GmatKiss wrote:World War II, which resulted in the death of over 70 million individuals, proved to be the deadliest conflict in human history, claiming nearly twice as many lives than would be killed in World War I.
A) lives than would be killed in World War I
B) lives as would World War I
C) lives than those who were killed in World War I
D) lives than World War I
E) lives as World War I
OA after some discussion!
In A, C and D,
as many...THAN is not idiomatic. The correct idiom is AS MANY AS. Eliminate A, C and D.
In B,
claiming as many lives...as WOULD World War I implies -- nonsensically -- that World War I took place AFTER World War II. Eliminate B.
I'm troubled by E, which must be the OA.
E employs ellipsis: the omission of words in a comparison.
When ellipsis is used, the omitted words should appear -- IN THE EXACT SAME FORM -- earlier in the sentence.
The omitted verb in E seems to be
HAD CLAIMED, but the preceding form of this verb is
CLAIMING:
...
CLAIMING twice as many lives as World War I [HAD CLAIMED].
HAD CLAIMED ≠CLAIMING.
This sort of ellipsis is to be avoided on the GMAT.
What is the source of this question?
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