compared with vs compared to is not a deciding split. Either idiom is correct... https://gmatclub.com/forum/compared-to- ... 54753.html

The most important issue in this SC question is the use of "that of"

(A) "that of" refers to "an investment". If we substitute "an investment" in place of "that of," then the sentence suffers from redundancy. Eliminate.

(B) does not use "that of". (B) logically compares an investment with other widely available classes of investments. Correct.

(C) is incorrect for the use of pronoun "it", which has no logical referent. If "it" refers to "an investment," then similar to (A), the sentence will suffer from redundancy. Eliminate.

(D) "that of" has no possible referent. Eliminate.

(E) "that of" has no possible referent. Eliminate.
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Because property values sometimes fluctuate in response to economic conditions beyond the purchaser's control, an investment in a home may underperform when compared to that of other widely available classes of investments.

A) an investment in a home may underperform when compared to that of other widely available classes of investments

B) an investment in a home may underperform compared with other widely available classes of investments

C) an investment in a home may underperform when comparing it with other widely available classes of investments

D) compared to that of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform

E) in comparison with that of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform

A. That has no proper referent. If it refers to investment then that is redundant.
B. Correct. Two investments are properly compared.
C. Again it has same problem as with that in A.
D. Same as A
E. Same as A
B is correct

that in A,D,E have no logical referent.
C wrong for error mentioned ( underperform when comparing is making no logical sense).

B the best available.
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Please explain the solution to this question.Why B is selected and A & D are eliminated?

abhish27
Because property values sometimes fluctuate in response to economic conditions beyond the purchaser's control, an investment in a home may underperform when compared to that of other widely available classes of investments.

A) an investment in a home may underperform when compared to that of other widely available classes of investments - WRONG. 'That of' makes the sentence as "...an investment in a home may underperform when compared to investment of other widely available classes of investments". Thus, its redundant.

B) an investment in a home may underperform compared with other widely available classes of investments - CORRECT. Two noun entities 'an investment' and 'classes of investments' are compared properly.

C) an investment in a home may underperform when comparing it with other widely available classes of investments - WRONG. Unidiomatic.

D) compared to that of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform - WRONG. A noun must follow after comma after control. 'That of' makes it redundant.

E) in comparison with that of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform - WRONG. Similar error as that made in option D.

Also, for understanding if we write the sentence as:
"An investment in a home may underperform compared with other widely available classes of investments because property values sometimes fluctuate in response to economic conditions beyond the purchaser's control."

Hope this helps..!!
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"Compared with" used for same type i.e. "Investment" here.
"compared to" used to compare two different kind.
So A,C and D is wrong.

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Because property values sometimes fluctuate in response to economic conditions beyond the purchaser's control, an investment in a home may underperform when compared to that of other widely available classes of investments.


When comparing similar objects, "compare with" is the correct idiom.

A) an investment in a home may underperform when compared to that of other widely available classes of investments -- idiom error

B) an investment in a home may underperform compared with other widely available classes of investments -- CORRECT idiom and comparison of "investment in a home" with "available classes of investments"

C) an investment in a home may underperform when comparing it with other widely available classes of investments -- "it" has ambiguous referents (investment or home); "comparing it" is also wrong since the subject doing the comparison is not given

D) compared to that of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform -- same as A

E) in comparison with that of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform -- wrong usage of "that of" which can be replaced with "investment of" and render the sentence illogical

Answer is B

A. an investment in a home may underperform when compared to that of other widely available classes of investments. We have to be strict as to when we use 'when'. When has to refer to a specific time period

B. looks fine. Keep B

C. an investment in a home may underperform when comparing it with other widely available classes of investments. C has the same problem as option A does. Eliminate C

D. compared to that of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform. When we see 'that' we rephrase the sentence by putting the exact noun that 'that' is trying to replace. Here we have compared to 'investment' of other widely available classes of investment? This does not make any sense. Eliminate D

E. Option E has same problem as option D does. Eliminate E.

We are left with B

Gmatninja pls help with this problem

A) an investment in a home may underperform when compared to that of other widely available classes of investments- correct idiom is In comparison with/to or compared with/to

B) an investment in a home may underperform compared with other widely available classes of investments - Bingo!

C) an investment in a home may underperform when comparing it with other widely available classes of investments - when comparing it. Idiom error

D) compared to that of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform - read the sentence as- compared to investments of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform. Does not make much sense

E) in comparison with that of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform - read the sentence as- compared to investments of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform. Does not make much sense


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PS, An Obvious thing : To improve yourself in SC, REVIEW every mistake in every answer choice after you attempt a problem.

Because property values sometimes fluctuate in response to economic conditions beyond the purchaser's control, an investment in a home may underperform when compared to that of other widely available classes of investments.

Observing the SS - “Because property…..control” is a subordinate clause, the part after comma requires a main clause.


A) an investment in a home may underperform when compared to that of other widely available classes of investments
Whenever there is comparison, it is better to replace the “that” with the appropriate noun.
Here “when compared to the investment of other widely available classes of investments” – Doesn’t make sense. So Incorrect.

