Officials at the United States Mint believe that

[sumit_pune]

C. as a substitute for four quarters more than for the dollar bill because it weighs only 8.1 grams, far less than four quarters

...it weighs only 8.1 grams, far less than four quarters

How can we justify weight comparision here.
I think literal meaning here is "8.1 grams is far less than four quarters"

Could you please explain the comparision.

Pathik

two comments about this:

(1) they make the rules; we don't. therefore, if they say this is ok, then this is ok.

(2) they appear to grant the modifier 'far less than...' a little extra mobility here because it is not anchored by a relative pronoun, such as 'which' or 'that'.
for instance, you could not write '8.1 grams, which is far less than...', because that would have the illogical meaning you've described here.
apparently, though, the gmat allows additional flexibility for modifiers that lack such pronouns, like the one here.

C) as a substitute for four quarters more than for the dollar bill because it weighs only 8.1 grams, far less than

Coin weights far less than Dollar.
it seems to me "that of" will make sentence wrong because weights is verb here and " that of " will have nothing to refer.

for "that of " to be good , sentence should be like
Coin's weight far less than that of Dollar.

here "weight" is NOUN. hence that of makes sense .

Please correct me RON.

[RonPurewal]

for "that of " to be good , sentence should be like
Coin's weight far less than that of Dollar.

here "weight" is NOUN. hence that of makes sense .

Please correct me RON.

please go back and read my post again; i was not advocating the use of "that of" in that sort of way.
i gave an example of what i meant, using "which".

also, it appears you are confusing "weigh" (which is a verb) with "weight" (which is a noun).

[ra0725x]

Hi
I'am confused about "more than" in (C)
I think it is usually used like more adj/adv ... than ...
so can u explain the phrase "more than" is a conjunction or adj or others here in (C)
THANKS

[RonPurewal]

Hi
I'am confused about "more than" in (C)
I think it is usually used like more adj/adv ... than ...
so can u explain the phrase "more than" is a conjunction or adj or others here in (C)
THANKS

"more than" is an extremely common construction, used to make quantitative comparisons.
it can compare nouns (i like chicken more than sushi), clauses (i like chicken more than you do), and ... lots of other stuff.

if you're unfamiliar with this construction, do the following:
* google "more than" (with the quotes)
* skip the first few pages (so that you don't get song titles, company names, etc.) -- maybe skip to page 20 or 30 of results
* just read the way the phrase is used, in context, and figure out the general patterns of its usage.

you can also search for it in the new york times -- google the following:
site:nytimes.com "more than"

...or you could search for it in any other decently high-level english-language publication, using similarly limited search terms.

[davetzulin]

Officials at the United States Mint believe that the Sacagawea dollar coin will be used more as a substitute for four quarters more than for the dollar bill because it weighs only 8.1 grams, far less than four quarters, which weigh 5.67 grams each.

isn't the modifier "far less than" modifying the verb weighs? then we sidestep the issue of a weight being compared to a quarter.

"only 8.1 grams" is modifying "weighs" as an adverb, then the next modifier, far less than, could also be adverbial modifying "weighs"?

since you have two adverbs modifying the same verb there really is no way it can be next to the verb.

i fail to see how any of those modifiers are noun modifiers.

[tim]

"only 8.1 grams" appears to be the direct object of "weighs", and "far less than four quarters" can perhaps best be thought of as an appositive for "only 8.1 grams"..

[ghong14]

Any reason that rather than construction can't be used in this construction but in this other example:

og-sc-99-t984.html

Judge Bonham denied a motion to allow members of the jury to go home at the end of each day instead of to confine them to a hotel.

A.
B. that would have allowed members of the jury to go home at the end of each day instead of confined to
C. under which members of the jury are allowed to go home at the end of each day instead of confining them in
D. that would allow members of the jury to go home at the end of each day rather than confinement in
E. to allow members of the jury to go home at the end of each day rather than be confined to

[ghong14]

I know that the rather than construction in A is incorrect. However, I have seen it used in correct answers else where. Any particular reason why rather than in choice A is unacceptable.

I really don't want to go off on it sounds better :)

[jlucero]

I know that the rather than construction in A is incorrect. However, I have seen it used in correct answers else where. Any particular reason why rather than in choice A is unacceptable.

I really don't want to go off on it sounds better :)

Be sure we're thoroughly reading responses from instructors before posting questions. This was the very first response from an instructor on this thread:

-This choice lack parallelism and is unidiomatic (more for X rather than for Y is incorrect). The correct comparison is more for X than for Y.

You can say "X rather than Y"
You can say "more X than Y"
You can NOT say "more X rather than Y"

[jyothi h]

I know that the rather than construction in A is incorrect. However, I have seen it used in correct answers else where. Any particular reason why rather than in choice A is unacceptable.

I really don't want to go off on it sounds better :)

Be sure we're thoroughly reading responses from instructors before posting questions. This was the very first response from an instructor on this thread:

-This choice lack parallelism and is unidiomatic (more for X rather than for Y is incorrect). The correct comparison is more for X than for Y.

You can say "X rather than Y"
You can say "more X than Y"
You can NOT say "more X rather than Y"

Is another reason why D and E are incorrect is, the "its" and "it" should have a same antecedent ( dollar coin) and , referring coin to the second instance of "it" makes no sense ?

Thanks,
Jyothi

[RonPurewal]

In (d) and (e), the second "it" doesn't work at all, because it can't just stand for the idea of weight. "It" would have to stand for the actual weight described earlier in the sentence -- i.e., the weight of the dollar coin.

Another example:
Sandwiches with cheese are especially delicious if they are served hot.
--> Here, "they" can't mean sandwiches in general; it must refer to "sandwiches with cheese" (= the sandwiches described earlier in the sentence).

[RonPurewal]

In fact, the issue above -- the fact that "it", "they", etc. must describe what has already been named -- is the entire reason for the existence of another set of pronouns: that and those, as used in comparisons.
Those pronouns specifically exist because they don't have to describe the exact things already named -- thus enabling comparisons.

E.g.,
Sandwiches with cheese are more delicious than those without cheese.
--> "Those" = "sandwiches", but this pronoun is expressly intended to describe different sandwiches (so that a comparison is possible).

[gourav.arya]

Officials at the United States Mint believe that the Sacagawea dollar coin will be used more as a substitute for four quarters rather than for the dollar bill because its weight, only 8.1 grams, is far less than four quarters, which weigh 5.67 grams each

Officials at the United States Mint believe that the Sacagawea dollar coin will be used as a substitute for four quarters more than for the dollar bill because it weighs only 8.1 grams, far less than four quarters, which weigh 5.67 grams each

One reason I could home in on the right answer is that in the original sentence, it seemed to me that the "its weight" and "four quarters" is not the right comparison. While in the correct answer, "it" and "four quarters" are in fact parallel and hence results in better comparison.

Put up for the "leading lights" to corroborate this line of reasoning please.

Aside:
This idiom insight that "more for X rather than for Y" will definitely come in handy for future. Thanks

[RonPurewal]

Correct regarding the comparison issue.

This idiom insight that "more for X rather than for Y" will definitely come in handy for future. Thanks

That's not an idiom issue. The issue there is self-contradiction.
"More" implies that one use is preferred, but that both uses still occur.
"Rather than" implies that one use has completely supplanted the other one.
Can't use both at the same time.

[li.xi811]

What's the difference between "lighter" and "less"? Is B wrong also because "lighter" cannot be used as an adverb?

Thanks in advance.