Mideast immigrants rates of entrepreneurship exceed virtually every ot

Question

Mideast immigrants’ rates of entrepreneurship exceed  virtually every other immigrant group in the increasingly diverse United States economy.

(A) Mideast immigrants’ rates of entrepreneurship exceed

(B) Mideast immigrants are exhibiting rates of entrepreneurship exceeding

(C) Immigrants from the Mideast exhibit rates of entrepreneurship exceeding those of

(D) The rates of entrepreneurship in immigrants from the Mideast exceed

(E) The rates of Mideast immigrants’ entrepreneurship exceeds those of

GMATNinja · Accepted Answer

I irrationally sort of love this question as an example of how the GMAT deals with comparisons (more on comparisons in  this video  and  this sequel ), so here's a  QOTD-style  explanation:

The most important thing on GMAT comparison questions is to be maniacally literal. In this case, "Mideast immigrants'  rates  of entrepreneurship" is being compared to "virtually every other  immigrant group ." And it makes no sense to compare the rates of entrepreneurship to the immigrant groups themselves.

So (A) is out.

(B) has a similar problem as (A): "Mideast immigrants are exhibiting  rates of entrepreneurship  exceeding  virtually every other immigrant group ." And once again, it doesn't make sense to compare "rates of entrepreneurship" to immigrant groups.

Also, there's no good reason to use the progressive verb tense "are exhibiting" when we could just use a nice, simple present tense ("exhibit"). It's not WRONG, exactly, to say "are exhibiting", but that particular verb tense emphasizes that there's an ongoing action, and we really don't need to do that here.

So (B) is gone.

The pronoun "those" has to refer to a plural noun, and "rates of entrepreneurship" is the nearest candidate. So that gives us: "Immigrants from the Mideast exhibit rates of entrepreneurship exceeding   of virtually every other immigrant group..." That's perfect! Now we're comparing entrepreneurship rates of one immigrant group to entrepreneurship rates of other groups. Nice.

So let's keep (C).

(D) has all sorts of problems. First, it makes no sense to say that the rate of entrepreneurship is  in  immigrants. That's pretty ridiculous.

Second, we still have the same comparison problem as in (A) and (B): "The rates of entrepreneurship... exceed virtually every other immigrant group..." Again, it doesn't make sense to compare "rates of entrepreneurship" to immigrant groups.

So (D) is gone.

In theory, I like the use of "those" as a pronoun in (E). In practice, it doesn't quite work. "Those" seems to refer to just "rates", and that gives us: "The rates of Mideast immigrants' entrepreneurship exceeds   of virtually every other immigrant group..." That's much less clear than the version in (C), which tells us that "immigrants from the Mideast exhibit rates of entrepreneurship exceeding  of entrepreneurship ] of virtually every other immigrant group..."

You could also argue that the possessive construction is less than ideal in (E). There's no good reason to write "the rates of immigrants' entrepreneurship" when (C) has a better, clearer way to say the same thing.

And best of all, there's a nice, clear subject-verb error in (E): "the rates    exceeds ." That's a killer.

So (C) is our winner.

amitdesai16 · Answer

Mideast immigrants’ rates of entrepreneurship exceed virtually every other immigrant group in the increasingly diverse United States economy.
A. Mideast immigrants’ rates of entrepreneurship exceed -  rates are compared with immigrant group. so wrong
 B. Mideast immigrants are exhibiting rates of entrepreneurship exceeding -  rates cannot exceed immigrant group itself but should exceed rates of immigrant group. Again illogical comparison. So wrong 
C. Immigrants from the Mideast exhibit rates of entrepreneurship exceeding those of -  correct comparison; rates of Mideast vs rates (those) of every other immigrant group 
D. The rates of entrepreneurship in immigrants from the Mideast exceed -  rates are compared with immigrant group. so wrong 
E. The rates of Mideast immigrants’ entrepreneurship exceeds those of -  comparison correct, but the verb (exceed) doesn't match the plural 'rates', so wrong

Grateful for kudos if you like the explanation

ritula · Answer

Here the comparison should be between immigrants. A,B and D are out for wrong comparison. 
In E, usage of exceeds(singular) voilates rates(plural). Hence E is out
C is the best choice

revanth4gmat · Answer

E. The rates of Mideast immigrants' entrepreneurship exceeds those of

This has SV problem. Here subject is rates of.. which is plural but verb exceeds is singular. If that is corrected then this is fine...kudos if you like my post :-D

Zarrolou · Answer

Mideast immigrants' rates of entrepreneurship exceed  virtually every other immigrant group in the increasingly diverse United States economy.

