hfbamafan wrote:
In a state of pure commercial competition, there would be a large number of producing firms, all unfettered by governmental regulations, all seeking to meet consumer needs and wants more successfully than each other.
A) all seeking to meet consumer needs and wants more successfully than each other.
B) all seeking more successfully to meet consumer needs and wants than the others.
C) each seeking to meet consumer needs and wants more successfully than one another.
D) each seeking to meet consumer needs and wants more successfully than the others.
E) each seeking successfully to meet consumer needs and wants than another
imhimanshu wrote:
Dear Mike,
Would you please put your thoughts across on this GMAT Prep question --- I am looking on the usage of each other vs one another. Though some experts have put their comments on it, I found the explanation somehow unconvincing. Moreover, the correct choice seems to compare singular(each) vs plural (the others). Please help.
Thanks, Himanshu
Dear
Himanshu,
I'm happy to help.
I really like this question --- a good logical puzzle. BTW, added the OA at the top of the thread.
First of all, the phrase "
all unfettered by governmental regulations" describes what the companies all have in common, what makes the similar. The part in the underlined section is about what divides them, what pits them one against another. That's why the underlined section must begin with "each", so
(A) &
(B) are out.
Choice
(E) lacks the comparative, so the "
than" makes no sense. That's incorrect.
Between
(C) &
(D) we have this brilliant and subtle split --- "
one another" vs. "
the others". The phrase "
one another" implies a relationship that is the same between any two elements of a set. If we say ---
The students in the class like one another.
--- this means: if we were to pick any random pair from the class, we would expect those two students to like each other. The same relationship is true between any two pairs we could select from the group. The phrase "
one another" works best for relationships, whether like or dislike, that can be uniform throughout a group. There is something inherently illogical about using "
one another" with any comparative. Furthermore, "one another" implies a whole-group situation, so it naturally goes with "
all" --- "
All the X do Q to one another." For this reason, there's also something inherently illogical about using "
each" with "
one another". The word "
each" talks about a member individually --- as an individual, I can strive to be the best, or to defeat everyone else, or something such as that, but I can't, on my own, create any kind of "
one another" relationship --- that take the whole group, not merely one individual in isolation. For these reasons,
(C) can't possible be correct, so this leaves
(D), the OA.
You're perfectly right ---
(D) sets an individual, each individual firm, against all the others, singular vs. plural. Suppose there are, say, 20 firms in a particular sector. Each one thinks, "We want to be more successful than the other 19 in this sector!" There's nothing grammatically or logical wrong about a singular vs. plural comparison --- it happens all the time in academics, in sports,and in politics.
Does all this make sense?
each seeking more successfully to meet consumer needs and wants than another.
Most of the explanations are directed stating that option e misses the comparative , but clearly there is a more in the question option .