Studies of test scores show that watching television has a markedly

Question

Studies of test scores show that watching television has a markedly positive effect on children whose parents speak English as a second language, as compared  to those whose native language is English .

(A) to those whose native language is English
(B) with children whose native language is English
(C) with those who are native English speakers
(D) to children whose parents do not
(E) with children whose parents are native English speakers

Manhattan says E, but I think it could be D. The pronoun "those" is not ambiguous since parents is referred to in the answer choice?

cipher · Accepted Answer

Compare usually takes the preposition “to” when it refers to the activity of describing the resemblances between unlike things: He compared her to a summer day. Scientists sometimes compare the human brain to a computer.

It takes “with” when it refers to the act of examining two like things in order to discern their similarities or differences: The police compared the forged signature with the original. The committee will have to compare the Senate’s version of the bill with the version that was passed by the House.

Hope it helps !

seekmba · Answer

Both "Compare to" and "compare with" are correct idioms.

1. “compare to” is to suggest resemblances between things that have essentially different natures:
In appearance, ripples in ocean water can be compared to frosting spread on a cake.

2. “compare with” is to suggest resemblances between things that have essentially similar natures:
Despite their different capacities, RAM can be compared with ROM in that both involve memory storage.

In the context of given Sentence, "compare with" is correct. Hence E.

ramgmat · Answer

Parallelism is between  children whose parents are Native english speakers and children whose parents are not English speakers.

In this context we are comparing children, i.e. two similar entities. Hence compared with has to be used. Compared to is used when we compare apples and oranges but here it is apples vs apples.

So applying the above two options  E is the best suited option . 
A & D are out because it uses "Compared To". 
B is out because it uses who instead of whose. 
C- just mentions "with". In this context we are comparing children with children. Not children and Native speakers.

BKimball · Answer

Steven,

"Compared to" and "compared with" are both fine idioms. Honestly, when you add in the "as" they both become suspect, but neither "as compared with" or "as compared to" are grammatically or idiomatically wrong. As bad as they might sound, we can't cross off any answers for this reason.

The real issue here is one that you can discover by always remembering to ask: "What is this problem really about?" and then "What does the GMAT like to test within that subject?"  You need to get in the habit of asking yourself these questions when you see certain trigger words. The word "compared" in this problem is a giveaway that this problem is really about comparisons, which are really just a special form of parallelism. With comparisons, you need to compare apples to apples. The GMAT loves to create wrong answer choices that compares two things that can't logically be compared. Here, you need to compare either:

-children with children

or

-parents with parents

but you can't compare

-children with parents.

This gets us quickly down to D and E. If you can get that far, you've done great work! Between D and E, don't worry about it. We're constantly working to improve our curriculum, and this is one we have under review.

Happy studying!

Brett

kraizada84 · Answer

E compares correctly. The pointers to be compared are of similar nature hence "compare with" and comparison should be between children whose parents does this and that.

AmritaSarkar89 · Answer

I totally understand the logic here, but isn't compare with Idiomatically wrong???

Archit143 · Answer

Studies of test scores show that watching television has a markedly positive effect on children whose parents speak English as a second language, as compared  to those whose native language is English.

A to those whose native language is English
B with children whose native language is English
C with those who are native English speakers
D to children whose parents do not
E with children whose parents are native English speakers

Can any one suggest why is A wrong
Those is a possessive pronoun should refer to preceeding noun in number which it is refering to parents and should logically refer to.

E is more wordy though its straight fwd.
I always mess up with Comparisons.... Pls suggest me whats wrong in my approach.

adineo · Answer

The best way to solve comparisons is to think the PRIMARY question: What are we comparing?

SO, what are we comparing in this question
Answer: Children whose parents speak english as second language to children whose parents speak english as native language.

A is wrong because it compares  children whose parents speak English as a second language  TO  those whose native language is English

I this case THOSE refers to parents.

Thus only contenders for right answer are B,D ,and E . And B,D can be easily eliminated . Therefore E is the answer

WaterFlowsUp · Answer

Bumping for review and further discussion*.

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akhil911 · Answer

I actually thought that D was also correct in this case.
I referred the Manhattan forum and found that they have made this question invalid as both D and E are correct.

