Comparisons should be made between items that are alike. To compare unlike items is illogical and distracting.
Forests must be compared with forests.
A rate cannot be logically compared with a population. Both revisions provide the words needed for the comparison; the first revision is more concise.
Ella Fitzgerald’s renditions cannot be logically compared with a singer. The revision uses the possessive form singer’s, with the word renditions being implied: . . . Fitzgerald’s renditions . . . are better than any other singer’s renditions.
Sometimes the word other must be inserted to make a comparison logical.
Jupiter cannot be larger than itself.
Sometimes the word as must be inserted to make a comparison grammatically correct.
The construction as old is not complete without a second as: as old as . . . the city of Lawrence.
Exercise: Needed words 1
Exercise: Needed words 2
Exercise: Needed words 3
Exercise: Needed words 4