Questions on Comparisons - GMAT SC

Question

I need some clarifications on Comparisons - based on what is acceptable on GMAT

1. Comparing one person with multiple people - using comparative form. 
Are the below two sentences correct - 
She is more interesting than her sisters. 
She is shorter than her sisters. 
OR it should be - 
She is more interesting than any of her sisters.

2. Similarly, Singular and Plural comparison - Possessive case. 
Frank's build, like that of his brothers, is broad. 
Frank, like all his brothers, has a strong build.

examples in 2 are comparing singular entity (build) of singular noun (Frank) with Singular entity (build) of Plural noun (his brothers) -

3. My cars are bigger than Brian's car. 
My cars are bigger than Smiths' cars.

Plural entities (cars) of singular subject (MY) compared with singular entity(one car) of singular noun (Brian).
Plural entities (cars) of singular subject (MY) compared with plural entity(cars) of plural noun (Smiths').

Please let me know the examples quoted above are correct/ incorrect. 
Help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear sa2222 , I'm very happy to help. :-)

These are excellent questions!! 1. Comparing one person with multiple people - using comparative form. Are the below two sentences correct - She is more interesting than her sisters. She is shorter than her sisters. OR it should be - She is more interesting than any of her sisters. The first two are perfectly fine. Both imply clear that that, in a one-on-one comparison, she would be " more interesting " or " shorter " than whichever sister was picked. Those are 100% correct. The final version is a little more formal, also perfectly correct. 2. Similarly, Singular and Plural comparison - Possessive case. Frank's build, like that of his brothers, is broad. Frank, like all his brothers, has a strong build. examples in 2 are comparing singular entity (build) of singular noun (Frank) with Singular entity (build) of Plural noun (his brothers) - Both are 100% correct. In the first one, antecedent of the pronoun " his " is in the possessive, but it's acceptable for a possessive pronoun to have its antecedent in the possessive. Good use of " that " in the comparison. Both sentences here are completely correct. 3. My cars are bigger than Brian's car. My cars are bigger than Smiths' cars. Plural entities (cars) of singular subject (MY) compared with singular entity(one car) of singular noun (Brian). Plural entities (cars) of singular subject (MY) compared with plural entity(cars) of plural noun (Smiths'). Obviously, the nature of the comparisons is different, but both of these are perfectly correct. The first implies that any of the speaker's cars would be bigger in a one-on-one comparison with Brian's single car; if the speaker has N cars, there would be N individual comparisons. The second implies that any of the speaker's cars would be bigger in a one-on-one comparison with any of the Smiths' cars; if the speaker has N cars and the Smiths have M cars, there would be a total of N*M individual comparisons, and according to the second statement, in every single one of them, the speakers car would be bigger than the Smiths' car. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

sa2222 · Answer

Thank you Mike. You are awesome!! I was waiting for "your"reply, thanks for the reply and clarifications. Helps a lot.

Thanks!

Questions on Comparisons - GMAT SC

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