According to a 1996 survey by the National

[RonPurewal]

no. neither of those versions is a proper sentence.

3 things here.

1/
DO NOT think of comparisons in terms of "omitted" words.
in the vast majority of correct comparison sentences, NO words are actually "omitted", and NO words can be "put back in" (as you're trying to do here).

2/
you do not have to know HOW TO WRITE comparison sentences.
...because this is a multiple-choice exam.
you need only be able to compare answer choices and make relative judgments. (this is a good thing, because writing comparison sentences is VERY hard--even for native speakers of english--and is nearly impossible for english learners to master fully. on the other hand, it's not nearly as hard to make relative judgments.)

3/
as i said earlier in this thread:

Don't make comparisons more complicated than they need to be. Just use pure parallelism to make this decision.

...really, not kidding-- don't make this harder than it needs to be.

[TooLong150]

Hi MGMAT,

I am not trying to make this harder than it should, but from what I understand regarding parallel structure, the parallel form here is "as many X as Y" and X and Y must be logically and grammatically parallel. However in this case X and Y aren't grammatically parallel unless you assume that the noun (institutions) comes before the verb "charge". To better help me explain my question, I have filtered the correct answer below, so that only the important points remain. I also replaced "independent institutions of higher education" with "colleges".

More than three times as many colleges charge tuition and fees of under $8,000 a year as charge over $16,000.
In this case X = colleges charge tuition and fees of under $8,000 a year and Y = charge over $16,000. As you can see X contains a subject at its head and Y contains a verb at its head, but these elements are not parallel.

However, to make this parallel, we can assume that "colleges" is elided in front of "charge over $16,000", but when we do that the sentence doesn't make sense, because it reads:

More than three times as many colleges charge tuition and fees of under $8,000 a year as colleges charge over $16,000.
In this case X = colleges charge tuition and fees of under $8,000 a year and Y = colleges charge over $16,000

Even though I accept the Official Answer wholeheartedly, I am stuck here and don't see the correct parallel elements in the form "as many X as Y". Also, what do you think are the takeaways from this problem in regard to my above questions?

Thanks!

[RonPurewal]

please go back to the post right before yours, and read #1 and #2 again.
please read them several times, because right now you are ignoring them completely.

However, to make this parallel, we can assume that "colleges" is elided

no, we can't.
NOTHING is 'elided' or 'omitted' here.
it is IMPOSSIBLE to add any 'extra' words into this sentence.

read this:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... tml#p94862
this sentence is basically the same as the one in the link (In New York, more people walk than drive to work).
there are no 'missing' words, nor can you add in any 'extra' words.

luckily, you do not have to worry about any of this. you just have to find the matching things, and eliminate the non-matches.

[TooLong150]

Thanks, Ron! I finally figured this out! I looked at "as many X as Y" as a rigid parallel construction rather than looked for the parallel elements.

In my reduced example, it should be:
More than three times as many colleges charge tuition and fees of under $8,000 a year as charge over $16,000.
Because the actor ("colleges") is the same, the parallel elements would be "charge tuition and fees of under $8,000 a year" and "charge over $16,000".

This sentence would be similar to the following:
More than three times as many colleges charge tuition and fees of under $8,000 a year as provide merit-based scholarships.
Here "charge tuition and fees of under $8,000 a year" is parallel to "provide merit-based scholarships".

P.S.:
I know that when you want to tell people that the official answers are always correct, you always paste the same text. Have you ever thought of making it a sticky post and then adding the URL to that post to your signature, so that you can refer people to your signature and save time pasting the same text each time? Just a suggestion!

[krutiks511]

Yes, you can compare verbs.

More people walk than drive in New York.

As long as both actions are performed by the same subject ("people"), we're good.

I have no idea how to analyze this comparison grammatically, nor should either you or I be terribly interested in doing so.
Just notice:
* People do both things.
* The parallelism is perfect.

There you go.

awesome analysis !

[RonPurewal]

thanks.

[AsadA969]

Source: Prep Exam Pack1
According to a 1996 survey by the National Association of College and University Business Officers, more than three times as many independent institutions of higher education charge tuition and fees of under $8,000 a year than those that charge over $16,000.

A. than those that charge
B. than are charging
C. than to charge
D. as charge
E. as those charging

E/
‘’--------‘’Harvard charges tuition and fees of under $8,000 a year as those charging over $16,000.
On the above sentence, the underlined part carries charging, which is not a verb; it is used as modifier. It is not my job to make parallel something by seeing the underlined part; my job is to make parallel something (with proper meaning) by seeing the non-underlined parts as it is legitimate all the times. If I take the word ‘charging’ (in underlined part) as legitimate, then I should convert the word ‘charge’ into ‘charging’ in non-underlined part as “charge” should be modifier. But, after converting the word ‘charge’ into ‘charging’, the sentence will be fragment! Then, we should need another verb to make the sentence legitimate. Also, Should I change the non-underlined part (s)?? -----Nope. So, option E can’t be correct for a single moment!
Also, there is no indication of parallelism marker in choice E.

D/
‘’--------‘’Harvard chargeS tuition and fees of under $8,000 a year as chargeS over $16,000.
Here, the use of parallelism of verb (charge) is perfectly fine. ‘’……..’’Harvard charges something under $8,000 as Harvard charges over $16,000.
Ron, is my understanding correct?
Thanks

[RonPurewal]

all of those sentences are nonsense if 'harvard' is inserted.

the point of the sentence is that there are three times as many X's as Y's. so, you can't replace the X's with a single item.

[RonPurewal]

also, go back to the first post on this page, and read it several times.

especially this part:

2/
you do not have to know HOW TO WRITE comparison sentences.
...because this is a multiple-choice exam.
you need only be able to compare answer choices and make relative judgments. (this is a good thing, because writing comparison sentences is VERY hard--even for native speakers of english--and is nearly impossible for english learners to master fully. on the other hand, it's not nearly as hard to make relative judgments.)

[RonPurewal]

...and i just noticed that this problem is from an 'exam pack'. that's a PAID source. so, we shouldn't even be discussing it here.
thus this thread is now locked.