It can be difficult for small investors to sell their shares of stock

Question

It can be difficult for small investors to sell their shares of stock in companies whose policies they disagree with, because small investors’ assets are less robust  than  large investors.

A. than
B. than those of
C. than is true of
D. compared with
E. relatively to those of

varun4s · Answer

It can be difficult for small investors to sell their shares of stock in companies whose policies they disagree with, because small investors’ assets are less robust  than  large investors.

A.  than   (Wrong comparison of investors' asset with investors) 
B. than those of  (Correct) 
C. than  is true of   (Less than is correct form of comparison) 
D.  compared with   (Less...compared with is wrong form of comparison) 
E.  relatively  to those of  (Wrong comparison)

Kudos please if you like my explanation!

saswata4s · Answer

The question illogically compared  small investors’ assets  with  large investors . We have to compare apple with apple.

B does it correctly and concisely. 
 Small investors’ assets  are less robust  than those of large investors

Ans: B.

ydmuley · Answer

It can be difficult for small investors to sell their shares of stock in companies whose policies they disagree with, because small investors’ assets are less robust  than  large investors.

A. than  ===>   Incorrect comparison - investors assets are compared to large investors 
B. than those of  ===>   Correct - 'small assets of investors' are compared to 'those of' (assets of) large investors 
C. than is true of  ===>   Incorrect comparison - investors assets are compared to large investors 
D. compared with  ===>   Incorrect comparison - investors assets are compared to large investors 
E. relatively to those of  ===>   The usage of relatively' is incorrect - correct usage should be 'less.... than'

Hence - B

Bunuel · Answer

KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

B.

The fact that the word  than  is underlined is a clue that there may be a comparison problem here. As written, the sentence actually compares the  assets  of small investors to the  large investors  themselves, which doesn't make sense. We need to compare either investors to investors, or assets to assets.

(B) makes the comparison clear: the small investors' assets are less robust  than those of  large investors. (E) fixes the comparison error by adding of but  relatively  is grammatically incorrect here. (C) and (D) do not fix the comparison error.

shahidomer77 · Answer

X less than Y is the correct idiom . X and Y are same in B .

VerbalBot · Answer

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It can be difficult for small investors to sell their shares of stock

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It can be difficult for small investors to sell their shares of stock

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