For all their usefulness_Idiom

[Meerak869]

For all their usefulness in facilitating comparisons between cities of different sizes, per-capita statistics, especially crime rates, often shine an unfairly harsh light on small towns, in which a single incident can cause such figures to skyrocket.

a. For all their usefulness in facilitating comparisons between cities of different sizes, per-capita statistics, especially crime rates, often

b. Despite they are useful in facilitating comparisons between differently sized cities, per-capita statistics, and especially crime rates, often

c. Because they are quite useful in facilitating comparisons between different sized cities, per-capita statistics, especially crime rates, can often

d. Quite useful when facilitating comparisons between differently sized cities, per-capita statistics, and especially crime rates, which frequently

e. For their usefulness in facilitating comparisons between different sized cities, per-capita statistics, especially crime rates, frequently

This sentence points out a shortcoming of per-capita statistics: in spite of their usefulness in comparing larger and smaller cities, these statistics may unfairly highlight small towns, whose modest population sizes can cause anomalies in the data.

(A) CORRECT. The expression For all their usefulness is a proper idiom; it is used to introduce a contrast. (For all his studying, he performed poorly on the exam.) The overall sentence is grammatically legitimate, with a single main subject (per-capita statistics) and a single main verb (shine) amid a series of modifiers and subordinate clauses.

(B) Despite is a preposition and must be followed by a noun or noun phrase; it cannot be followed by a clause, as it is here. The word and is inappropriate between per-capita statistics and especially crime rates. The word and indicates that the two connected items are “separate but equal.” This isn’t the case; crime rates are a particular kind of statistic, not separate from the idea of the statistics.

(C) The word because is illogical. The statistics are generally useful despite the fact that they can sometimes be misleading, not because they are sometimes misleading. Different, an adjective, cannot be used to describe sized; the adverb differently should be used instead. Finally, when facilitating illogically implies that per-capita statistics themselves can facilitate comparisons between cities.

(D) When facilitating illogically implies that per-capita statistics themselves can facilitate comparisons between cities. In addition, this sentence is a fragment, consisting only of the noun per-capita statistics and modifiers.

(E) For their usefulness does not have the same meaning as the idiom for all their usefulness. The latter indicates a contrast; the former does not. Different, an adjective, cannot be used to describe sized; the adverb differently should be used instead.

As per above question and its explanation,

The expression For all their usefulness is a proper idiom; it is used to introduce a contrast. (For all his studying, he performed poorly on the exam.)

For their usefulness does not have the same meaning as the idiom for all their usefulness. The latter indicates a contrast;

Can you explain this idiom for all their usefulness and the difference between For their usefulness and for all their usefulness in terms of meaning and usage.

[Chelsey Cooley]

For all their 'whatever' is, as you suggested, an idiom that indicates contrast. Specifically, it indicates that the reality is the opposite of what you'd expect. For instance:

For all his intelligence, he was a terrible chess player. (He's intelligent, so you'd expect him to be a good chess player, but he's actually terrible.)

In the problem you posted, the situation is this: you'd think that, since the statistics are useful, they'd also be equitable. But surprisingly, they have a serious failing.

As far as I know, 'for their usefulness' (or 'for his intelligence', etc.), without the word 'all', isn't an English idiom.

[elenas903]

Please clarify the usage of despite vs for all + possessive pronoun + noun idiom
The explanation in the CAT is as follows: Despite is a preposition and must be followed by a noun or noun phrase; it cannot be followed by a clause.
What about the construction despite + being + notion verb like the one from Washington Post below?
Despite being shamed for overcharging patients, hospitals raised their prices, again
Please provide examples of correct usage of Despite

thanks!

[sahilmalhotra01]

Hi MGMAT Expert,

I have query regarding the usage of between in the following sentence.

For all their usefulness in facilitating comparisons between cities of different sizes, per-capita statistics, especially crime rates, often shine an unfairly harsh light on small towns, in which a single incident can cause such figures to skyrocket.

Though all the option choices contain between, I would still like to discuss its usage to understand the concept better.

The meaning of sentence is that per capita statistics are useful in comparisons between cities of different sizes. It implies that more than two cities are being compared. So shouldn't we use among in this case ?

Kindly clarify how the usage of between is correct in above question.

Thanks

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Good question! That made me think. Although there is the correct rule that 'between is for 2 things, and among for more than 2', the two words have other differences too. There are some phrases that we can only use with one of the words, and 'comparison between' is one of those idioms. To be frank, in this case, it's not clear how many cities we're comparing here anyway: it could be multiple pairs of cities.

This is beyond the scope of the GMAT exam, but here's an article about the use of 'between' and 'among': http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2015 ... r-between/