Mideast Immigrants' rates of entrepreneurship exceed

[Bhaskar]

Mideast immigrants' rates of entrepreneurship exceed virtually every other immigrant group in the increasingly diverse United States economy.

(a) Mideast immigrants' rates of entrepreneurship exceed virtually every
(b) Mideast immigrants are exhibiting rates of entrepreneurship exceeding
(c) Immigrants from Mideast exhibit rates of entrepreneurship exceeding those of
(d) The rates of entrepreneurship in immigrants from the Mideast exceed
(e) The rates of Mideast immigrants' entrepreneurship exceeds those

The answer is C

My question is would E be correct if we change "exceeds" to "exceed"?

[H]

I believe that even after fixing the subject-verb issue in E, it is still wrong because "of" is needed after "those".
"those" refers to "rates".
Putting back "those" is still incorrect because "rates of Mideast immigrants' entrepreneurship..." is different from "rates of other immigrant group...". We have to compare things in the same category (e.g. person vs. person)

[StaceyKoprince]

H is right - there's also a missing "of" at the end there. (Though maybe that was there in the official problem and it's just a typo here? Because answer choice C, which you list as the right answer, is also missing the "the" in "Immigrants from THE Mideast"...)

PLEASE make sure to reproduce these questions EXACTLY as you find them - proof your post before you submit. Even one little word can make a huge difference!

[wangtt_1229]

Mideast immigrants' rates of entrepreneurship exceed virtually every other immigrant group in the increasingly diverse United States economy.

(A) Mideast immigrants' rates of entrepreneurship exceed
(B) Mideast immigrants are exhibiting rates of entrepreneurship exceeding
(C) Immigrants from the Mideast exhibit rates of entrepreneurship exceeding those of
(D) The rates of entrepreneurship in immigrants from the Mideast exceed
(E) The rates of Mideast immigrants' entrepreneurship exceeds those of

This is orgininal question. Please look at "E".

[mithra]

Same question- if E said "Exceed" instead of "Exceeds" then is E a better answer than C?
C says "exceeding", I am trying to understand how does "exceeding" chnaging the meaning of sentence compared to "exceed"

Thanks.

[RonPurewal]

Same question- if E said "Exceed" instead of "Exceeds" then is E a better answer than C?
C says "exceeding", I am trying to understand how does "exceeding" chnaging the meaning of sentence compared to "exceed"

Thanks.

no, (c) is still better.

here are a couple of reasons / observations.

* in general, "X's rate of Y" is preferred to "the rate of X's Y". i would probably just chalk this one up to idiomatic usage, although (as usual) there are subtle differences that are far beyond the scope of the gmat.
for instance, salesman X's rate of success is better than the rate of salesman X's success.

* "Mideast immigrants" is wrong; "immigrants from the Mideast" is better. ("Mideast" can't be used as an adjective of nationality, for the same reason you can't say "Asia people" in place of "people from Asia".)

[ashish-mohan]

Could an instructor let me know why C is wrong? What is preventing us from interpreting the ellipsis in C as:

The rates of entrepreneurship in immigrants from the Mideast exceed (rates of entrepreneurship in) virtually every other immigrant group in the increasingly diverse United States economy.

[RonPurewal]

Could an instructor let me know why C is wrong? What is preventing us from interpreting the ellipsis in C as:

The rates of entrepreneurship in immigrants from the Mideast exceed (rates of entrepreneurship in) virtually every other immigrant group in the increasingly diverse United States economy.

you can't separate out the noun from a prepositional phrase. if you're writing a comparison involving "NOUN1 + prep + NOUN2", then the other side should be either
* another noun that is compared to NOUN1, not to NOUN2
or
* another prepositional phrase that is compared to prep + NOUN2.

for instance:
These people are better writers of fiction than nonfiction. --> incorrect
These people are better writers of fiction than of nonfiction. --> correct

The characters in Restrepo's novel are more realistic than Yepes's. --> incorrect
The characters in Restrepo's novel are more realistic than those in Yepes's. --> correct
Restrepo's characters are more realistic than Yepes's. --> correct

[hifisci007]

Mideast immigrants' rates of entrepreneurship exceed virtually every other immigrant group in the increasingly diverse United States economy.

(A) Mideast immigrants' rates of entrepreneurship exceed
(B) Mideast immigrants are exhibiting rates of entrepreneurship exceeding
(C) Immigrants from the Mideast exhibit rates of entrepreneurship exceeding those of
(D) The rates of entrepreneurship in immigrants from the Mideast exceed
(E) The rates of Mideast immigrants' entrepreneurship exceeds those of

This is orgininal question. Please look at "E".

Ron,
In option C, if 'those' is used for 'rates', then won't the sentence be read like "Immigrants from the Mideast exhibit rates of entrepreneurship exceeding rates of virtually every other immigrant group in the increasingly diverse United States economy"?

In that case, I think B is better. It says,
"Mideast immigrants are exhibiting rates of entrepreneurship exceeding virtually every other immigrant group in the increasingly diverse United States economy."
It compares "Mideast immigrants" to "other immigrant group".

Please explain. Thanks.

[RonPurewal]

Ron,
In option C, if 'those' is used for 'rates', then won't the sentence be read like "Immigrants from the Mideast exhibit rates of entrepreneurship exceeding rates of virtually every other immigrant group in the increasingly diverse United States economy"?

no. in that sentence, "those" stands for "rates of entrepreneurship", not just "rates".

In that case, I think B is better.

do not ever do this!

OFFICIALLY CORRECT ANSWERS ARE CORRECT!
do not question officially correct answers!

far too many students on this forum make the mistake of questioning the correct answers; please note that doing so is a complete waste of your time and effort. i.e., exactly 0% of the time that you spend posting "isn't this official answer wrong?" is productive, and exactly 100% of that time is wasted.

"is this correct?" is NEVER a productive question to ask about one of GMAC's correct answers -- the answer is always yes.
"is this wrong?" / "is this X type of error?" is NEVER a productive question to ask about one of GMAC's correct answers -- the answer is always no.

instead, the questions you should be asking about correct official answers, if you don't understand them, are:
"why is this correct?"
"how does this work?"
"what understanding am i lacking that i need to understand this choice?"

this is a small, but hugely significant, change to your way of thinking -- you will suddenly find it much easier to understand the format, style, and conventions of the official problems if you dispose of the idea that they might be wrong.

It says,
"Mideast immigrants are exhibiting rates of entrepreneurship exceeding virtually every other immigrant group in the increasingly diverse United States economy."
It compares "Mideast immigrants" to "other immigrant group".

Please explain. Thanks.

nope.
in this version, "exceeding virtually every other immigrant group" is written as a modifier that is modifying "rates of entrepreneurship". therefore, you have a comparison between rates on the one hand and immigrant groups on the other hand -- a nonsense comparison.

[vivs.gupta]

Could an instructor let me know why C is wrong? What is preventing us from interpreting the ellipsis in C as:

The rates of entrepreneurship in immigrants from the Mideast exceed (rates of entrepreneurship in) virtually every other immigrant group in the increasingly diverse United States economy.

you can't separate out the noun from a prepositional phrase. if you're writing a comparison involving "NOUN1 + prep + NOUN2", then the other side should be either
* another noun that is compared to NOUN1, not to NOUN2
or
* another prepositional phrase that is compared to prep + NOUN2.

for instance:
These people are better writers of fiction than nonfiction. --> incorrect
These people are better writers of fiction than of nonfiction. --> correct

The characters in Restrepo's novel are more realistic than Yepes's. --> incorrect
The characters in Restrepo's novel are more realistic than those in Yepes's. --> correct
Restrepo's characters are more realistic than Yepes's. --> correct

Hi Ron,

Will the following be correct?
The characters in Restrepo's novel are more realistic than in Yepes's

[RonPurewal]

Will the following be correct?
The characters in Restrepo's novel are more realistic than in Yepes's

no. since the comparison is meant to be between two sets of characters, you need characters... vs. those...

if you just do that, then you're implying that the same characters are in both books.

i.e.,
americans in paris are happier than those in berlin.
--> there are 2 different sets of american expatriates -- one set in paris, the other in berlin. the former are happier than the latter.

americans are happier in paris than in berlin.
--> this sentence implies that the same people would be happier in paris than in berlin.

[divineacclivity]

Same question- if E said "Exceed" instead of "Exceeds" then is E a better answer than C?
C says "exceeding", I am trying to understand how does "exceeding" chnaging the meaning of sentence compared to "exceed"

Thanks.

no, (c) is still better.

here are a couple of reasons / observations.

* in general, "X's rate of Y" is preferred to "the rate of X's Y". i would probably just chalk this one up to idiomatic usage, although (as usual) there are subtle differences that are far beyond the scope of the gmat.
for instance, salesman X's rate of success is better than the rate of salesman X's success.

* "Mideast immigrants" is wrong; "immigrants from the Mideast" is better. ("Mideast" can't be used as an adjective of nationality, for the same reason you can't say "Asia people" in place of "people from Asia".)

Ron,

I preferred C over E because of the following reason and please tell if that is good enough a reason to answer such questions:

If E was to be correct, it should have been: The rates of Mideast immigrant's entrepreneurship exceeds those of (=rates of) any other immigrants' entrepreneurship otherwise the comparison would be between rates (of mideast immigrant's enterp.) and other immigrants

and C rightly compares "rates of enterp." exceeding "those" (rates of enterp.) of other immigrants.

Please tell me if my logic of picking up C and rejecting E is good/correct? thank you.

[vivs.gupta]

Will the following be correct?
The characters in Restrepo's novel are more realistic than in Yepes's

no. since the comparison is meant to be between two sets of characters, you need characters... vs. those...

if you just do that, then you're implying that the same characters are in both books.

i.e.,
americans in paris are happier than those in berlin.
--> there are 2 different sets of american expatriates -- one set in paris, the other in berlin. the former are happier than the latter.

americans are happier in paris than in berlin.
--> this sentence implies that the same people would be happier in paris than in berlin.

I read your post regarding comparison in case of NOUN1+prep phrase+Noun2
and I thought I correctly comapared the "prep phrase + Noun2" with another prep phrase.

[jp.jprasanna]

Hi Ron - I have a question regarding perp + noun + verbing

The construction Perp + noun + verbing is always unless the noun is the main focus the preposition.

Below is sentences a sentence from Manhattan CAT.

Policy makers remain concerned about the prospect of inflation, although there are few signs of increasing energy prices driving up the cost of other goods so far.

Which is wrong because of the perp + noun + verbing rule.

Immigrants from the Mideast exhibit rates of entrepreneurship exceeding those of virtually every other immigrant group in the increasingly diverse United States economy.

This is correct as given above.

But I'm having a hard time seeing the difference between the two. Can you please advise how to eliminate these?

Cheers