parallelism

[kiranlegend]

Scientists have found that skin tissue is more resistant to toxic substances than lung tissue and uses sweat glands to protect the immune system from possible invaders.


skin tissue is more resistant to toxic substances than lung tissue and uses

skin tissue is more resistant to toxic substances than is lung tissue and uses

sorry this question is only clarification of my doubt:) hence i would post the OA here.

2nd option is correct one. what is wrong with the first one? aint first one suggests:"skin tissue is more resistant to toxic substances than lung tissue is"

[kiranlegend]

guys, pls explain this

[raunekk]

hi,
read closely: "skin tissue is more resistant to toxic substances than lung tissue "
WE need,
comparison between skin tissue and lung tissue.

A:It changes the meaning, It means skin tissue is resistant to toxic substances and is resitant to lung tissue also .(changes meaning)


This is not what the original sentence tries to say,Original sentence tries to compare the resistance of "skin tissue " and "lung tissue"
to toxics.

B:"skin tissue is more resistant to toxic substances than is lung tissue ".

usage of "is", makes sure "apple " is compared to "apple"

I hope this helps,..

thanks.

[lunarpower]

this is an application of a very common general rule:

* if you have 2 ANSWER CHOICES THAT DIFFER ONLY IN THE PRESENCE/ABSENCE OF A LITTLE WORD, then you should LOOK FOR AN AMBIGUITY that arises if the little word is omitted.

in some problems those words aren't necessary, but in other problems they are.
the thing to keep in mind, though, is that you can't use "common sense" to resolve any ambiguity that may exist in the sentence: if there are 2 legitimate interpretations - even if one of them is farfetched - then that's still an ambiguity, and you need to include the little word to render the meaning unique.
in this sentence, there are 2 possible meanings, which i'll make explicit by adding the appropriate "little words":

(1) Scientists have found that skin tissue is more resistant to toxic substances than TO lung tissue and ...
(2) Scientists have found that skin tissue is more resistant to toxic substances than IS lung tissue and ...

see what i mean?
granted, the first of these is pretty farfetched - it's quite unlikely that skin tissue would be resistant to lung tissue - but that doesn't matter; the sentence is still technically ambiguous. therefore, the "is" is absolutely required.

[kiranlegend]

Scientists have found that skin tissue is more resistant to toxic substances than lung tissue and uses sweat glands to protect the immune system from possible invaders.


skin tissue is more resistant to toxic substances than lung tissue and uses

skin tissue is more resistant to toxic substances than is lung tissue and uses

sorry this question is only clarification of my doubt:) hence i would post the OA here.

2nd option is correct one. what is wrong with the first one? aint first one suggests:"skin tissue is more resistant to toxic substances than lung tissue is"

tnx so much for ur explanations

however if u consider the sentences 'He likes you more than I' and 'He is taller than she' don't they sound ambigous too! but they were correct itseems..

moreover, if i change the first option to 'skin tissue is more resistant to toxic substances than lung tissue is' will it be correct?

[lunarpower]

however if u consider the sentences 'He likes you more than I' and 'He is taller than she' don't they sound ambigous too!

nope.

first one: the word 'i' is in the subject case. this rules out the alternative meaning (he likes you more than he likes me), because that meaning would require the object case ('me').
this sentence means, unambiguously, 'he likes you more than i like you'.

second one:
there's no possibliity of ambiguity here at all. what did you think were the 2 possible meanings?

moreover, if i change the first option to 'skin tissue is more resistant to toxic substances than lung tissue is' will it be correct?

yes, but that's not the preferred way to construct such clauses in formal written english.
placing the helping verb 'is' before its subject is preferred, because it helps to maintain internal cohesion.
if you don't understand the basis for this preference, consider a case in which that subject is followed by a long essential modifier:
'...than is the lung tissue located close to the epithelium surrounding the lungs' (preferred)
vs.
'...than the lung tissue located close to the epithelium surrounding the lungs is' (not preferred; difficult if not impossible to understand at first read)