The investor who is uncertain about the future is more likely to put m

Question

The investor who is uncertain about the future is more likely to put money into blue-chip stocks or treasury bills  than into  gold.

(A) than into
(B) than they do
(C) than they are
(D) as into
(E) as

ExpertsGlobal5 · Accepted Answer

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Concepts tested here: Pronouns + Comparisons + Idioms

• A comparison can only be made between similar things.
• "more A than B" is the correct, idiomatic comparison; A and B must be comparable and parallel.

A:   Correct.  This answer choice avoids the pronoun error seen in Options B and C, as it uses no pronouns. Further, Option A correctly compares the prepositional phrases “into blue-chip stocks” and “into gold”. Further, Option A correctly uses the idiomatic construction “more A than B”.

B:  This answer choice incorrectly refers to the singular noun "The investor" with the plural pronoun "they". Further, Option B incorrectly compares the prepositional phrase “into blue-chip stocks” to the clause “they do gold”; remember, a comparison can only be made between similar things.

C:  This answer choice incorrectly refers to the singular noun "The investor" with the plural pronoun "they". Further, Option C incorrectly compares the prepositional phrase “into blue-chip stocks” to the clause “they are gold; remember, a comparison can only be made between similar things.

D:  This answer choice incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction “more A as B”; remember, "more A than B" is the correct, idiomatic comparison; A and B must be comparable and parallel.

E:  This answer choice incorrectly compares “into blue-chip stocks” to “gold”; remember, a comparison can only be made between similar things. Moreover, Option E incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction “more A as B”; remember, "more A than B" is the correct, idiomatic comparison; A and B must be comparable and parallel.

Hence, A is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

OC2910 · Answer

The investor who is uncertain about the future is more likely to put money into blue-chip stocks or treasury bills than into gold.

An easy pick is more : More X than Y so we need THAN :eliminate D and E 
also investor is singular so eliminate they has no antecedent so eliminate B and C 
A is correct

(A) than into 
(B) than   they   do
(C) than   they   are
(D)   as   into
(E)   as

renzofig · Answer

Hi experts,

In answer choice A, how is "than into" correct? Shouldn't it be "than to" to make proper parallelism?

Renzo

GMATCoachBen · Answer

The 2 relevant parts of the comparison are "INTO blue chips stocks" .... "INTO Gold"

The full comparison is ellipsed -- the blue part below is not repeated:

The investor who is uncertain about the future is more likely to put money  into blue-chip stocks or treasury bills  than  (the investor is to put money)   into gold .

Target4bschool · Answer

Short underline - read the underline first (and/or answer choices) before reading the whole question
than - into ---> may be parallelism and/or comparison concepts being tested

Now, focus on the relevant part.
~~The investor who is uncertain about the future is more likely~~ to put money into ~~blue-chip stocks or treasury bills~~ than into gold.

put money into....than into... - correct usage of parallelism

(A) than into - keep it
(B) than they do - they - pronoun- why?
(C) than they are - why pronoun?
(D) as into - 'than' is missing
(E) as - no parallelism

Hope the explanation helped!
Please give kudos, it motivates

ChiranjeevSingh · Answer

Here's the   official explanation   provided by the GMAC for this question:

The sentence makes a comparison using  than,  which requires parallelism in the two terms of the comparison. In this case, what are compared are the likelihoods of two different investment choices: investors uncertain about the future are  more likely to put money into … bills than   into gold.

Option A:  Correct. The comparison is correctly expressed using  than . The parallelism consists of a structure  more likely to do X than   Y.  In this case, the phrase  to put money  is correctly omitted in the second term of the comparison for the sake of economy of expression. Such an omission is idiomatically standard in this type of construction and thus is not ungrammatical.

Option B:  Although  than  is the correct word for making the comparison, the parallelism with  to put money into blue-chip stocks or treasury bills  is absent in the incoherent wording  they do gold.  Although both  they  and  the investor  are undoubtedly intended to refer generally to investors who are uncertain about the future, the plural pronoun  they  creates some tension with the singular noun phrase  the investor . With the use of  they , the phrasing I nvestors who are  would have been preferable to  The investor who is .

Option C:  The parallelism required with  to put money into blue-chip stocks or treasury bills  is absent in the incoherent wording  they are gold.  The sentence provides no information about what the pronoun  they  is meant to refer to.

Option D:  As explained,  than  is required in making a comparison using  more ;  as  is incorrect.

Option E:  As explained,  than  is required in making a comparison using  more ;  as  is incorrect. It is structurally unclear whether gold is being compared to  the investor , to  money , or to  blue-chip stocks or treasury bills .

The correct answer is A.

Please note that I'm not the author of this explanation. I'm just posting it here since I believe it can help the community.

The investor who is uncertain about the future is more likely to put m

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