doubt 6

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aditya8062: Legendary Member; Posts: 774; Joined: Mon Jan 23, 2012 4:32 am; Thanked: 46 times; Followed by:14 members

doubt 6

by aditya8062 » Fri Sep 12, 2014 12:59 am

i have a query about comparison of the following structure sentence 1: it is nearly 2 times more likely that doctors will plan to do higher studies than engineers
------>incorrect

sentence2 : it is nearly 2 times more likely that doctors will plan to do higher studies than that engineers will ------>correct

my doubt: why sentence 1 is wrong? can't we consider ellipses in sentence 1 as follows: it is nearly 2 times more likely that doctors will plan to do higher studies than engineers [will plan to do higher studies]

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Fri Sep 12, 2014 12:59 am

GMATGuruNY: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 15539; Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pm; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 13060 times; Followed by:1906 members; GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Fri Sep 12, 2014 1:43 am

It is more likely that doctors will plan to conduct higher studies.
Here, it is an EXPLETIVE standing in for the SUBJECT of the sentence (that doctors will plan to conduct higher studies}.
Conveyed meaning:
That doctors will plan to conduct higher studies is more likely.
One that-clause should be compared to another:
That doctors will plan to conduct higher studies is more likely than that engineers will.
Reinserting the expletive, we get:
It is more likely that doctors will plan to conduct higher studies than that engineers will.

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aditya8062: Legendary Member; Posts: 774; Joined: Mon Jan 23, 2012 4:32 am; Thanked: 46 times; Followed by:14 members

by aditya8062 » Fri Sep 12, 2014 5:02 am

thanks for your reply guru

One that-clause should be compared to another:

your replies always enlighten me .so from your statement can i conclude that "ellipses" is not considered when we have a construction such as "it is ...X times as likely that ..."

kindly ALSO tell me if the following would be correct : It is 4 times as likely that doctors will plan to do higher studies, as it is that engineers will do the higher studies.---->if i go by the rule that u have told then i feel that this sentence would be incorrect because the implied meaning would be: that doctors will plan to do higher studies is 4 times as likely as it is that engineers will do the higher studies--->the bold portion might create problem

thanks

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GMATGuruNY: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 15539; Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pm; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 13060 times; Followed by:1906 members; GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Fri Sep 12, 2014 7:09 am

aditya8062 wrote:thanks for your reply guru

One that-clause should be compared to another:
your replies always enlighten me .so from your statement can i conclude that "ellipses" is not considered when we have a construction such as "it is ...X times as likely that ..."

In the second clause, that cannot be omitted.
The following construction is correct:
It is X times as likely that Y will happen as that Z will happen.

kindly ALSO tell me if the following would be correct : It is 4 times as likely that doctors will plan to do higher studies, as it is that engineers will do the higher studies.---->if i go by the rule that u have told then i feel that this sentence would be incorrect because the implied meaning would be: that doctors will plan to do higher studies is 4 times as likely as it is that engineers will do the higher studies--->the bold portion might create problem

thanks

It is four times as likely that doctors will conduct studies as it is that engineers will conduct studies.
Here, the first it is standing in for the that-clause in red, while the second it is standing in for the that-clause in blue.
The implied comparison is logical:
The doctors will conduct studies is four times as likely as that engineers will conduct studies.
That said, the second it is unnecessary, since the following version is more concise and conveys the same meaning:
It is four times as likely that doctors will conduct studies as that engineers will.

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Md Raihan Uddin: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 49; Joined: Sun May 18, 2014 8:51 am

by Md Raihan Uddin » Mon Sep 29, 2014 9:55 pm

Hi Mitch,
So far I know, Helping verbs should be removed only if removing them does not lead to ambiguity. For example the following sentence gives two meaning.

"young people are less committed to career than their parents"

So we have to make it clear either by putting 'to' before their parents or by putting 'helping verb' at the end. But the following sentence can't give two meaning as one meaning will be nonsensical.

John cooks better pizza than his wife. --- in this sentence 'cooks' is implied for his wife. Here also we are comparing between two clauses and still we don't need to put verb.

Now, "it is nearly 2 times more likely that doctors will plan to do higher studies than engineers" gives us only one meaning. So, why do I need to write "will" again?

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GMATGuruNY: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 15539; Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pm; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 13060 times; Followed by:1906 members; GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Tue Sep 30, 2014 2:49 am

Md Raihan Uddin wrote: Now, "it is nearly two times more likely that doctors will plan to do higher studies than engineers" gives us only one meaning. So, why do I need to write "will" again?

If the second clause of a comparison lacks a verb, the verb from the first clause is implied.
It is more likely that doctors will conduct studies than engineers.
Here, it is an expletive standing in for the subject of the first clause (that doctors will conduct studies).
Conveyed meaning:
That doctors will conduct studies IS more likely than engineers.
The verb in the first clause is not will but IS.
Since the second clause lacks a verb, the implied verb must be the plural form of is (the verb in the first clause).
Resulting comparison:
That doctors will conduct studies is more likely than engineers [are likely].
This comparison is illogical.