Heterosexuals in the United States have a significantly lower chance

Question

Heterosexuals in the United States have  a significantly lower chance of contracting AIDS than do  heterosexuals in Sub-Saharan Africa.

A) a significantly lower chance of contracting AIDS than do
B) a significantly lower chance of contracting AIDS in comparison with
C) a great likelihood of a contracting AIDS more significant than do
D) a significantly lower likelihood of contracting AIDS as compared to
E) a significantly lower chance of contracting AIDS than those

fall2009 · Answer

A.
"Lower than" is correct.
"Heterosexuals in the United States have.... lower...than do heterosexuals in Sub-Saharan Africa"

Casinoking · Answer

"B" for me.Not sure if "do" is correct in A

Posted from my mobile device

saorabh · Answer

+1 for B as  compared with  is use to compare similar/disimilarity between similar objects

for ex He  compared  his notes  with  the notes of his friends.

does is the problem in option A.

Mirage · Answer

IMO its A. ...Idiom ... lower..than.

RaviChandra · Answer

Hey guys its clearly A

B does wrong comparison.

Heterosexuals in the United States  have a significantly lower chance of contracting AIDS in comparison with  heterosexuals in Sub-Saharan Africa.

lower chance of ...........  than chance of  heterosexuals in Sub-Saharan Africa would be correct

Chance should be compared with chance

Hope im correct

Casinoking · Answer

IMO in A lower ...than is correct but "do" makes this choice worse than "B"
what is the "OA" ?

gmataspirant2009 · Answer

What does "do" mean in option A. If it is "chance of contracting" then see how the sentence will look lile
Heterosexuals in the United States have  a significantly lower chance of contracting AIDS than  chance of contarcting   heterosexuals in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Now look at option D after rephrasing-

As compared to heterosexuals in Sub-Saharan Africa, Heterosexuals in the United States have a significantly lower likelihood of contracting AIDS.

Correct comparison b/w heterosexuals in Sub-Saharan Africa and Heterosexuals in the United States.
Hence D should be the right answer.

gmattokyo · Answer

Dear All, thanks for giving a try on this and apologies for delay in posting the OA...

OA:  (A)  
As pointed out above, this question tests the proper idiom: 'lower... than'. (B) through (D) all do not use the correct idiomatic phrases. (E) has a different problem, one of parallel structure. It uses 'have' and 'those', rather than the correct 'have' and 'do'.

ISBtarget · Answer

Hi

Could someone please explain why not E. it also has the proper idiom of lower than....

I thought we use 'do' only to mention actions, but have a lower likelihood is a property of a group or race , so why not use 'those;

jade3 · Answer

Apart from the parallelism of “have” and “do”.

“those” does not has a referent (What is “those” referring to). 
Here we are comparing “Heterosexuals in the United States” to “heterosexuals in Sub-Saharan Africa”.

abhi758 · Answer

Chose A and got convinced with my answer as I kept scrolling down.. Agree with the "lower than" idiomatic explanation..

BM · Answer

Yes, it is A. If we erase "do" in option A, then the sentence implies American heterosexuals can somehow contract heterosexuals in Sub-Saharan Africa. This is illogical, as well as vague. The word "do" is essential here.

vraptor · Answer

(A)

Note - "Chance of contracting AIDS" should be compared.

A) a significantly lower chance of contracting AIDS than  do 
B) a significantly lower chance of contracting AIDS in  comparison with 
C) a great likelihood of  a contracting AIDS more significant  than do
D) a significantly lower likelihood of contracting AIDS as  compared to 
E) a significantly lower chance of contracting AIDS  than those

palodarpit · Answer

No official explanation here and this question appeared in a quiz

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem: 
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of this sentence is that heterosexuals in the United States have a significantly lower chance of contracting AIDS than heterosexuals in Sub-Saharan Africa do.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Idioms

• "greater" and "lower" must have a logical sequence with "than"; in a comparison, "greater/lower...than" is the idiomatic construction.

A:   Correct. 
1/ The sentence formed by this answer choice uses the phrases "significantly lower chance" and "than do heterosexuals in Sub-Saharan Africa", conveying the intended meaning - that heterosexuals in the United States have a   significantly lower   chance of contracting AIDS than heterosexuals,   in general  , in Sub-Saharan Africa do.
2/ Option A correctly uses the idiomatic construction "lower...than".

B: 
1/ This answer choice incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction "lower...in comparison with"; remember, "greater" and "lower" must have a logical sequence with "than"; in a comparison, "greater/lower...than" is the idiomatic construction.

C: 
1/ This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "great likelihood of contracting AIDS more significant"; the use of the adjectives "great" and "significant" illogically imply that heterosexuals in the United States have a   great likelihood   of contracting AIDS, and this likelihood is somehow   more significant   than the likelihood of a contracting AIDS heterosexuals in Sub-Saharan Africa have; the intended meaning is that heterosexuals in the United States have a   significantly lower   chance of contracting AIDS than heterosexuals in Sub-Saharan Africa do.

D: 
1/ This answer choice incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction "lower...as compared to"; remember, "greater" and "lower" must have a logical sequence with "than"; in a comparison, "greater/lower...than" is the idiomatic construction.

E: 
1/ The sentence formed by this answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "those heterosexuals in Sub-Saharan Africa"; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that heterosexuals in the United States have a significantly lower chance of contracting AIDS than   a certain subset of   heterosexuals in Sub-Saharan Africa does; the intended meaning is that heterosexuals in the United States have a significantly lower chance of contracting AIDS than heterosexuals,   in general  , in Sub-Saharan Africa do.

Hence, A is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Heterosexuals in the United States have a significantly lower chance

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Heterosexuals in the United States have a significantly lower chance

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