Hey Guru!
I have one more doubt.
Had the option C said ....as likely as other grads are to plan...., then the sentence would have been correct?


Regards,
Mukherjee[/spoiler]

hi tanuj
read my first post: i have written this same sentence and it will make a correct comparison

[email protected] wrote: Hey Guru!
I have one more doubt.
Had the option C said ....as likely as other grads are to plan...., then the sentence would have been correct?

Other graduates ARE TO PLAN ON PRACTICING in socioeconomically deprived areas.
Here, the verb in red could lead to confusion:
A reader might construe that to plan on practicing serves to modify ARE, indicating what other graduates ARE REQUIRED TO DO.
Not the intended meaning.

Minority graduates are nearly four times as LIKELY as other graduates TO PLAN ON PRACTICING in socioeconomically deprived areas.
With the verb in red omitted, it becomes crystal clear that to plan on practicing serves to modify LIKELY, indicating how the two types of graduates are LIKELY to act:
Minority graduates are nearly four times as LIKELY TO PLAN ON PRACTICING in socioeconomically areas as other graduates are LIKELY TO PLAN ON PRACTICING in socioeconomically deprived areas.
Omitting the verb in red makes the sentence easier to follow.

The construction here is COMPARISON OF TWO CLAUSES + adverbial modifier.
Generally, if the adverbial modifier serves to modify BOTH CLAUSES, the verb will be omitted from the second clause.

Good day GURU
you have said :

The construction here is COMPARISON OF TWO CLAUSES + adverbial modifier.
Generally, if the adverbial modifier serves to modify BOTH CLAUSES, the verb will be omitted from the second clause.

can u please tell me as what is adverbial that you are referring to in the below mentioned sentence ?

sentence 1 :minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than other graduates to plan on practicing in socioeconomically deprived areas.

GURU i remember u had once told me that construction such as "more than" , "as likely as" serves to compare clauses where the subject +verb + other stuff tends to imply in the second clause if it not there (of course u had given some conditions)

with that in mind i guess i can make sentence 1 into sentence 2 as follows :

sentence 2: minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than [ARE] other graduates to plan on practicing in socioeconomically deprived areas

now if i can write sentence 2 then i can also write sentence 3 as below :

sentence 3 :minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than other graduates [ARE] to plan on practicing in socioeconomically deprived areas

though i agree the putting the helping verb "are" is not that important here as there is no ambiguity, which sometimes happens in comparison .in those cases i guess it is pertinent to put helping verb "are".

is my interpretation correct?
thanks and regards

aditya8062 wrote:Good day GURU
you have said :

The construction here is COMPARISON OF TWO CLAUSES + adverbial modifier.
Generally, if the adverbial modifier serves to modify BOTH CLAUSES, the verb will be omitted from the second clause.

can u please tell me as what is adverbial that you are referring to in the below mentioned sentence ?

sentence 1 :minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than other graduates to plan on practicing in socioeconomically deprived areas.

GURU i remember u had once told me that construction such as "more than" , "as likely as" serves to compare clauses where the subject +verb + other stuff tends to imply in the second clause if it not there (of course u had given some conditions)

with that in mind i guess i can make sentence 1 into sentence 2 as follows :

sentence 2: minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than [ARE] other graduates to plan on practicing in socioeconomically deprived areas

now if i can write sentence 2 then i can also write sentence 3 as below :

sentence 3 :minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than other graduates [ARE] to plan on practicing in socioeconomically deprived areas

though i agree the putting the helping verb "are" is not that important here as there is no ambiguity, which sometimes happens in comparison .in those cases i guess it is pertinent to put helping verb "are".
thanks and regards

The implied comparison is as follows:
Minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than other graduates [are likely].
The words in brackets are omitted, but their presence is implied.

The issue here is that the two implied clauses are followed by a MODIFIER (to plan on practicing).
If are is included in the second clause, a reader might construe that this modifier refers ONLY to the second clause:
Minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than OTHER GRADUATES ARE [LIKELY] TO PLAN ON PRACTICING.
Here, because the second clause includes its own verb, it is not crystal clear that to plan on practicing serves to modify the first clause as well as the second clause.
As a result, a reader might construe that only OTHER GRADUATES are likely to plan on practicing.

But if are is omitted from the second clause, it becomes crystal clear that to plan on practicing serves to modify BOTH clauses.
Minority graduates are nearly four times more LIKELY than other graduates TO PLAN ON PRACTICING.
Here, because there is no verb in the second clause, the only possible referent for to plan on practicing is LIKELY, which is stated explicity in the first clause and implied in the second clause.
As a result, only one interpretation is possible:
Minority graduates are nearly four times more LIKELY TO PLAN ON PRACTICING than other graduates are LIKELY TO PLAN ON PRACTICING.

While including are in the second clause is not quite an error, the intended meaning is conveyed more clearly -- and more succinctly -- if this verb is omitted from the second clause.