Sentence Correction

The Dancing Doll line sold slightly more than $3.5 million worth of toys last year, 40% more than the Teeny Tiny Trucks line did and nearly 3 times as much as the Basic Blocks line's sales.

A. the Teeny Tiny Trucks line did and nearly 3 times as much as the Basic Blocks line's sales
B. the Teeny Tiny Trucks did and nearly 3 times what the Basic Blocks' sales were
C. the Teeny Tiny Trucks line sold and nearly 3 times as much as Basic Blocks' sales.
D. the Teeny Tiny Trucks line and nearly 3 times more than Basic Blocks' sales
E. the Teeny Tiny Trucks line and nearly 3 times more than the Basic Blocks line


my doubt 1 : i don't find the comparison in A explicitly wrong plus i also feel that A wud restore the meaning of the sentence.
doubt 2: is it right to say "3 times more than" .Manhattan says that "5 times older than" is wrong .under those lines "3 times more than" sud also be wrong

can some instructor plz guide me in this
thanks and regards

aditya8062 wrote:The Dancing Doll line sold slightly more than $3.5 million worth of toys last year, 40% more than the Teeny Tiny Trucks line did and nearly 3 times as much as the Basic Blocks line's sales.

A. the Teeny Tiny Trucks line did and nearly 3 times as much as the Basic Blocks line's sales
B. the Teeny Tiny Trucks did and nearly 3 times what the Basic Blocks' sales were
C. the Teeny Tiny Trucks line sold and nearly 3 times as much as Basic Blocks' sales.
D. the Teeny Tiny Trucks line and nearly 3 times more than Basic Blocks' sales
E. the Teeny Tiny Trucks line and nearly 3 times more than the Basic Blocks line


my doubt 1 : i don't find the comparison in A explicitly wrong plus i also feel that A wud restore the meaning of the sentence.
doubt 2: is it right to say "3 times more than" .Manhattan says that "5 times older than" is wrong .under those lines "3 times more than" sud also be wrong

can some instructor plz guide me in this
thanks and regards

A conjunction such as and must serve to connect PARALLEL STRUCTURES.
Answer choice A: The Dancing Doll line SOLD 40% more than the Teeny Tiny Trucks line DID and nearly 3 times as much as the Basic Blocks line's sales [DID].
Since and must connect parallel structures, the verb in brackets is implied.
Thus, A seems to be comparing what the Teeny Tiny Trucks line DID to what the Basic Blocks line's sales DID.
Since did here is standing for sold, the result is an error of redundancy: nearly 3 times as much as the Basic Blocks line's SALES SOLD.
Eliminate A.

SC18 in the OG for Verbal, 1st edition:
United States citizens use 21 TIMES MORE WATER per capita THAN Europeans do.
Thus, X times more than Y is idiomatically correct.

thanks a lot Mitch
honestly i had never thought this way and it definitely gives new dimension to this problem . but plz tell me will the following 2 sentences be oki comparison wise

sent 1 :The Dancing Doll line sold slightly more than $3.5 million worth of toys last year, 40% more than the Teeny Tiny Trucks line did

sent 2 :The Dancing Doll line sold slightly more than $3.5 million worth of toys last year, 3 times as much as the Basic Blocks line's sales.

pardon me for asking this but i want to know that individually is the comparison oki .i have totally understood ur point of view that how parallelism is the ultimate decider in SC

SC18 in the OG for Verbal, 1st edition:
United States citizens use 21 TIMES MORE WATER per capita THAN Europeans do.
Thus, X times more than Y is idiomatically correct.

also thanks for corroborating this fact

also plz tell : how far is it oki to allow such change in meaning as it has happened in E
( i presume that"three times as much as" is different from "three time more than")

thanks and regards

40% more THAN implies somthing of X is being compared to some other Y and Z things in which case Y and Z should be parallel in structure.

E says: The Dancing Doll sold .... 40% more than .... X .... AND .... 3 times more than Y.
Parallel structure.

