patanjali.purpose wrote:Research in developmental psychology has shown that teenagers are far more concerned with {{how they are accepted by their peers than younger children}}.
A - how they are accepted by their peers than younger children
B - being accepted by their peers than children younger than them are
C - how they are accepted by peers as younger children are
D - their acceptance amongst peers than younger children
E - being accepted by their peers than younger children
Pls share your reasoning for each choice
I received a PM asking me to comment.
The SC above employs ELLIPSIS: the omission of words whose presence is understood.
Ellipsis is very common in COMPARISONS.
When ELLIPSIS is used, it must be clear what words have been omitted.
In A, there are two possible interpretations:
...teenagers are far more concerned with how they are accepted BY THEIR PEERS than with how they are accepted BY YOUNGER CHILDREN.
...TEENAGERS ARE FAR MORE CONCERNED with how they are accepted...than YOUNGER CHILDREN ARE CONCERNED with how they are accepted.
Since it is not crystal clear what words have been omitted and exactly what is being compared, eliminate A.
For the same reasons, eliminate D and E.
In C,
MORE concerned...AS is not idiomatic. Eliminate C.
In B,
children younger than THEM is unlikely to be included in an OA on the GMAT. The implied meaning is
children who ARE younger than THEY [the teenagers] ARE, so the construction preferred in standard written English is
children younger than THEY. (Please note that some grammarians will claim that in this construction
than is a preposition, so
children younger than them is permissible. I disagree with this analysis.)
I don't see a correct answer here.
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