BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

More..Than (Preposition and Parallelism) Ambiguity

This topic has expert replies
Post new topic Locked
Previous Topic Next Topic
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 39
Joined: Sat Mar 15, 2014 10:36 pm
Thanked: 1 times

More..Than (Preposition and Parallelism) Ambiguity

by raj44 » Sat May 24, 2014 10:26 pm
Good day people,

The parallelism marker (or idiom) MORE....THAN when used with prepositions such as ON results in some confusion:

For example, 1. ".."MORE emphasis ONstyle THAN ON the content...." works

or
2. ".."MORE emphasis ONstyle THAN the content...." is right?

Notice that ON is omitted from phrase 2.

Please clarify the concept behind this - or both forms are acceptable from GMAT pov?

Thanks,
Top
Source: — Sentence Correction |

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
Elite Legendary Member
Posts: 10392
Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:38 pm
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Thanked: 2867 times
Followed by:511 members
GMAT Score:800

by [email protected] » Sun May 25, 2014 12:13 am
Hi raj44,

"Context" is especially important in these sorts of situations. Do you have an actual GMAT SC that you'd like to review?

Based on your second example, I'd expect the sentence to state "MORE emphasis ON style THAN ON content..."

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
Image
Top
Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 24
Joined: Sat Apr 23, 2011 9:43 pm
Thanked: 1 times
GMAT Score:760

by kinji@BTG » Sun May 25, 2014 12:15 am
raj44 wrote:Good day people,

The parallelism marker (or idiom) MORE....THAN when used with prepositions such as ON results in some confusion:

For example, 1. ".."MORE emphasis ONstyle THAN ON the content...." works

or
2. ".."MORE emphasis ONstyle THAN the content...." is right?

Notice that ON is omitted from phrase 2.

Please clarify the concept behind this - or both forms are acceptable from GMAT pov?

Thanks,
The concept is called ellipsis.

The words can be ellipsed if there is no ambiguity in the meaning.

For example : Tom likes to eat hamburger than to eat hot dog
-> to eat can be ellipsed and the following sentence is correct
Tom likes to eat hamburger than hot dog

But in some cases, you need to repeat the words to avoid ambiguity.

For example:
Tom has more love for his money than his wife.

Here the comparison can be
Tom has more love for his money than his wife does.
Comparing Tom love for money and his wife's love for money.

Or the comparison can be
Tom love his money more than he loves his wife.

So there can be an ambiguity so we need to understand the intended meaning and take a decision whether to ellipsis or not.
Top
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 223
Joined: Thu Dec 05, 2013 4:22 am
Thanked: 12 times
Followed by:8 members

by AnjaliOberoi » Sun May 25, 2014 12:17 am
I think the correct idiom is MORE X THAN Y
so phrase 2 is wrong because X and Y need to parallel
on Style is not parallel with content
Top
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 39
Joined: Sat Mar 15, 2014 10:36 pm
Thanked: 1 times

by raj44 » Sun May 25, 2014 2:05 am
[email protected] wrote:Hi raj44,

"Context" is especially important in these sorts of situations. Do you have an actual GMAT SC that you'd like to review?

Based on your second example, I'd expect the sentence to state "MORE emphasis ON style THAN ON content..."

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Hi Rich,

Well I was practicing AWA when I come across this doubt(therefore no sample SC prob); more...than.. I think that ON has to be repeated here (since style and content are diff ) and it also maintains the parallelism.

But then there are exceptions :D like the usage of THAN in comparison questions...as kinji meentioned..ellipsis..So whats the final take away then :)
Top

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 645
Joined: Mon Jul 26, 2010 12:42 pm
Location: US
Thanked: 527 times
Followed by:227 members

by e-GMAT » Tue May 27, 2014 3:29 pm
Hi raj44,

Ellipsis can be used in a sentence to an extent where the intended meaning of the sentence is not changed. The sentence should not convey ambiguous meaning because of ellipsis. Let's take a simple example to understand how ellipsis can result in ambiguity in meaning:

"¢ Tom puts more trust in the technology than his friends.

This sentence conveys two meanings:

1. Tom trusts the technology. Tom trusts his friends. But he trusts technology more than his friends.
2. Tom trusts the technology. His friends trust technology. But between Tom and his friends he trusts the technology more.

This sentence is ambiguous since both 'friends' and 'the technology' are comparable. Tom can put his trust in both these entities.

The reason for the ambiguity in the above sentence is ellipsis. Since there are two possible meanings of the above sentence, let's try to recover the original sentence (without any ellipsis):

1. Tom puts more trust in the technology than in his friends. (Preposition)

2. Tom puts more trust in the technology than do his friends. (Verb)

Now, both these sentences convey the intended meaning.

TAKE AWAYS

1. Choose the answer choice that conveys intended unambiguous comparison.

2. When the sentence conveys ambiguous comparison, repeat either the preposition or the helping verb to convey the intended meaning.

To learn more about this concept, please refer to Ellipses in Comparison.

Hope this helps!

Regards,
Deepak
Top
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 39
Joined: Sat Mar 15, 2014 10:36 pm
Thanked: 1 times

by raj44 » Thu May 29, 2014 7:32 am
Good Day Deepak,

Thanks a lot for the succinct explanation. My concepts are now clear regarding ellipsis.

Regards,
Rajeev

e-GMAT wrote:Hi raj44,

Ellipsis can be used in a sentence to an extent where the intended meaning of the sentence is not changed. The sentence should not convey ambiguous meaning because of ellipsis. Let's take a simple example to understand how ellipsis can result in ambiguity in meaning:

"¢ Tom puts more trust in the technology than his friends.

This sentence conveys two meanings:

1. Tom trusts the technology. Tom trusts his friends. But he trusts technology more than his friends.
2. Tom trusts the technology. His friends trust technology. But between Tom and his friends he trusts the technology more.

This sentence is ambiguous since both 'friends' and 'the technology' are comparable. Tom can put his trust in both these entities.

The reason for the ambiguity in the above sentence is ellipsis. Since there are two possible meanings of the above sentence, let's try to recover the original sentence (without any ellipsis):

1. Tom puts more trust in the technology than in his friends. (Preposition)

2. Tom puts more trust in the technology than do his friends. (Verb)

Now, both these sentences convey the intended meaning.

TAKE AWAYS

1. Choose the answer choice that conveys intended unambiguous comparison.

2. When the sentence conveys ambiguous comparison, repeat either the preposition or the helping verb to convey the intended meaning.

To learn more about this concept, please refer to Ellipses in Comparison.

Hope this helps!

Regards,
Deepak
Top
Post new topic Locked
• Page 1 of 1