E looks to be the correct answer

A says: The Dancing Doll sold .... 40% more than .... the X DID.... AND .... 3 times as much as Y's sales (Not Parallel)

B says: The Dancing Doll sold .... 40% more than .... the X DID.... AND .... 3 times what Y's sales were (Not Parallel)

C. says: The Dancing Doll sold .... 40% more than .... the X SOLD .... AND .... 3 times as much as Y's sales (Not Parallel)

D says: The Dancing Doll sold .... 40% more than .... X .... AND .... 3 times more than Y's sales (Not Parallel)

GMATGuruNY wrote:

aditya8062 wrote:The Dancing Doll line sold slightly more than $3.5 million worth of toys last year, 40% more than the Teeny Tiny Trucks line did and nearly 3 times as much as the Basic Blocks line's sales.

A. the Teeny Tiny Trucks line did and nearly 3 times as much as the Basic Blocks line's sales
B. the Teeny Tiny Trucks did and nearly 3 times what the Basic Blocks' sales were
C. the Teeny Tiny Trucks line sold and nearly 3 times as much as Basic Blocks' sales.
D. the Teeny Tiny Trucks line and nearly 3 times more than Basic Blocks' sales
E. the Teeny Tiny Trucks line and nearly 3 times more than the Basic Blocks line


my doubt 1 : i don't find the comparison in A explicitly wrong plus i also feel that A wud restore the meaning of the sentence.
doubt 2: is it right to say "3 times more than" .Manhattan says that "5 times older than" is wrong .under those lines "3 times more than" sud also be wrong

can some instructor plz guide me in this
thanks and regards

A conjunction such as and must serve to connect PARALLEL STRUCTURES.
Answer choice A: The Dancing Doll line SOLD 40% more than the Teeny Tiny Trucks line DID and nearly 3 times as much as the Basic Blocks line's sales [DID].
Since and must connect parallel structures, the verb in brackets is implied.
Thus, A seems to be comparing what the Teeny Tiny Trucks line DID to what the Basic Blocks line's sales DID.
Since did here is standing for sold, the result is an error of redundancy: nearly 3 times as much as the Basic Blocks line's SALES SOLD.
Eliminate A.

SC18 in the OG for Verbal, 1st edition:
United States citizens use 21 TIMES MORE WATER per capita THAN Europeans do.
Thus, X times more than Y is idiomatically correct.

Mitch,

I understand that the clauses on either side of conjunction 'AND' need to be parallel but what about the comparisons taking place here.

In Choice E, Are we not comparing the sales of Dancing Doll line with the Teeny Tiny Trucks line AND Basic Blocks line
and If not, then where all can we avoid placing the verb when infact the comparison is between different verbs.

Please clarify

I think there are two compare.
1 The Dancing Doll line sold ......., 40% more than the Teeny Tiny Trucks line (did).
2 The Dancing Doll line sold ......., nearly 3 times as much as the Basic Blocks line.
3 the parallel 40% more than the Teeny Tiny Trucks line and nearly 3 times as much as the Basic Blocks line.

In ABCD, The Dancing Doll line sold ......., nearly 3 times as much as the Basic Blocks line's sales
the last few words are Basic Blocks line's sales
I think it is not parallel between Dancing Doll line sold and Basic Blocks line's sales.
1.Nouns + Verb VS Nouns ?? It is not parallel
2. in the meaning A shop VS a sales? It is not logical
But E is Nouns + Verb VS Nouns + (Verb)
So I think the E is the better choice.
The omit Verb in compare. I hope I can help you.

nachiket wrote :In Choice E, Are we not comparing the sales of Dancing Doll line with the Teeny Tiny Trucks line AND Basic Blocks line

this is not the case . "sold" is taken care of by ellipses

aditya8062 wrote:

nachiket wrote :In Choice E, Are we not comparing the sales of Dancing Doll line with the Teeny Tiny Trucks line AND Basic Blocks line

this is not the case . "sold" is taken care of by ellipses

I have read this concept of ellipses somewhere else too. I really want to know where all we can make use of ellipses and do away with repetition of verbs.
How do we identify that ellipses will take care of the verb and we need not repeat it in the sentence.Because there are sentences which make use of ellipses and there are sentences which need explicit mention of the verbs.

