Because property values sometimes fluctuate in response to economic co

Question

Because property values sometimes fluctuate in response to economic conditions beyond the purchaser's control,  an investment in a home may underperform when compared to that of other widely available classes of investments .

(A) an investment in a home may underperform when compared to that of other widely available classes of investments

(B) an investment in a home may underperform compared with other widely available classes of investments

(C) an investment in a home may underperform when comparing it with other widely available classes of investments

(D) compared to that of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform

(E) in comparison with that of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform

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GMATNinja · Accepted Answer

The complete subject (in all 5 choices) is "an investment  in a home " -- a  type  of investment.

(B) and (C) compare a certain  type  of investment (an investment in a home) to other  classes  of investments--or one type of investments to other types.
That's a perfectly logical comparison.

So now we just need to decide between (B) "...  compared with  other widely available classes of investments" and (C) "... when comparing it with  other widely available classes of investments."

In (C), does an investment in a home only underperform WHEN we are comparing it to other classes of investments? Is this like the observer effect in quantum physics where observing the process may change it??

It makes more sense to say "  may underperform compared with  ," so (B) is the winner.

I hope that helps!

MikeScarn · Answer

compared with vs compared to is not a deciding split. Either idiom is correct... https://gmatclub.com/forum/compared-to- ... 54753.html The most important issue in this SC question is the use of " that of " (A) "that of" refers to "an investment". If we substitute "an investment" in place of "that of," then the sentence suffers from redundancy . Eliminate. (B) does not use "that of". (B) logically compares an investment with other widely available classes of investments . Correct . (C) is incorrect for the use of pronoun "it", which has no logical referent. If "it" refers to "an investment," then similar to (A), the sentence will suffer from redundancy . Eliminate. (D) "that of" has no possible referent . Eliminate. (E) "that of" has no possible referent . Eliminate.

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

Because property values sometimes fluctuate in response to economic conditions beyond the purchaser's control,  an investment in a home may underperform when compared to that of other widely available classes of investments.

(A) an investment in a home may underperform when compared to  that of  other widely available classes of investments

Compared to “that of” other widely available classes of investments.
“That of” should refer to “investment”. In that case, it would read- an investment in a home may underperform when compared to the  investment  of other widely available classes of  investments .- Now, we have a problem of redundancy!   Eliminate  .

(B) an investment in a home may underperform compared with other widely available classes of investments
  Correct  .

(C) an investment in a home may underperform  when  comparing  it  with other widely available classes of investments
- distorts the meaning of the sentence.   Eliminate  .

(D) compared to that of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform
Same as A.   Eliminate  .

(E) in comparison with that of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform
Same as A.   Eliminate  .

Vishnupriya
GMAT Verbal SME

itspC · Answer

that  in A,D,E have no logical referent.
 C wrong for error mentioned ( underperform when comparing is making no logical sense).

B the best available.

abhish27 · Answer

Please explain the solution to this question.Why B is selected and A & D are eliminated?

unraveled · Answer

abhish27 
Because property values sometimes fluctuate in response to economic conditions beyond the purchaser's control,  an investment in a home may underperform when compared to that of other widely available classes of investments .

A) an investment in a home may underperform when compared to  that of  other widely available classes of investments - WRONG. 'That of' makes the sentence as "...an investment in a home may underperform when compared to investment of other widely available classes of investments". Thus, its redundant.

B) an investment in a home may underperform compared with other widely available classes of investments - CORRECT. Two noun entities 'an investment' and 'classes of investments' are compared properly.

C) an investment in a home may underperform when  comparing it with  other widely available classes of investments - WRONG. Unidiomatic.

D) compared to  that of  other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform - WRONG. A noun must follow after comma after control. 'That of' makes it redundant.

E) in comparison with  that of  other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform - WRONG. Similar error as that made in option D.

Also, for understanding if we write the sentence as:
"An investment in a home may underperform compared with other widely available classes of investments because property values sometimes fluctuate in response to economic conditions beyond the purchaser's control."

Hope this helps..!!

Prowess · Answer

"Compared with" used for same type i.e. "Investment" here.
"compared to" used to compare two different kind.
So A,C and D is wrong.

Posted from my mobile device

NiftyNiffler · Answer

Because property values sometimes fluctuate in response to economic conditions beyond the purchaser's control,  an investment in a home may underperform when compared to that of other widely available classes of investments.

When comparing similar objects, "compare with" is the correct idiom.

A) an investment in a home may underperform when  compared to  that of other widely available classes of investments  -- idiom error

B) an investment in a home may underperform  compared with  other widely available classes of investments  -- CORRECT idiom and comparison of "investment in a home" with "available classes of investments"

C) an investment in a home may underperform when comparing  it  with other widely available classes of investments  -- "it" has ambiguous referents (investment or home); "comparing it" is also wrong since the subject doing the comparison is not given
 
D)  compared to  that of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform  -- same as A

E) in comparison with  that of  other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform  -- wrong usage of "that of" which can be replaced with "investment of" and render the sentence illogical

Answer is  B

hoanganhdang · Answer

A. an investment in a home may underperform  when  compared to that of other widely available classes of investments. We have to be strict as to when we use 'when'. When has to refer to a specific time period

B. looks fine. Keep B

C. an investment in a home may underperform  when  comparing it with other widely available classes of investments. C has the same problem as option A does. Eliminate C

D. compared to  that  of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform. When we see 'that' we rephrase the sentence by putting the exact noun that 'that' is trying to replace. Here we have compared to 'investment' of other widely available classes of investment? This does not make any sense. Eliminate D

E. Option E has same problem as option D does. Eliminate E.

We are left with B

sarphant123 · Answer

PS, An Obvious thing : To improve yourself in SC, REVIEW every mistake in every answer choice after you attempt a problem.

