I’ve seen numerous students compare apples and oranges. That is, they compare completely incomparable things. For instance, read the following sentence carefully:

My shoes are brighter than you.

This sentence compares ‘shoes’ with ‘you’. That’s incorrect. You can’t compare ‘shoes’ with a ‘human’. You can compare ‘shoes’ with ‘shoes’.

Compare apples with apples.

Compare oranges with oranges.

The correct sentence is: My shoes are brighter than yours.

Let us read another sentence:

Our methodology is not as accurate as the Harvard team.

This sentence compares methodology with Harvard Team. Again, that’s comparing wholly unrelated and incomparable things. Let us rewrite the sentence:

Our methodology is not as accurate as that of the Harvard team.

Read another sentence:

The suggestions of older people are more valuable than those of youngsters.