT problems, especially official ones. If a construction is used here, then you're very likely to see it in a real GMAT test. Here, "far less than four quarters" is clearly giving some information about the weight of the dollar coin. It would be okay to see it as modifying "8.7 gms", but probably most logical to see it as modifying "weighs 8.7gms". After all, the comparison is between what the dollar coin weighs, and what four quarters weigh. The absolute grammatical truth shouldn't worry us too much; after all, we're trying to solve GMAT problems, not become academic grammarians. I agree that part of my instinct expects to see "far less than four quarters do", i.e. emphasizing that we're comparing what the two things weigh. However, the meaning of the sentence isn't ambiguous and clearly GMAT deems this construction to be acceptable.