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ketkoag: Legendary Member; Posts: 876; Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:14 am; Thanked: 13 times

by ketkoag » Sat Jun 27, 2009 5:26 am

This is from the beatthegmat flashcards..
"Beeswax candles burn more cleanly than synthetic candles.” This statement is correct as per the flash cards.
Would it not be "Beeswax candles burn more cleanly than synthetic candles DO"?
i think we should add DO at the end of the original sentence to make it correct..
please clarify as i doubt this..[/b]

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Sat Jun 27, 2009 5:26 am

hemanth28: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 157; Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 9:05 am; Thanked: 9 times; GMAT Score:680

by hemanth28 » Sat Jun 27, 2009 10:29 am

you are right. I guess the "DO" should have been there .

I Guess you should write to the author asking him to change that.

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rahulg83: Legendary Member; Posts: 575; Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2008 2:58 amFollowed by: 4 members; Location: India; Thanked: 18 times; GMAT Score:710

by rahulg83 » Sat Jun 27, 2009 10:35 am

I think this sentence is acceptable..
We don't have to put "do" at the end, it can be omitted.

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Stacey Koprince: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2228; Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pmFollowed by: 694 members; Location: Montreal, Canada; Thanked: 639 times; GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Fri Jun 04, 2010 10:57 am

Received a PM asking me to reply.

Rahul is right: the "do" is optional. The first sentence, below, is an example of an elliptical construction, in which words that would normally be required are omitted from a sentence. This is acceptable as long as the omitted word (or words) is found earlier in the sentence. In the below case, the word "burn" is not repeated but the parallelism allows us to know without a doubt what the missing word is.

Beeswax candles burn more cleanly than synthetic candles (burn).
OR
Beeswax candles burn more cleanly than synthetic candles do.

The second sentence uses the pro-verb "do" in order to refer back to the verb "burn." (A pro-verb is like a pronoun, except it refers to a verb.)

Either form is acceptable.

Please note: I do not use the Private Messaging system! I will not see any PMs that you send to me!!

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