Tuesday, August 28, 2007

The antenna of cockroach is longer than silk moth

Today let us examine the error of comparison.
Someone who knows English well or a native English speaking student will never say “The antenna of cockroach is longer than silk moth.”
Don’t you find anything funny in this? There is a big error in this sentence. The error is due to wrong comparison. The speaker wanted to compare the antenna of cockroach with the antenna of silk moth but compared the antenna of the cockroach with the silk moth.
I see a lot of similar comparisons in research papers and essays.
The sentence needs a correction. “The antenna of cockroach is longer than that of silk moth.”
The idea is clear, the meaning is clear and the sentence is grammatically correct.
When we try comparisons, we must bear the following in mind:
1. The comparison must sound right.
2. We can compare only things that are logically correct.
3. We can compare only things that are grammatically correct.

Look at the following sentences:
"The population of Tokyo is more than Seoul."
This may look alright. Read and reread, you can spot the error.
The population of Tokyo is more than that of Seoul. The comparison is between the populations of two cities.
The roads of new Delhi is better than Bangalore – incorrect.
In this sentence the roads of New Delhi is compared with Bangalore and not with the roads of Bangalore.
It must be rewritten as “The roads of new Delhi is better than that of Bangalore”
“William’s story is much better than Stuart”
must be corrected as “William’s story is much better than Stuart’s”

Next time, when you venture a comparison, check whether you did it right.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

is it right to say, " CM plans to stay at Melkote today night". This is from a news paper!

The Third Eye said...

This news item appeared on Star of Mysore, dated 31st Aug, Page no. 8. I pity the reporter who wrote this. As you guessed, "CM to stay at Melkote tonight" is the right way to put it across.

Dr. A.M. Babu said...

“The roads of new Delhi is better than that of Bangalore”- I have two doubts about this sentance.
1. As the subject is plural, should we not use 'are' in place of 'is'?
2. For the same reason should we not use 'those of' instead of 'that of'?
In this context, it will be interesting if you also explain the grammer of the message which we often find on computer screens; "Windows is shutting down"

The Third Eye said...

The question is quite right. The intention of the sentence was comparison. But the grammar of the sentence also includes what you pointed out. In situations like this, subjects like roads are taken as a single unit but not always.
Examples: Windows is shutting down.
Ten thousand rupees is given.
Fifteen kg of sugar is consumed.
In spite of these clarifications, The roads of New Delhi are better than those of Bangalore seems perfect.