Question

Which choice is an example of an incorrect or illogical comparison?

Answer 1

Answer:

The answer is indeed letter D) This newspaper’s reporters are better writers than that magazine.

Explanation:

We have an illogical comparison when we compare two things that do not belong in the same category, two things that aren't of the same type. Even though the sentence that has an illogical comparison is understandable, it is easy to tell there is something wrong or lacking.

Let's analyze the options given in the question:

A. compares a magazine to another magazine. --> OK

B. compares a school newspaper to another school newspaper. --> OK

C. compares journalists to other journalists. --> OK

D. compares newspaper's reporters to a magazine. --> NOT OK

The problem with sentence D is that it is not actually comparing a newspaper's reporters to a magazine's reporters. The way the sentence is structured does not imply that reporters are being compared to reporters, but to the magazine itself. We could easily change that to make it a logical comparison:

This newspaper's reporters are better writers than that magazine's.

There is no need to repeat the word "reporters" to make it clear. By adding the apostrophe to "magazine", we make it clear that we are talking about the reporters that belong to that magazine, not the magazine itself.

Answer 2

Answer:

D. This newspaper’s reporters are better writers than that magazine.

Explanation:

A Magazine can't be a writer, so you can't really compare the writers of a newspaper or the reporters of it to the magazine itself. The magazine might have writers of its own and their writers might be better or worse than the writers or reporters of the newspaper, which would be a correct comparison.