(A) Mideast immigrants' rates of entrepreneurship exceed 
The subject of this first part of the comparison is "the rates"- that exceed every immigrant group? No sense comparison, we can compare rates with rates and groups with groups; we cannot nix the two.
 (B) Mideast immigrants are exhibiting rates of entrepreneurship exceeding 
This has a modifier issue: "rates exceeding every group", how can a rate exceeds a group?
 (C) Immigrants from the Mideast exhibit rates of entrepreneurship exceeding those of 
This is correct
 (D) The rates of entrepreneurship in immigrants from the Mideast exceed 
Same as A: the rates exceed a group.
 (E) The rates of Mideast immigrants' entrepreneurship exceeds those of 
This is out on a simple subject-verb agreement:   "rates exceeds"

ankur909090 · Answer

"The rates of Mideast immigrants??? entrepreneurship exceeds those of "

I agree that option E is having subject verb issue so it's not correct. 
But Please can anyone tell me what "Those" is referring here .
Is Those - "the rates" or " the rates of mideast immigrants "

Also one more doubt in comparison is that, those always refers to things given before pronoun just like the below example.

For example :
Speed of A is greater than speed of B .
Speed of A is greater than that of B .

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi Ankur,  those  in this case would refer to  the rates .

Your example on  speed  is also completely fine.

The usage of  those/that  in the examples you've mentioned, is from a category called  Demonstrative  pronouns. One important thing we need to remember while using Demonstrative pronouns is that  that  can only refer to  singular  nouns while  those  can only refer to  plural  nouns.

This is different from the usage of  that  as a  relative  pronoun, since  all  relative pronouns can refer to both  singular  and to  plural  entities.

p.s. Our book    EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana    discusses  Pronoun types , their application and examples in significant detail. If someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

mittalmohit1995 · Answer

IS here anyone , who can tell me the concept of "those of " . Help will be appreciated

pollymonkey · Answer

I'm just confused when to permit omitted words in comparison. For example:
 Apples are more healthy to eat than caramels (are).  
This example from Manhattan Sentence Correction shows that the omission is ok here. So if I change option B into this:
 Mideast immigrants are exhibiting higher rates of entrepreneurship than every other immigrant group (is). 
Would it be correct not to use  those of  in this situation?
If correct, what's the difference between than and exceed?

GMATNinja · Answer

“Those” is a pronoun – specifically a plural pronoun. Its singular equivalent is “that”, and you might find it helpful to read  this entire post on the word “that” .

And check out  this explanation above  for more on what “those of” is doing in this particular sentence.

There are no absolute rules when it comes to omitting words in comparisons. In general, it’s OK to omit words as long as the omission doesn’t cause any confusion. In both of your examples, my personal opinion is that the sentences are perfectly clear, regardless of whether you include or omit the extra verb.

You might also enjoy  this post  or  this post  or  this post , all of which include discussions of when it’s acceptable to omit words in a comparison. But again, there are no absolute rules on this topic.

And if you really want a firehose of comparison content, check out  this video  and  this sequel .

I hope this helps!

zoezhuyan · Answer

Hi  GMATNinja , would you please clarify further this part? because I haven't gotten what you mentioned
in E, Those" seems to refer to just "rates", and that gives us: "The rates of Mideast immigrants' entrepreneurship exceeds   of virtually every other immigrant group..." That's much less clear than the version in (C), which tells us that "immigrants from the Mideast exhibit rates of entrepreneurship exceeding  of entrepreneurship ] of virtually every other immigrant group..."

in my opinion, these two "those of" in E, and C, are the same.

thanks in advance

Have a nice day

GMATNinja · Answer

The good news is that we have a smoking gun in (E): "the rates exceeds." That's a subject-verb error, so (E) is definitely out. The problem with "those of" in (E) is a bit trickier... "The rates of Mideast immigrants' entrepreneurship exceeds of virtually every other immigrant group..." Look at what's being compared: 1) rates of Mideast immigrants' entrepreneurship to 2) " of virtually every other immigrant group". Taking a closer look at #2, what kind of rates are we talking about? Logically, we want to assume that "those of" refers to "rates of entrepreneurship ", but we don't have that phrase in choice (E)! In (E), we can replace "those of" with "rates of", but we CANNOT replace "those of" with "rates of entrepreneurship". And it certainly wouldn't make sense to replace "those of" with "rates of Mideast immigrants' entrepreneurship ". In other words, (E) leaves us wondering, "rates of what ?" Choice (C) avoids this issue by, instead, using the structure, "Group A exhibits rates of entrepreneurship exceeding of virtually every other immigrant group..." But again: there's a tasty subject-verb error in (E) anyway, so the finer points of the pronoun aren't all that important.