Offline
ManhattanGMAT Staff

Posts: 5084
Location: Southwest Airlines, seat 21C
i've talked with Stacey, and we agree that "those" is fine to use for "children" in D, so the only real difference between D and E is the preposition at the beginning. Since that is a distinction that appears to be irrelevant these days, we have referred the problem to our problem writing committee. As far as i'm concerned, both D and E are acceptable on this one and the question is thus invalid..

_________________
Tim Sanders
Manhattan GMAT Instructor

https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/forum ... t6962.html

Abhishek009 · Answer

Please go through this link to clear your doubt - https://grammarist.com/usage/compared-to ... ared-with/

arunavamunshi1988 · Answer

Hi, I am still unsure with the explanation given. If all ans are correct then I would like to know why you are inclining yourself towards A? with the rule of concision? My take is E because I guess meaning wise E is most clear one.

sayantanc2k · Answer

I already mentioned in my previous post the following:
"When there are more than one grammatically correct sentence, select the one that retains the meaning of the original sentence. In that respect, option A should be correct because all 5 sentences are grammatically correct." I prefer A because all other sentences, though grammatically correct, change the meaning of the original sentence.

Nonetheless, you can be rest assured that you would never get 5 grammatically correct options in the real test.

Not just E, all sentences convey a clear meaning.

Thelionking1234 · Answer

Official Explanation

Comparisons must compare logically parallel things, but this sentence compares "children whose parents speak English as a second language" with "those (children) whose native language is English.” (Note that the pronoun "those" refers to children logically and structurally, because of the parallelism required in a comparison. There is no pronoun error.) Logic tells us that a child can be in both of these categories: a child who is a native English speaker can have parents who speak English as a second language. Because the first item in the comparison - children whose parents speak English as a second language, is not underlined - we need to find a choice that contains a comparison between two things that are actually comparable (an “apples-to-apples” type of comparison).

Note that "compared to" and "compared with" are equivalent idioms from the point of view of the GMAT; either is correct. This split is merely an attempt to get us to waste time. According to some usage experts, these two idioms differ slightly in their emphasis on similarities vs. differences, but this distinction is not universally respected.

(A) This choice is incorrect, for the reasons given in the paragraph above.

(B) This choice continues to compare "children whose parents speak English as a second language" with "children whose native language is English."

(C) Although this choice replaces ”whose native language is English” with the equivalent phrase “who are native English speakers,” the choice does not fix the original comparison error. The sentence still compares “children whose parents speak English as a second language" with “children who are native English speakers.”

(D) The second group is now “children whose parents do not (speak English as a second language).” Do the parents in this second group speak English as a native language, then? Or do they not speak English at all? The meaning is ambiguous in this choice, while the meaning in the original sentence is quite clear: we’re comparing those who speak English as a second language to those who speak English as a first language.

(E) CORRECT. This choice correctly compares “children whose parents speak English as a second language” with the logically parallel “children whose parents are native English speakers."

Skumari204 · Answer

Till now my understanding for 'as compared with' was that it is incorrect idiom .
Please tell me in what all cases it will not be considered incorrect  egmat

gagan0303 · Answer

GMATNinja  I have learnt in my basic SC course that "as compared with" is not the correct idiom but here it is shown as correct. Can u please clear this up?

Gagan

vijayram2496 · Answer

In option D, can we fill the sentence using ellipsis..

EducationAisle · Answer

Yes, your understanding seems correct Vijay.

rLit · Answer

I actually thought that D was also correct in this case.
I referred the Manhattan forum and found that they have made this question invalid as both D and E are correct.

Offline
ManhattanGMAT Staff

Posts: 5084
Location: Southwest Airlines, seat 21C 
i've talked with Stacey, and we agree that "those" is fine to use for "children" in D, so the only real difference between D and E is the preposition at the beginning. Since that is a distinction that appears to be irrelevant these days, we have referred the problem to our problem writing committee. As far as i'm concerned, both D and E are acceptable on this one and the question is thus invalid..

I got this question on CAT2. I chose D but the system indicated that D is wrong and E is correct. I tend to disagree, but it is what it is

Studies of test scores show that watching television has a markedly

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