The country’s Commerce secretary says that spending on fuel subsidies

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Concepts tested here: Comparison + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• "compared/comparison with" is used for comparing similar things and "compared/comparison to" is used for comparing different things.

A: This answer choice incorrectly uses "compared to" to compare two similar things - "$40 billion dollars" and "$20 billion dollars"; please remember, "compared/comparison with" is used for comparing similar things and "compared/comparison to" is used for comparing different things. Further, Option A uses the needlessly wordy phrases "says that" and "in last year", leading to awkwardness and redundancy; these usages are redundant, as "that" and "in" can be deleted without a loss of clarity.

B: This answer choice incorrectly uses "compared to" to compare two similar things - "$40 billion dollars" and "$20 billion dollars"; please remember, "compared/comparison with" is used for comparing similar things and "compared/comparison to" is used for comparing different things. Further, Option B uses the needlessly wordy phrase "says that", leading to awkwardness and redundancy; this usage is redundant, as "that" can be deleted without a loss of clarity. Moreover, Option B uses the needlessly wordy clause "and that is compared to about $20 billion last year", rendering it needlessly indirect.

C: Correct. This answer choice correctly uses "compared with" to compare two similar things - "$40 billion dollars" and "$20 billion dollars". Further, Option C is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

D: This answer choice uses the needlessly wordy phrase "in last year", leading to awkwardness and redundancy; this usage is redundant, as "in" can be deleted without a loss of clarity.

E: This answer choice uses the needlessly wordy clause "and that is compared to about $20 billion reached last year", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

Hence, C is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Compared With" versus "Compared to" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

The country’s Commerce secretary says that spending on fuel subsidies could reach $40 billion dollars in 2013, compared to about $20 billion in last year.

B)that spending on fuel subsidies could reach $40 billion dollars in 2013, and that is compared to about $20 billion last year
E)spending on fuel subsidies could reach $40 billion dollars in 2013, and that is compared to about $20 billion reached last year
B and E suggests that the secretary said 1)that spending could reach 40B 2)that is compared to 20B (said these two different things, so they are not "compared" to each other).

D)spending on fuel subsidies could reach $40 billion dollars in 2013, compared with about $20 billion reached in last year
A)that spending on fuel subsidies could reach $40 billion dollars in 2013, compared with about $20 billion in last year

You can use "say something" without using "that". Example: "the Act says such behavior is an offense" or "I don’t want to say too much" https://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/say

Similar Official Question: scientists-say-that-each-of-the-photographs-taken-of-the-64210.html

Zarrolou, any idea when that must follow says/said. I struck off options c,d,e simply because of the missing 'that'!

Please give me KUDOS if my post has helped you

Eliminate A, because in last year is not idiomatic. Last year suffices.
Eliminate B, because the second "that" is ambiguous. Besides, seldom do we use the full version of "subject be compared with/to". I think we often use the shorter version of "compared with/to".

So the right option definitely won't contain a "that" as its beginning.

Although GMAT always puts "that" after a verb to introduce an objective clause, there may be one or two times when GMAT choose to omit "that" after the verb "say".

Hopes this helps.

dhler-
you said GMAT often do not use That to compare but you also said answer is definitly without that...

So i do not follow you what you saying...

Question that tests the minor exception of reporting verbs...

You dont need that when you are using the reporting verb 'say'....

B and E are straight out.

Terribly confused between A C E.

Can anyone why "in" used in options is wrong. Some members have highlighted the word "in". Please explain why you find that wrong.

The official explanation is:-

The goal is simply to compare the amount in 2013 with the amount last year. First, you cannot say “$20 billion in last year” in (A) and (D) as that is illogical and should be “$20 billion last year”.

Is it idiom error to say X amount in Y year ?

PS: I wish in difficult questions also, one impart some other error in options apart from idiom, especially when the idiom is not very common.

Hello Moderators
WaterFlowsUp, Abhishek009, mikemcgarry, carcass, daagh, sayantanc2k, Skywalker18, chetan2u, CrackVerbalGMAT, YangYichen, VeritasPrepKarishma and others...
Can someone please elaborate as to why "in last year" is wrong?
I am terribly confused as like others for the above post. i haven't come across and specific law/rule about not using "in" in situation like this question provides.

