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Difficulty: MediumIllogical and Incomplete Comparisons

In the sentence below, which choice best corrects the underlined comparison?

The vocal ranges of opera singers are typically much wider than pop singers, who often rely on amplification to project their voices.

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. those of pop singers, who often relyAnswer
  3. C
    pop singers; who often rely
  4. D
    pop singers, they often rely

Answer

The correct answer is the option that replaces the underlined text with 'those of pop singers, who often rely'. This correctly compares the vocal ranges of opera singers with 'those' (the vocal ranges) of pop singers, establishing a logical comparison.
The correct answer correctly uses the pronoun 'those' to refer back to 'the vocal ranges,' ensuring a logical and parallel comparison between the ranges of opera singers and the ranges of pop singers. Additionally, it properly uses a comma before the relative clause 'who often rely' to provide nonessential information about pop singers.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the two elements being compared in the sentence.
The sentence attempts to compare 'the vocal ranges of opera singers' to 'pop singers'.
A logical comparison must compare similar things: in this case, the vocal ranges of one group must be compared to the vocal ranges of the other group, not to the people themselves.
2
Select the option that corrects this illogical comparison while maintaining proper punctuation.
The phrase 'those of pop singers' uses the plural pronoun 'those' to refer to 'vocal ranges,' creating a logical noun-to-noun comparison, and it is punctuated correctly with a comma before the dependent clause.
This satisfies both the logic of the comparison and the rules of punctuation.

Key Concept

Illogical comparisons occur when a sentence compares two things that cannot be logically compared, such as comparing a characteristic of one group (vocal ranges) directly to the members of another group (pop singers) instead of their characteristics. Using relative pronouns like 'that of' (singular) or 'those of' (plural) corrects this error.
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Topics

Illogical and Incomplete Comparisons

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