To compare the lightning-fast genius of playwright Tom Stoppard with the pedestrian efforts of some of his contemporaries is to compare the exquisite bouquet of a fine wine with that of ordinary grape juice.

(A) To compare the lightning-fast genius of playwright Tom Stoppard with the
pedestrian efforts of some of his contemporaries is to compare the exquisite bouquet of a fine, wine with that of ordinary grape juice.
(B) To compare the lightning-fast genius of playwright Tom Stoppard with the pedestrian efforts of some of his contemporaries is comparing the exquisite bouquet of a fine wine with that of ordinary grape juice.
(C) Comparing the lightning-fast genius of playwright Tom Stoppard with the pedestrian efforts of some of his contemporaries is to compare the exquisite bouquet of a fine wine with ordinary grape juice.
(D) Comparing the lightning-fast genius of playwright Tom Stoppard with the pedestrian efforts of some of his contemporaries is like comparing the exquisite bouquet of a fine wine with ordinary grape juice.
(E) To compare the lightning-fast genius of playwright Tom Stoppard with the pedestrian efforts of some of his contemporaries is to compare a fine wine’s bouquet with ordinary grape juice’s bouquet.


please explain...

I'd still go with D.

Please post the OA.

i'll go with A.

comparing with should satisfy parallelism. So exquisite bouquet of fine wine cannot be comapred with ordinary grape juice..It should be preceded by 'that of'..or something along the lines.

Plus..for explanatory sentences such as these, I think infinitives are better than gerunds.

OA?

(A) To compare the lightning-fast genius of playwright Tom Stoppard with the
pedestrian efforts of some of his contemporaries is to compare the exquisite bouquet of a fine, wine with that of ordinary grape juice.

(B) To compare the lightning-fast genius of playwright Tom Stoppard with the pedestrian efforts of some of his contemporaries is comparing the exquisite bouquet of a fine wine with that f ordinary grape juice. – compare vs comparing.

(C) Comparing the lightning-fast genius of playwright Tom Stoppard with the pedestrian efforts of some of his contemporaries is to compare the exquisite bouquet of a fine wine with ordinary grape juice. – compare vs comparing.

(D) Comparing the lightning-fast genius of playwright Tom Stoppard with the pedestrian efforts of some of his contemporaries is like comparing the exquisite bouquet of a fine wine with ordinary grape juice.- we are comparing bouquet of wine with grape juice.

(E) To compare the lightning-fast genius of playwright Tom Stoppard with the pedestrian efforts of some of his contemporaries is to compare a fine wine’s bouquet with ordinary grape juice’s bouquet.- parallelism as we are comparing the lightning fast to wine’s bouquet.

To compare the lightning-fast genius of playwright Tom Stoppard with the pedestrian efforts of some of his contemporaries is to compare the exquisite bouquet of a fine wine with that of ordinary grape juice.

Two rules that I used to make my ans choice -

a) Compare To unlike things. (X compare to Y - X and Y are unlike things)
Compare with like things (X compare with Y - X and Y are like things)

b) Here "is", a linking verb, is acting as a parallel marker. X is Y ==> X and Y should be parallel.

From the choices given, the formats are

a) To compare.....IS to compare.....
b) To compare......IS comparing...... (Out of the game. Not parallel)
c) comparing.....IS to compare....(Out of the game. Not parallel)
d) Comparing......is Like Comparing.....(Out of the game. Not parallel. In addition as per rule 1, compare with should be used to compare like things. Here comparing [the exquisite bouquet of a fine wine] with [ordinary grape juice]. The exquisite bouquet of a fine wine and ordinary grape juice are not like things.)
E) To compare.....IS to compare.....

Now with A and E in the race, I see that the two choice are different in "compare the exquisite bouquet of a fine, wine with that of ordinary grape juice" and "compare a fine wine’s bouquet with ordinary grape juice’s bouquet". When possessives such as fine wine's bouquet are used, I would prefer to use a phrase that eliminates possessives.

So I would vote for A because, in "compare the exquisite bouquet of a fine, wine with that of ordinary grape juice" it is comparing the exquisite bouquet of fine wine with that(exquisite bouquet) of ordinary grape juice.

Economist,

In fact, I didn't even bother to look at option A so closely as you did. I am under the impression that A must have repeated the entire sentence. And in the original sentence, there is NO comma between fine and wine. According to my explanations, I am left with option A since that should have repeated the original sentence.

Obviously, I assume that comma might have been misplaced. If this not the case, then E will be the ans.

Thats a typo. Refer to original sentence.