Difference in meaning

[JbhB682]

Hi - Just curious,

What is the difference in meaning between the two statements :

Source : made up

Statement 1) The money spent by X is less than that spent by Y

Statement 2) The money spent by X is less than this spent by Y

[JbhB682]

The mprep guide (Page 114), 6th edition) said this about statement 1

One may also use that and those to indicate a new copy of the antecedent. Implying, that the two pots of money are NOT the same. One pot of money is spent by Y (is the new pot) , another pot of money is spent b X.

So, does this mean for sentence 2 -- are the pots of money the same ?

Is that the difference ?

[esledge]

Hmm, I'm not sure, but I can tell you that the GMAT only uses "that" and "those" in comparisons like your examples, not "this" or "those" or "it" or "they."

My first thought was that "this" is what's called a determiner ("I want this one," she said, pointing at the pink doughnut.) ... but "that" can be used that way, too. So, I don't know what the difference is (meaning or grammar or both), but your meaning reason seems plausible to me.

Just know that this is a parallelism issue, and if "money...is less than (some other money)," use "that" because money is singular. And if "companies...are more profitable than (some other companies)" use "those" because companies are plural.