Thanks

YangYichen has already explained why "in" is not required before "last year". Nonetheless please note that in GMAT it is generally a practice to use "that" for statement in indirect speech - there should have been "that" before "spending" in option C.

Hello Moderators,
First of all thanks a lot from reply - YangYichen & sayantanc2k
WaterFlowsUp, Abhishek009, mikemcgarry, carcass, daagh, Skywalker18, chetan2u, CrackVerbalGMAT, VeritasPrepKarishma and others...

Can you please elaborate more on [C] ...$40 billion dollars in 2013, compared with about $20 billion last year.
I get why compared with is correct here. But i am still not able to understand (even thought i see that without in looks better because of concision...) what is the rule through which A and D were eliminated. Can you guys provide a few examples or point to some?
That would really help...

Is there some not so obvious law that governs this, like the law for "optional that" ?
Thanks a lot in advance.

The country’s Commerce secretary says that spending on fuel subsidies could reach $40 billion dollars in 2013, compared to about $20 billion in last year.

A)that spending on fuel subsidies could reach $40 billion dollars in 2013, compared with about $20 billion in last year
The 'in' in '$20 Billion in last year' is superfluous.
B)that spending on fuel subsidies could reach $40 billion dollars in 2013, and that is compared to about $20 billion last year
'and that is compared to' is redundant
C)spending on fuel subsidies could reach $40 billion dollars in 2013, compared with about $20 billion last year
Looks good. Hold it.
D)spending on fuel subsidies could reach $40 billion dollars in 2013, compared with about $20 billion reached in last year
'reached in' is superfluous.
E)spending on fuel subsidies could reach $40 billion dollars in 2013, and that is compared to about $20 billion reached last year
'that is compared to about' is superfluous.

Thus, I chose option C.

D compare with is a prepositional phrase, followed by a noun, but reach is a verb here, u should use a noun+verb to form a sentence, but u can see that the second part is not a complete sentence because there's a ","before it.
A is not right because I've already explained there's no need to add "in" before last year
another reason A should be the same as the underlined part in the stimuli, but the stimuli used "compared to" are you sure the whole question is correctly replicated?

Hello YangYichen
and sayantanc2k, WaterFlowsUp, Abhishek009, mikemcgarry, carcass, daagh, Skywalker18, chetan2u, CrackVerbalGMAT, VeritasPrepKarishma and others moderators...

You are correct YangYichen, the option A is messed up. The correct question is:
The country’s Commerce secretary says that spending on fuel subsidies could reach $40 billion dollars in 2013, compared to about $20 billion in last year.
that spending on fuel subsidies could reach $40 billion dollars in 2013, compared to about $20 billion in last year
that spending on fuel subsidies could reach $40 billion dollars in 2013, and that is compared to about $20 billion last year
spending on fuel subsidies could reach $40 billion dollars in 2013, compared with about $20 billion last year <- CORRECT
spending on fuel subsidies could reach $40 billion dollars in 2013, compared with about $20 billion reached in last year
spending on fuel subsidies could reach $40 billion dollars in 2013, and that is compared to about $20 billion reached last year

I do see your point YangYichen that "$20 billion in last year" creates illogical meaning as $20B cannot be inside a year. However, if the option would have been "$20B in 2012" ie we used 2012 instead of last year, would it be correct ? Just this phrase not the complete option or question.
Would this be correct: "$20B in 2012" vs "$20B in last year" ?

Finally YangYichen, thanks for responding. I really appreciate your help to clarify my difficulty. Thanks a lot.

we should add an "in" before 2012, it's just a custom expression

YangYichen
Thanks for responding. I appreciate your help to clarify my difficulty. Thanks a lot.

The comparison is done between two values of spending or between the spending of year 2013 and $20 billion.
I am of the opinion that option C compares 'spending' with '$20 billion' which is corrected in Option D with the addition of 'reached in'.
What am I missing?