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Possessive pronoun usage issue

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by dhonu121 » Wed May 23, 2012 3:10 am
Hi,
Here is a sentence from Manhattan's GMAT.
Frank's build, like his brother, is extremely broad and muscular.
This is wrong comparison and hence the correct form is
Frank, like his brother, has a broad and muscular build. OR Frank's build, like that of his brother, is extremely broad and muscular.

My question is that can the following construction can also be correct. Please explain if its wrong.
Frank's build, like his brother's, is extremely broad and muscular.


Thanks in Advance.
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by vk_vinayak » Thu May 24, 2012 3:22 am
dhonu121 wrote: My question is that can the following construction can also be correct. Please explain if its wrong.
Frank's build, like his brother's, is extremely broad and muscular.
The above construction is correct. You are comparing Frank's build with his brother's build. As you've written, there is no need to repeat 'build', but repeating the same word doesn't make the sentence incorrect.

ALSO CORRECT: Frank's build, like his brother's build, is extremely broad and muscular.
- VK

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Possessive pronoun usage issue

by dhonu121 » Thu May 24, 2012 4:11 am
vk_vinayak wrote:
dhonu121 wrote: My question is that can the following construction can also be correct. Please explain if its wrong.
Frank's build, like his brother's, is extremely broad and muscular.
The above construction is correct. You are comparing Frank's build with his brother's build. As you've written, there is no need to repeat 'build', but repeating the same word doesn't make the sentence incorrect.

ALSO CORRECT: Frank's build, like his brother's build, is extremely broad and muscular.
So this means that, in my original sentence,
Frank's build, like his brother's, is extremely broad and muscular.
the second build is implied just because its used earlier for comparison already ?
What if I say,
Frank's build, like his brother's (car), is extremely broad and muscular.
In my above sentence, if I have mentioned car, then it is obv wrong, but If I dont mention it, I can still wrongly intend it
So, can't we say, as a rule, that above construction
Frank's build, like his brother's, is extremely broad and muscular.
is always wrong. ?
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by vk_vinayak » Thu May 24, 2012 7:57 pm
dhonu121 wrote: So, can't we say, as a rule, that above construction
Frank's build, like his brother's, is extremely broad and muscular.
is always wrong. ?
Nope.

CORRECT:Frank's build, like his brother's, is extremely broad and muscular.
In this sentence you are omitting the second 'build' because you want to compare the build of brother with build of Frank, and the word 'build' has been mentioned in the first part.

If you want to compare Frank's build with something else, eg:car, then you have to mention it explicitly.
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by dhonu121 » Thu May 24, 2012 8:52 pm
hmm..Thanks Mate..
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