In the five most important battleground states New York,

Question

In the five most important battleground states–-New York, California, Illinois, Ohio, and Massachusetts–-Democrats reported $48.7 million in cash on hand,  compared to the Republicans, who reported $35 million.

A) compared to the Republicans, who reported $35 million

B) in comparison to the Republicans, with $35 million

C) compared with $35 million for the Republicans

D) compared with the reporting of the Republicans of $35 million

E) in comparison to the Republicans’ report of having $35 million

LucyDang · Accepted Answer

The sentence compares $48.7 million reported by Democrats with $35 million reported by the Republicans. A) $48 million is compared with Republicans  Incorrect B) $48 million is compared with Republicans  Incorrect C) $48 million is compared with $35 million  Correct . “for” is used to denote the ellipsis. D) $48 million is compared with the reporting  Incorrect E) $48 million is compared with the Republicans’ report Incorrect To understand more about ellipsis in comparison, please refer to this exercise: while-it-costs-about-the-same-to-run-nuclear-plants-as-other-134755.html#p1198433

sayantanc2k · Answer

The difference between "compared to" and "compared with" is not because of comparing similar or dissimilar objects, but because of emphasizing similarity or dissimilarity:

A zebra can be COMPARED TO a horse in many ways. (emphasizes similarity)
COMPARED WITH a horse, however, a zebra is very hard to tame. (emphasizes dissimilarity)

The above examples are taken from the Manhattan SC guide. Whatsoever, as you have correctly mentioned, Manhattan guide mentions that:
"The GMAT ignores the traditional distinction between COMPARED TO (emphasizing similarities) and COMPARED WITH (emphasizing differences)."

Game · Answer

This is a comparison question - I believe intent of the sentence is to compare the amount.

A) compared to the Republicans , who reported $35 million
Incorrect

B)in  comparison to the Republicans , with $35 million
Incorrect

C) compared with $35 million  for the Republicans
Looks OK

D) compared with the reporting  of the Republicans of $35 million
Incorrect

E)in  comparison to the Republicans’ report  of having $35 million
Incorrect

Nevernevergiveup · Answer

Please underline the necessary part of the sentence first.

X country contains A rupees.
Y country contains B rupees.
This A and B are compared with reference to X and Y.
Please see the intended meaning.

In the five most important battleground states – New York, California, Illinois, Ohio, and Massachusetts – Democrats reported $48.7 million in cash on hand, compared to the Republicans, who reported $35 million.

A)compared to the Republicans, who reported $35 million.............. Democrats cash  is compared to  Republicans

B)in comparison to the Republicans, with $35 million........same as A

C)compared with $35 million for the Republicans

D)compared with the reporting of the Republicans of $35 million............ reporting of Republicans of million  structure(x of y of z) is flawed.

E)in comparison to the Republicans’ report of having $35 million

I got stuck between C and E.
And I felt the usage   for the republicans   incorrect.
I feel this deviated the intended meaning and chose E.

sowragu · Answer

Compared to --> Used to compare different objects. For example, Apple Compared to Orange.
Compared With --> Used to compare similar objects. In the case Cash of Republicans compared with Cash of Democrats.

In the initial sentence Cash was compared to the republicans but the intended meaning is Cash compared with Cash.

Hence narrowed down to C & D. Chose D since "For republicans" in C made me to think other way

Also in any comparison question if you are finding any ambiguity in the meaning, use of Pronoun or Verb will fix the error.

Alok322 · Answer

If my memory is correct, this was mentioned in MGMAT SC guide. However, this is not entirely correct. GMAT does not mind the subtle difference between the usages of these 2.

0102ng · Answer

This is a comparison question - I believe intent of the sentence is to compare the amount.

A)compared to the Republicans, who reported $35 million
Incorrect

B)in comparison to the Republicans, with $35 million
Incorrect

C)compared with $35 million for the Republicans
Looks OK

D)compared with the reporting of the Republicans of $35 million
Incorrect

E)in comparison to the Republicans’ report of having $35 million
Incorrect

C is cool

nahid78 · Answer

Hello, mikemcgarry , can you please explain these issues in details? I can't understand how A is wrong, How cash is compared here.... Thanks in advance

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear nahid78 , I'm happy to respond. :-)

For a few reasons, I don't think this is the best question. Veritas often has excellent questions, but this one is not one of their finest. This is irrelevant for a test taker such as yourself, but the subject matter of GMAT CR questions is usually quite realistic. In fact, since the 1980s, neither NY nor CA nor MA has been a "battleground" state in a US Presidential election---in 1992 through 2016 , all three of those states have been no-doubt blue states from the get-go. The subject is "contrary to fact" in a way that a real GMAT CR questions would not be. Again, this is a concern for question writers, but it is irrelevant for a student trying to answer the question. My friend, think about it this way: what comes immediately before the underlined section? " $48.7 million in cash on hand ." That's the first term of the comparison. We want to compare money to money, so most obvious choice for the second term would be money as well. The only answer choice that directly sets up money as the second term of the comparison is (C) . That is the obvious choice for the OA. I will say, though, that " Democrats " is close enough to the underlined section, and has rhetorical prominence as the subject, that (A) is plausible. It's hard to say that (A) is totally wrong. This is also why I have criticisms of this question. In a good practice SC question, each of the four incorrect answers should be definitively wrong for a clear reason. This is not the case here. My friend, if you were confused between (A) & (C), it was not entirely your fault. Here's a higher quality practice question: The income categories Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

dnalost · Answer

Only C does proper comparison of the amounts

daagh · Answer

Of course, C compares cash to cash. However, the problem with C is that it is not clear who reported for the Republicans. It looks as if Democrats reported both their own cash balance the Republican's cash balance. This is not tenable. If C were "compared with $35 million reported by the Republicans", it would mean better.

abhimahna · Answer

Comparison is between the cash in hand reported by Democrats and Republicans.

Option A is making a comparison between Money and Republicans. Hence, incorrect.

Option C makes the right comparison, hence correct.

BillyZ · Answer

OFFICIAL SOLUTION

In any comparison problem such as this, it is essential that you ask “ what is the goal of the comparison  ” and “ what is being compared ”. The goal of this comparison is simply to compare  the amount of cash on hand for one group  versus  the amount on hand for another . In (A) and (B), the sentences  illogically compare the $48.7 million with the Republicans themselves . While many people will think that (D) and (E) correct this problem, they are still  illogical  – you cannot compare the amount of money with the “ reporting ” or the “ report ”. Also, both (D) and (E) use improper and awkward diction " reporting of…of " and “ Republicans’ report of having ” are  incorrect . Only (C) makes a proper, simple, and concise comparison between the amount of money on hand for the two groups. Answer is (C).

lary301254M7 · Answer

compare $ money to $ money
Hence (C) is correct. 
You don't compare money to Republicans, who are people.

push12345 · Answer

"Compare with" is correct idiom

We need verb here so "compared" should be used instead of comparison

C is best choice ,D is wordy and awkward

Posted from my mobile device

daagh · Answer

C may wrongly mean that the Democrats reported $48 million for themselves while reporting $35miilions for the Republicans. 
The second doubt is whether one can compare either Democrats or Democrats' reporting with some cash on hand?

Jatinjhalani · Answer

Here compare... modifies $48.7 millions in cash on hand. Therefore, it should be countered with $35 million

Dh4035 · Answer

The correct answer is C. All of the others compare ‘$48.7 million’ to ‘Republicans’.

D4kshGargas · Answer

@ AnthonyRitz  
Thoughts??

In the five most important battleground states New York,

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

In the five most important battleground states New York,

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