I hope that helps!

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

Mideast immigrants’ rates of entrepreneurship exceed  virtually every other immigrant group in the increasingly diverse United States economy.

(A) Mideast immigrants’ rates of entrepreneurship exceed  "Rates of entrepreneurship" are being compared to "immigrant group". Eliminate.

(B) Mideast immigrants are exhibiting rates of entrepreneurship exceeding  Same error as (A). Eliminate.

(C) Immigrants from the Mideast exhibit rates of entrepreneurship exceeding those of  Correct answer - "rates of entrepreneurship" are being compared to " those of ...other immigrant group".

(D) The rates of entrepreneurship in immigrants from the Mideast exceed  Same error as (A) and (B). Eliminate.

(E) The rates of Mideast immigrants’ entrepreneurship exceeds those of  Same error as (A), (B) and (C). Eliminate.

Hope this helps.

Ccccc1111111 · Answer

Mideast immigrants’ rates of entrepreneurship exceed virtually every other immigrant group in the increasingly diverse United States economy.

(A) Mideast immigrants’ rates of entrepreneurship exceed

(B) Mideast immigrants are exhibiting rates of entrepreneurship exceeding

(C) Immigrants from the Mideast exhibit rates of entrepreneurship exceeding those of

(D) The rates of entrepreneurship in immigrants from the Mideast exceed

(E) The rates of Mideast immigrants’ entrepreneurship exceeds those of

(c)(e)-same
(e)exceeds-wrong

In contrast to the symphonies of Haydn, a much freer use of dissonance is evident in the symphonies of Mahler.

(A) In contrast to the symphonies of Haydn, a much freer use of dissonance is evident in the symphonies of Mahler.
(B) In contrast with Haydn's symphonies, Mahler uses dissonance much more freely.
(C) In contrast to those of Haydn, the symphonies of Mahler demonstrate a much more free use of dissonance.
(D) In contrast to Haydn's symphonies, Mahler's demonstrate a much freer use of dissonance.
(E) In contrast with Haydn's symphonies, those of Mahler use dissonance much more freely.

sb use
Haydn's symphonies, Mahler's 
Haydn's symphonies, those of Mahler

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Concepts tested here: Subject-Verb Agreement + Comparisons + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• A comparison must always be made between similar things.

A: 
1/ This answer choice incorrectly compares "rates of entrepreneurship" to "every other immigrant group"; remember, a comparison must always be made between similar things.

B: 
1/ This answer choice incorrectly compares "rates of entrepreneurship" to "every other immigrant group"; remember, a comparison must always be made between similar things.

C:   Correct. 
1/ This answer choice avoids the subject-verb disagreement seen in Option E, as it refers to the plural noun "rates" with the present participle ("verb + ing" - "exceeding" in this case) rather than with an active verb. 
2/ Option C correctly compares "rates of entrepreneurship" with "those ("rates of entrepreneurship") of virtually every other immigrant group". 
3/ Option C is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

D: 
1/ This answer choice incorrectly compares "rates of entrepreneurship" to "every other immigrant group"; remember, a comparison must always be made between similar things.

E: 
1/ This answer choice incorrectly refers to the plural noun "rates" with the singular verb "exceeds". 
2/ Option E uses the needlessly indirect phrase "rates of Mideast immigrants’ entrepreneurship", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

Hence, C is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Raman109 · Answer

Mideast immigrants’ rates of entrepreneurship exceed  virtually every other immigrant group in the increasingly diverse United States economy.

Option Elimination -

(A) Mideast immigrants’ rates of entrepreneurship exceed - In the non-underlined part, we have the "other immigrant group," so in the underlined part, we can't have "rates." Otherwise, we compare "rates" with "other immigrant groups." I'm afraid that's not right.

(B) Mideast immigrants are exhibiting rates of entrepreneurship exceeding - removing all modifiers, the core is " immigrants are exhibiting rates exceeding other immigrant group." So, rates exceed other immigrant groups? Wrong. Moreover, are we saying that immigrants exhibit these rates as we speak and not in general? No. They exhibit that in general, a simple present is a better choice.

(C) Immigrants from the Mideast exhibit rates of entrepreneurship exceeding those of - ok. We compare the rates of entrepreneurship of two groups.

(D) The rates of entrepreneurship in immigrants from the Mideast exceed - The rates exceed other immigrant groups. Wrong.

(E) The rates of Mideast immigrants’ entrepreneurship exceeds those of - "The rates" is plural, and "exceeds" is singular. SV issues.

Mideast immigrants rates of entrepreneurship exceed virtually every ot

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Mideast immigrants rates of entrepreneurship exceed virtually every ot

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards