{"id":253,"date":"2012-04-02t19:08:35","date_gmt":"2012-04-02t19:08:35","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/sat\/?p=253"},"modified":"2015-04-16t21:01:29","modified_gmt":"2015-04-16t21:01:29","slug":"illogical-comparisons-on-the-sat-writing-section","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/illogical-comparisons-on-the-sat-writing-section\/","title":{"rendered":"illogical comparisons on the sat writing section"},"content":{"rendered":"

you\u2019ve most likely heard the phrase never compare apples to oranges<\/em>. this is definitely true on sat writing section. so if an answer choice compares two unlike things, then it is incorrect.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

for instance, look at the following sentence:<\/p>\n

mike\u2019s test score was better than sally.<\/em><\/p>\n

in this example, we are comparing mike\u2019s test score to sally. the two are very different. one of them is a number, the other a person. what we want to say is mike\u2019s test score is better than sally\u2019s test score. one way we do that is to add a possessive to sally, as in:<\/p>\n

correct: mike\u2019s test score was better than sally\u2019s.<\/em><\/p>\n

in english, we are allowed to omit the final test score as it implied that sally\u2019s refers to her test score (this act of omission is called ellipsis \u2013 though the sat definitely won\u2019t test that).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

now let\u2019s see if you can spot the illogical comparison, and provide the correct version.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. colloquially, the use of contractions is more common than non-contracted words.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0the novels of thomas pynchon are nowhere nearly as well known as j.d. salinger, though the two authors invite comparisons.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0t.s eliot\u2019s work, drawing liberally as it does on mysticism, has been more marginalized amongst orthodox christians than c.s. lewis.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

explanation:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0we need to compare the use of contractions to the use of<\/strong> non-contracted words.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0should be those of j.d. salinger<\/strong>. \u2018those\u2019 is used in place of the \u2018novels.\u2019<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0notice that unlike \u2018novels\u2019 from #2, \u2018work\u2019 is singular. so instead of using \u2018those\u2019\u2014as we did in #2\u2014we use \u2018that.\u2019 the last part of the sentence should read \u201cthan that of c.s. lewis.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

you will see at least one illogical comparison on an sat writing section. one way to be on guard is to notice the word \u2018than\u2019, which usually sets up a comparison. of course, do not assume that every comparison is illogical.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

you\u2019ve most likely heard the phrase never compare apples to oranges. this is definitely true on sat writing section. so if an answer choice compares two unlike things, then it is incorrect.   for instance, look at the following sentence: mike\u2019s test score was better than sally. in this example, we are comparing mike\u2019s test […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[84],"ppma_author":[24882],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nillogical comparisons on the sat writing section - magoosh blog | high school<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/illogical-comparisons-on-the-sat-writing-section\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_us\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"illogical comparisons on the sat writing section\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"you\u2019ve most likely heard the phrase never compare apples to oranges. this is definitely true on sat writing section. so if an answer choice compares two unlike things, then it is incorrect.   for instance, look at the following sentence: mike\u2019s test score was better than sally. in this example, we are comparing mike\u2019s test […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/illogical-comparisons-on-the-sat-writing-section\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"magoosh blog | high school\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/magooshsat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/chrislelemagoosh1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" 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lele","image":{"@type":"imageobject","inlanguage":"en-us","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/9f063fdc4c0268d1eac74c41e0906a03","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/198545d5a4baea0ba0fd0c0fc8a5d466?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contenturl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/198545d5a4baea0ba0fd0c0fc8a5d466?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"chris lele"},"description":"chris graduated from ucla with a ba in psychology and has 20 years of experience in the test prep industry. he's been quoted as a subject expert in many publications, including us news, gmac, and business because.","sameas":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/chrislelemagoosh1\/","ttps:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/chris-lele-095005a0","https:\/\/twitter.com\/chrismagoosh","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/ucz4sgyj6l0cgnvnihy8gy6w"],"knowsabout":["gre","gmat","sat","act","mcat (cars)","lsat"],"jobtitle":"principal curriculum manager","worksfor":"magoosh","url":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/author\/chris\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":24882,"user_id":10,"is_guest":0,"slug":"chris","display_name":"chris lele","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/198545d5a4baea0ba0fd0c0fc8a5d466?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"lele","first_name":"chris","description":"chris lele is the principal curriculum manager (and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/vocabulary-builder-workbook-activities-must-know\/dp\/193975481x\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">vocabulary wizard<\/a>) at magoosh. chris graduated from ucla with a ba in psychology and has 20 years of experience in the test prep industry. he's been quoted as a subject expert in many publications, including<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/education\/best-colleges\/slideshows\/10-test-prep-tips-for-sat-and-act-takers\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> us news<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mba.com\/exams-and-exam-prep\/gmat-exam\/why-take-the-gmat-in-2021-when-many-schools-are-test-optional\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> gmac<\/a>, and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessbecause.com\/news\/gmat\/3263\/mba-admissions-gre-challenges-gmat\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> business because<\/a>.\r\n\r\n\r\nin his time at magoosh, chris has taught countless students how to tackle the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gre-prep-magoosh\/dp\/1939418917\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> gre<\/a>, gmat, sat, act, mcat (cars), and lsat exams with confidence. some of his students have even gone on to get near-perfect scores. you can find chris on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/ucz4sgyj6l0cgnvnihy8gy6w\">youtube<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/chris-lele-095005a0\"> linkedin<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chrismagoosh\">twitter<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/chrislelemagoosh1\/\">facebook<\/a>!"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253"}],"collection":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}