B) an investment in a home may underperform compared with other widely available classes of investments
Best of ALL.

C) an investment in a home may underperform when comparing it with other widely available classes of investments
Meaning is of utmost importance.”…… may underperform when comparing it with…..” means what that it underperforms only WHEN we compare it, otherwise it doesn’t ?
Incorrect

D) compared to that of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform
Property value is being compared to “that of other widely available classes of”
Incorrect comparison and doesn’t make sense.

E) in comparison with that of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform
Property value is being compared to “that of other widely available classes of”
Incorrect comparison and doesn’t make sense.

Because property values sometimes fluctuate in response to economic conditions beyond the purchaser's control, an investment in a home may underperform when compared to that of other widely available classes of investments.

My 2 percent:
Since the sentence starts with a because, there should be the subject of the main clause (a noun) after comma, so D and E are out

A) an investment in a home may underperform when compared to that of other widely available classes of investments
//theres no referent to 'that of', and if anything can be referred to is 'investment', then the underlined portion becomes "an investment in a home may underperform when compared to investment of other widely available classes of investments" - so wrong

B) an investment in a home may underperform compared with other widely available classes of investments
//looks fine - correct

C) an investment in a home may underperform when comparing it with other widely available classes of investments
//An investment is compared to classes of investments .. wrong

D) compared to that of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform
//already stated above

E) in comparison with that of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform
//already stated above

[quote="generis"]Because property values sometimes fluctuate in response to economic conditions beyond the purchaser's control, an investment in a home may underperform when compared to that of other widely available classes of investments.

A) an investment in a home may underperform when compared to that of other widely available classes of investments

B) an investment in a home may underperform compared with other widely available classes of investments

C) an investment in a home may underperform when comparing it with other widely available classes of investments

D) compared to that of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform

E) in comparison with that of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform

"compared with/to" can work as a preposition. this case is illustrated in choice B. some similar phrases are " including" or " combined with" or "depending on" . these words look like a participle of a verb but they work as a preposition.

so, when we see these word, dont think they are participles of a verb and get confused.

Hi GMATNinja,
Need to verify my understanding of the options. When i tried solving this question, i rejected all the choices. A,D and E because of 'that of' which causes redundancy and leads to illogical meaning when we replace that with 'an investment'.
I rejected B and C because they seem to be comparing an investment to other 'CLASSES of investments" rather than comparing an investment to a different investment.
Could you please help make sense of the options?

Because property values sometimes fluctuate in response to economic conditions beyond the purchaser's control, an investment in a home may underperform when compared to that of other widely available classes of investments.

(A) an investment in a home may underperform when compared to that of other widely available classes of investments

(B) an investment in a home may underperform compared with other widely available classes of investments

(C) an investment in a home may underperform when comparing it with other widely available classes of investments

(D) compared to that of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform

(E) in comparison with that of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform

If we compare first few words on answer options

In A, B and C, we have "an investment".....This is a noun modifier or a superior modifier....highly preferred option in GMAT......Simply eliminate D and E
In A, "that.." is acting as a pronoun but does not have antecedent.....Eliminate A
In C, "it" refers to "an investment"...replacing "it" with "an investment" will bring redundancy. Eliminate C

Hence, B is the correct answer

I'd love to hear the feedbacks.

Vinay

The complete subject (in all 5 choices) is "an investment in a home" -- a type of investment.

(B) and (C) compare a certain type of investment (an investment in a home) to other classes of investments--or one type of investments to other types.
That's a perfectly logical comparison.

So now we just need to decide between (B) "... compared with other widely available classes of investments" and (C) "...when comparing it with other widely available classes of investments."

In (C), does an investment in a home only underperform WHEN we are comparing it to other classes of investments? Is this like the observer effect in quantum physics where observing the process may change it??

It makes more sense to say "[X] may underperform compared with [Y]," so (B) is the winner.

I hope that helps!
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First glance

The underlined portion begins with a noun, an investment, or a modifier, compared or in comparison with. It follows an opening modifier: because… comma. Likely, this sentence is testing variations in the sentence core and whether they work with the opening modifier. Focus on the intended meaning.



Issues

(1) Comparison: that of

The sentence compares two types of investments: investment in a home and other widely available classes of investments. Because one is more likely to underperform than the other, the two investments should be compared directly. However, choices (A), (D), and (E) use the phrase that of other… investments, implying that the comparison is not to the investment, but to some attribute of the investment. This is illogical.

(2) Meaning

The comparison is introduced differently in the answer choices. Answer (C) claims an investment… may underperform when comparing it… to other investments. The word when indicates that this description defines the time at which the underperformance occurs. The moment that a home investment is compared to other investments is when it begins doing poorly. This is nonsensical.

Choices (D) and (E) introduce the comparison immediately after the opening modifier, before the investment in a home is mentioned. This adds inappropriate ambiguity. Is the opening modifier describing the comparison or the investment? Is the comparison between the home investment or the property values? The structure of the sentence makes it unclear.

The Correct Answer

Correct answer (B) fixes any possible ambiguity by directly comparing the two types of investments using the phrase compared with.

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@empowergmat your solution to this please?