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Frustrating misunderstandings of phrases and meanings

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jimmyboy76453
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27 Mar 2015, 10:03 am

I just took an online final exam for my college, and one question frustrated me so much that I had to post about it. The question says something like this: "Suppose a company finds that an increase in labor increases output more than does an increase in machines. If the company wants to maximize profits, it should:
a. substitute machines for labor
b. substitute labor for machines"
There was a C and a D, but I forget what they were and they weren't the correct answer anyway; it's either a or b.
Obviously, I know that the company should increase its labor and decrease its machines to make more money, but I could NOT figure out which answer above means that! If I'm taking machines out and putting labor in, does that mean I'm substituting labor for machines or substituting machines for labor??? AARGH!! !
I just gave up and guessed, but I have no idea whether I guessed right. Passed the test anyway, but not with the score I was hoping to get.


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kraftiekortie
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27 Mar 2015, 10:09 am

"A" is the precise opposite of "B."

If you believe in mechanization over people, you choose "A"

If you believe in people over mechanization, you choose "B"



Wolfless
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27 Mar 2015, 10:28 am

jimmyboy76453 wrote:
"Suppose a company finds that an increase in labor increases output more than does an increase in machines. If the company wants to maximize profits, it should:

So you know that they want labor instead of machines to be more profitable.

a. substitute machines for labor
b. substitute labor for machines

If you substitute machines(which means to change them out with) labor, then you have more machines.
If you were to substitute labor with machines then you are replacing it with labor instead. I'm guessing this was some kind of reading comprehension test because if it's not then they used a poor format for the options.



Last edited by Wolfless on 27 Mar 2015, 10:30 am, edited 1 time in total.

naturalplastic
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27 Mar 2015, 10:30 am

jimmyboy76453 wrote:
I just took an online final exam for my college, and one question frustrated me so much that I had to post about it. The question says something like this: "Suppose a company finds that an increase in labor increases output more than does an increase in machines. If the company wants to maximize profits, it should:
a. substitute machines for labor
b. substitute labor for machines"
There was a C and a D, but I forget what they were and they weren't the correct answer anyway; it's either a or b.
Obviously, I know that the company should increase its labor and decrease its machines to make more money, but I could NOT figure out which answer above means that! If I'm taking machines out and putting labor in, does that mean I'm substituting labor for machines or substituting machines for labor??? AARGH!! !
I just gave up and guessed, but I have no idea whether I guessed right. Passed the test anyway, but not with the score I was hoping to get.


Good point.

While reading your post I thought to myself "since the right answer is the opposite of mechanization -it's obviously A". But come to think of it....either phrase (A or B) could mean either thing.

To "substitute machines for labor" could mean "substitue machines WITH labor"(what I took it to mean), or it could mean "put in machines as substitutes for the laborers that you remove"(the exact opposite meaning).

It IS ambiguous. The writers of the test were idiots! If you know the right answer (put in labor, and take away machines) I am not sure which answer you would pick to show that you know the right answer.



jimmyboy76453
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27 Mar 2015, 11:01 am

Wolfless wrote:
If you substitute machines(which means to change them out with) labor, then you have more machines.
If you were to substitute labor with machines then you are replacing it with labor instead. I'm guessing this was some kind of reading comprehension test because if it's not then they used a poor format for the options.


It is substituting one thing FOR another thing, not WITH another thing. WITH, I think, would be clearer. It was a Microeconomics test.


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jk1
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27 Mar 2015, 11:26 am

Yes, it's rather confusing.

I had to try and remember that the object of the verb "substitute" is the thing you will use/have instead of what comes after the word "for".

It's funny that the word "exchange" is a bit similar but it's the exact opposite. You give up the object of the verb "exchange" and instead get what comes after the word "for".



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27 Mar 2015, 11:40 am

Adding labor may increase output but the laborers must be regularly paid. Over the long term it might still be more profitable to mechanize.


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27 Mar 2015, 1:34 pm

A black and white thinkers will think the options are this

A. Replace ALL the machines with labor
B. Replace ALL labor with machines

The NT's writing the questions probably meant this

A. Replace SOME OF the machines with labor
B. Replace SOME OF the laborors with machines


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27 Mar 2015, 2:40 pm

jimmyboy76453 wrote:
"Suppose a company finds that an increase in labor increases output more than does an increase in machines. If the company wants to maximize profits, it should:
a. substitute machines for labor
b. substitute labor for machines"

I am not native English speaker so I am not familiar with those sentences but according to wiki http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/substitute
there are clear grammar rules about this and "substitute machines for labor" means "use machines instead of labor" = "use more machines" and "substitute labor for machines" means "use labor instead of machines" = "use more labor". It could mean otherwise if it was "substitute machines with/by labor", "substitute labor with/by machines" but it's not because there is clear for, not with/by in that case. So correct answer is B.