Pallav0642 wrote:
Please explain how in Option C that of cannot be correct .
While I could Eliminate Options A, D and E on strong grounds,I was stuck between Options B and C.
C has usage that of.. Is that of ambiguous in C meaning there is no logical antecedent it can refer to ?
Hello,
Pallav0642. It is the last question you pose that rings true here. You should always be able to replace
that/those of with a logical antecedent, and in the sentence at hand, the best we can do is to incorrectly categorize the stock market or to morph the adjective
volatile into a noun.
Original sentence (C):
A balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds is less than 80 percent as volatile as that of the overall stock market.Sentence with replacement #1:
A balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds is less than 80 percent as volatile as a portfolio of the overall stock market.It would be accurate to say that someone held a portfolio of
stocks or some such from the overall stock market, but there is no such thing as a portfolio of the stock market itself.
Sentence with replacement #2:
A balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds is less than 80 percent as volatile as the volatility of the overall stock market.Although this is the comparison that the correct answer draws up, the extra verbiage adds nothing here in the way of clarity, and if anything, it introduces a redundancy.
A is as [blank] as B is a proper way to express a comparison. The idiom does not need extra support. Hence, choice (C) is a suboptimal version of (B).
I hope that helps. If you have further questions, feel free to ask.
- Andrew
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