Comparison Questions in the SAT and the ACT


Comparison questions test our ability to make logical comparisons. 

The idea is simple: compare people to people and things to things.


     My score is higher than Mike.   (x)
          (thing)            (person)

This sentence is making an illogical comparison.


A score cannot be higher than a person.


There are three ways to fix basic comparison problems:



1. Using Apostrophe

     My score is higher than Mike's score.


Remember  that repeated words can be omitted when writing in parallel structure? 

Comparison questions make use of the same rules. 

We may omit the repeated  words as long as the meaning is clear and the comparison is precise.

     My score is higher than Mike's.



2. Using “of”

Another way of writing “England’s King” is “the King of England.”

We can use this information to fix a comparison error.

     My score is higher than the score of Mike.



3. Using THAT OF (SINGULAR) / THOSE OF (PLURAL)

*This method is more frequently tested than the first and the second method because the SAT and the ACT don't like to repeat the same words.


     My score is higher than that of Mike.


If the object of comparison is plural, we use "those of."

     My scores are higher than those of Mike.


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