The metabolic rate of sharks is low compared with the rates of most ot

Whether ‘comparison with or comparison to’, one need not break his head. Both are acceptable to GMAT, whether comparing similarities or dissimilarities. I wish to see one that has been decided on TO or WITH. IMO, the rejections are all due to other factors, as can be seen in this very topic.

(A) with the rates of most other fishes – proper comparison of shark’s rate with other rates.
(B) to most other fishes’ rate --- ‘To most other fishes’ rate’ it should be rates and not rate
(C) to that of rates for most other fishes --- that of denotes singularity. It should be ‘to those’; rates for is not an elegant idiom. Rates of is the correct one
(D) to most other fishes ---- wrong comparison of rate to fishes
(E) with most other fishes --- wrong comparison of rate with fishes.

Now can we see how trivial is comparison to or comparison with to GMAT?
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Did some research on the "compare to" and "compare with" and found that:

"To identify either the similarities or the differences between two things, use "compare to." To identify both the similarities and the differences, use "compare with." In comparing with something, one finds or discusses both things that are alike and things that are different."

In our case, the metabolic rate is the heart of argument. The metabolic rates can be both similar and different between sharks and other fishes. According to the definition it fits.

Here are few more examples:

1) (Compared to, Compared with) running, walking is good for people who have knee problems.
answer: Compared to

2) Andy compared his math teacher (with, to) his English teacher and pointed out what they had in common and what they did not.
answer: wilth

3) When Geri compares her old boyfriend (to. with) her new boyfriend, she points out all the ways in which they are alike.
answer: to

4) In order to decide which city to tour, we had to (compare them with, compare them to) each other.
answer: compare with

Source: https://homepage.smc.edu/quizzes/cheney_ ... mpare.html

Here is a link for some of the commonly confused words (ver basic though)....
https://homepage.smc.edu/reading_lab/wor ... nfused.htm

compared to vs compared with

compared to for stressing similarities

compared with for examining similarities and differences

compared to is correct choice here.

C is long and awkward. D compares rate to fishes.

B remains and is my answer.

compared to - For similarities
compared with - For differences

Here you are comparing the metabolic rate of sharks and other fishes (similarity- metabolic rate) and hence "compared to".
A and E are out.
C- "to that of rates for most other fishes"- Wordy and clumsy construction.
D- Comparing the metabolic rate with the fishes which is not correct.

Hence B. Good question. What is OA?

Yes rightly said !!
Compared to -> used for similarities ,
eg : he is compared to bryan adams
compared with -> dissimilarities
eq:solution A has low concentration of acid compared with solution B

I think A goes the best here.But my doubt is rate compared with rates
please shed some light on rate compared with rates

OA is A

I have some info to share :
Compared with : used to find out dissimilarities between the two aspects

compared to : used to find the similarities between the two(the extent to which two are similar)

1) (Compared to, Compared with) running, walking is good for people who have knee problems.
answer: Compared to (EXTENT TO WHICH walking and running are similar)

2) Andy compared his math teacher (with, to) his English teacher and pointed out what they had in common and what they did not.
answer: with(Differentiate between the two,pick out differences)

3) When Geri compares her old boyfriend (to. with) her new boyfriend, she points out all the ways in which they are alike.
answer: to (pick out similarities)

4) In order to decide which city to tour, we had to (compare them with, compare them to) each other.(diffrentiate)
answer: compare with

The metabolic rate of sharks is low compared with the rates of most other fishes.

(A) with the rates of most other fishes -> compares rate1 with rate2
(B) to most other fishes’ rate -> not correct usage

compared with is correct here..so i would go with A.

See the below link for more info on Compared to/with

https://www.totalgadha.com/gmat/2009/09/ ... ared-with/

Regards
Raghav

IMO A.

I have found two errors in option B. One is the issue with parallelism and second one is "rate" cannot be singular for many fishes - it has to be rates.

The grammar rule states that when you are changing the "number" from singular to plural, repeat the noun - (MGMAT Pronouns)

Is it really true that GMAT does not look into the idiomatic preference.

As per GMAT's directive, it is very unlikely that a sentence would only test you on idioms; in other words, idiomatic usage is very unlikely to be the only difference between a correct choice and an incorrect one.

Having said that, there are a couple of questions in OG-13 that actually do test you purely on idiomatic usage (let me know if you want to know which one; I can pull it out). However, it does look unlikely to be the case in the actual exam.
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Good explaining :
mba4viplav is right, answer is A.

to elaborate his point, below sentence is wrong:

The metabolic rate of sharks is low compared with those of most other fishes.

because you are comparing singular rate to plural rates (as referred by those), but now below sentence is right:

The metabolic rate of sharks is low compared with the rates of most other fishes.

because now you are repeating the noun. the above sentence also happens to be the correct answer choice, A.

AndrewN
GMATNinja

Your views on Compared "To" Vs "with"?

The metabolic rate of sharks is low compared with the rates of most other fishes.


(A) with the rates of most other fishes

(B) to most other fishes’ rate

Rate should be plural, also fishe's rate sounds kinda weird.

(C) to that of rates for most other fishes

We don't need a that here, because we already rates for... Also, rates for is wrong, rate of is far better

(D) to most other fishes

We can't compare rate of one fish to the other fish. We should compare rate of one fish to the rate of other fish. Hence comparison error

(E) with most other fishes

We can't compare rate of one fish to the other fish. We should compare rate of one fish to the rate of other fish. Hence comparison error

The metabolic rate of sharks is low compared with the rates of most other fishes.


(A) with the rates of most other fishes (The best option)

(B) to most other fishes’ rate (incorrect: idiomatic error)
Compare x with y is for similar types of entities and compare x to you is for dissimilar entities. For example, I compare my teacher with Juhi Indira Gandhi. I compare my teacher to a tigress. The option should be compared with as metabolic vs metabolic

(C) to that of rates for most other fishes (incorrect: idiomatic error)
Same as option B

(D) to most other fishes (incorrect: idiomatic error)
Same as option B

(E) with most other fishes (incorrect: idiomatic error)
X with Y: metabolic with metabolic. Here it is metabolic with fishes