limestone wrote:Page 103
7. The blue dress looks more flattering on you than the red one does
10. Sam was away on vacation longer than his friends were.
15. The tycoon contributed more to the candidate's campaign than did anyone else in the industry.
When to use/not to use inversion in comparison cases, like those sentences above?
The issue:
1. If the last part has only NOUN without modifier, then the helping verb/verb will be used after the NOUN.
Example:
I know more about Cox's bazar than
my brother does.
--> Look "my brother" does not have any modifier after it; therefore, the helping verb has been used after the NOUN.
From your example:
The blue dress looks more flattering on you than
the red one does.
--> Look "the red one" does not have modifier after it.
2. If the NOUN has modifier(s), the helping verb/verb is used before the NOUN. We do so to avoid ambiguity.
Example:
I know more about Cox's Bazar than does
my brother, who has never gone there.
--> Look "my brother" has been modified by "who has ...".
If we use DOES after the NOUN, the sentence looks like:
I know more about Cox's Bazar than my brother, who has never gone there does.
--> It makes the sentence less smooth.
From your example:
The tycoon contributed more to the candidate's campaign than did
anyone else in the industry.
--< Look "anyone else" has a modifier "in the industry".
If we use the verb "did" after the subject, the sentence looks like:
The tycoon contributed more to the candidate's campaign than anyone else in
the industry did.
--> One may misread "the industry did" rather than 'anyone else did".
HTH.