Please clarify

Nachiket wrote: Mitch,

I understand that the clauses on either side of conjunction 'AND' need to be parallel but what about the comparisons taking place here.

In Choice E, Are we not comparing the sales of Dancing Doll line with the Teeny Tiny Trucks line AND Basic Blocks line
and If not, then where all can we avoid placing the verb when infact the comparison is between different verbs.

Please clarify

ELLIPSIS is the omission of words whose presence is understood.
Answer choice E: The Dancing Doll line sold slightly more than $3.5 million worth of toys last year, 40% more than the Teeny Tiny Trucks line [sold] and nearly 3 times more than the Basic Blocks line [sold].
Here, the verbs in brackets are omitted, but their presence is understood: it is crystal clear that how much the Dancing Doll line SOLD is being compared to how much the other two lines SOLD.
This is the only logical interpretation.

Most comparisons employ ellipsis.
An error occurs when MORE THAN ONE interpretation is possible.
SC18 in the OG12, answer choice B:
Plant are more efficient at acquiring carbon than fungi.
Interpretation 1: Plants are more efficient at acquiring carbon than [THEY ARE EFFICIENT AT ACQUIRING] fungi.
Interpretation 2: Plants are more efficient at acquiring carbon than fungi [ARE EFFICIENT AT ACQUIRING CARBON].
Since more than one interpretation is possible, look for an answer choice that makes the comparison clear.
Answer choice C: Plants are more efficient than fungi at acquiring carbon.
Here, only ONE interpretation is possible:
Plants are more efficient [at acquiring carbon] than fungi [are efficient] at acquiring carbon.
Since C makes the comparison clear, eliminate B and choose C.

WHAT IS THE OA FOR THIS QUESTION?

Practicegmat wrote:WHAT IS THE OA FOR THIS QUESTION?

E

GMATGuruNY wrote: An error occurs when MORE THAN ONE interpretation is possible.
SC18 in the OG12, answer choice B:
Plant are more efficient at acquiring carbon than fungi.
Interpretation 1: Plants are more efficient at acquiring carbon than [THEY ARE EFFICIENT AT ACQUIRING] fungi.
Interpretation 2: Plants are more efficient at acquiring carbon than fungi [ARE EFFICIENT AT ACQUIRING CARBON].
Since more than one interpretation is possible, look for an answer choice that makes the comparison clear.
Answer choice C: Plants are more efficient than fungi at acquiring carbon.
Here, only ONE interpretation is possible:
Plants are more efficient [at acquiring carbon] than fungi [are efficient] at acquiring carbon.
Since C makes the comparison clear, eliminate B and choose C.

GMATGuruNY - could you please let me know what's issue with option A : Plants are more efficient at acquiring carbon than are fungi ? Why it's wrong ?

P.S: I'm convinced with the OA as C, but need STRONG reason to eliminate A.

RBBmba@2014 wrote:
GMATGuruNY - could you please let me know what's issue with option A : Plants are more efficient at acquiring carbon than are fungi ? Why it's wrong ?

P.S: I'm convinced with the OA as C, but need STRONG reason to eliminate A.

Always read each answer choice in conjunction with the NON-UNDERLINED portion.
A: Plants are more efficient at acquiring carbon than are fungi, in the form of carbon dioxide.
Here, in the form of carbon dioxide seems to refer to FUNGI, implying that FUNGI are IN THE FORM OF CARBON DIOXIDE -- a nonsensical meaning.
The intended meaning is that the acquired CARBON is in the form of carbon dioxide.
Eliminate A.