Because property values sometimes fluctuate in response to economic conditions beyond the purchaser's control, an investment in a home may underperform when compared to that of other widely available classes of investments.

Observing the SS - “Because property…..control” is a subordinate clause, the part after comma requires a main clause.

A) an investment in a home may underperform when compared to that of other widely available classes of investments
Whenever there is comparison, it is better to replace the “that” with the appropriate noun.
Here “when compared to the investment of other widely available classes of investments” – Doesn’t make sense. So Incorrect.

B) an investment in a home may underperform compared with other widely available classes of investments
Best of ALL.

C) an investment in a home may underperform when comparing it with other widely available classes of investments
Meaning is of utmost importance.”…… may underperform when comparing it with…..” means what that it underperforms only WHEN we compare it, otherwise it doesn’t ?
Incorrect

D) compared to that of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform
Property value is being compared to “that of other widely available classes of”
Incorrect comparison and doesn’t make sense.

E) in comparison with that of other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform
Property value is being compared to “that of other widely available classes of”
Incorrect comparison and doesn’t make sense.

uc26 · Answer

Hi  GMATNinja ,
Need to verify my understanding of the options. When i tried solving this question, i rejected all the choices. A,D and E because of 'that of' which causes redundancy and leads to illogical meaning when we replace that with 'an investment'.
I rejected B and C because they seem to be comparing an investment to other 'CLASSES of investments" rather than comparing an investment to a different investment.
Could you please help make sense of the options?

Spicyagent · Answer

(B) an investment in a home may underperform compared with other widely available classes of investments.

I don't understand the structure of sentence B.

what does "compared" modify? Thanks!

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  Spicyagent ,

We hope this finds you well.

Having gone through the question and your query, we believe that we can help resolve your doubt. Option B takes the form of an independent clause, wherein the subject "investment in a home" is acted upon by the active verb phrase "may underperform"; the subject is then modified by the past participle phrase "compared with other widely available classes of investments"; this conveys that if compared with other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform. Another way to construct this clause is "compared with other widely available classes of investments, an investment in a home may underperform"; this construction makes the modification clearer, but the construction of Option B is not incorrect.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

psls · Answer

ExpertsGlobal5   GMATNinja   AndrewN 
I rejected (B) because there is no comma before V.ed modifier.
In GMAT, without comma, V.ing modifier will modify preceding noun.

However, in this case, V.ed is used, and the preceding is verb.
So, is V.ed without comma allowed to modify entire clause ?

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  TorGmatGod . I agree with the Experts' Global response above, as well as  this earlier post  by  GMATNinja . I think you may be following your understanding of grammatical conventions too closely while overlooking the comparison. If I were to write two somewhat similar sentences with a one-word noun instead of a noun phrase as the subject, I think you would appreciate the point. Consider:

1)   He  runs  faster than   that other person . 
2)   He  runs  faster compared to   that other person .

Is it absolutely necessary to place a comma before  compared to  in the second sentence? No. The comparison trigger between the two runners is understood. (Of course, if I were to see both sentences in a lineup, I would favor the first, but that is beside the point.) In fact, I would  disfavor  the comparison with a comma. Why? Because a comma would create an extra little pause, and in that short span of time, I would have a completely meaningless comparison. (Faster, but relative to what?) Without a comma, the pause is shorter, and I can anticipate that the second element of the comparison will follow immediately, just as it does above.

In the sentence about investments, one type of investment is being compared to another. Would you have the same trouble if (B) were rewritten with a different comparison trigger?

B.2)   an investment in a home  may perform  worse than   other widely available classes of investments

When you stop thinking about meaning, you will keep finding these so-called exceptions to the rules. Anyway, I hope my response proves helpful to you. Thank you for thinking to ask, and good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  TorGmatGod ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, modifiers can absolutely act upon a noun or noun phrase without being offset by a comma. As  AndrewN  has written above, understanding the meaning of the sentence is often key to understanding the structure.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Vordhosbn · Answer

Hey  ExpertsGlobal5 , do ed modifiers jump over verbs? For this question the structure looks like this: our noun phrase subject   + verb   + verb-ed modifier  , and it appears that  compared  is jumping over our verb and modifying the nearest noun phrase. I think there was this e-gmat blog post saying ed modifiers do not jump over verbs. Any proper reference that I can use to learn how GMAT likes to use ed modifiers? What are the dos and dont's?

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

Vordhosbn

"Compared with" is working as an adverbial modifier for "underperform." It might be clearer if we replace "compared with" with "in relation to." HOW are investments in homes underperforming? They are underperforming in relation to other classes of investments. This makes it clear that they aren't underperforming compared with, say, previous performance or the predictions of investors.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  Vordhosbn ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, as  DmitryFarber  has written, another way to look at this is that "compared" acts as an adverb on "underperform", conveying that"an investment in a home" may seem to underperform if it is compared with other types of investments.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Because property values sometimes fluctuate in response to economic co

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