Comparision using "than"

[saxenankit]

Dear experts,

I have a small question -

While doing comparisons, we need verb repetitions in sentences that are ambiguous. for eg -

I love chocolate more than Sote

This sentence can have two interpretations -
I love chocolate more than I love Sote [Sote is a famous dish]
or
I love chocolate more than Sote does [Sote is my close friend !]

Now, please consider the below sentence -

I will live much longer than my ancestors

==> Do we need a "did" here ?
As per my understanding the above sentence (without "did") is unambiguous.

Could you please clarify with the help of some short examples ?

I appreciate your time and help here.

Regards,
Ankit Saxena

[RonPurewal]

While doing comparisons, we need verb repetitions in sentences that are ambiguous.

yes.

for eg -

I love chocolate more than Sote

This sentence can have two interpretations -
I love chocolate more than I love Sote [Sote is a famous dish]
or
I love chocolate more than Sote does [Sote is my close friend !]

this is a bad example; the gmat will never, ever, ever use an example that is so devoid of context that you can't tell whether a name is a person or a dish (!). the identity of the nouns in the problem will always be clear in context.
for instance, "soda" can be a soft drink, or "soda" can be a chemical compound incorporating sodium, but no sentence will leave you unclear as to which of these is intended.

here's a better example:

Greg has known Stephanie longer than Laura
--> ambiguous; could have one of two meanings:
(1) Greg has known Stephanie longer than Laura has known Stephanie
(2) Greg has known Stephanie longer than Greg has known Laura

if we mean #1, we can add a verb:
Greg has known Stephanie longer than Laura has

Now, please consider the below sentence -

I will live much longer than my ancestors

==> Do we need a "did" here ?
As per my understanding the above sentence (without "did") is unambiguous.[/quote]

correct; no verb is necessary there.

Could you please clarify with the help of some short examples ?

i'm not sure what other examples could be given here.

what problem inspired this question? this question is unlikely to be completely random, so, if you give us the problem that led you to wonder about these things, we can construct additional relevant examples.

[saxenankit]

Thanks Ron, you were awesome as always :-)

I understand that it's not possible to construct many examples ;-)

Have you ever felt that there is something that has been bugging you but you are not able to express it or to question the right questions ... I have gone crazy lately doing these SC problems .. pardon me :)

Allow me to express my bugs -

1. Consider the below sentence -

The Roman civilization was older than was the City of gold.

I understand that there is some problem with the above sentence but can't pin point. Can you please nail the issue so that I can apply the thought process to further problems.

2. I discussed the sentence - I will live much longer than my ancestors with some of my friends (they are also preparing for GMAT). They confused me saying that how you can compare the years that you will live with ancestors. And, therefore, we need a did here.
=> What do you think is the best criticism to the above argument ?
= > Can you please give me a single example where in we might need to repeat the verb even if the sentence is unambiguous ?

Pardon me for using a lot of words to ask a simple thing ..

Regards,
Ankit Saxena

[RonPurewal]

1. Consider the below sentence -

The Roman civilization was older than was the City of gold.

I understand that there is some problem with the above sentence but can't pin point. Can you please nail the issue so that I can apply the thought process to further problems.

the main problem with the sentence is that it doesn't mean anything. i'll explain by way of analogy.
i am 35 years old
--> this sentence is fine; i am 35 years old right now.
i was 31 years old
--> this sentence is nonsense without further context. (e.g., i was 31 years old when i got married is fine.)

also, the second "was" is unnecessary, as there is no ambiguity in the construction. but this sentence is nonsense unless you either (1) change "was" to "is" (if these things are still around), or (2) add some context in terms of when these things had the described ages.

2. I discussed the sentence - I will live much longer than my ancestors with some of my friends (they are also preparing for GMAT). They confused me saying that how you can compare the years that you will live with ancestors. And, therefore, we need a did here.
=> What do you think is the best criticism to the above argument ?

they got the correct version, but their reasoning is incorrect.
the reason you need to add "did" is that the two parts of the comparison are in different tenses. if the tense changes in a comparison, then the comparison must contain two verbs, one in each tense.

for instance:
i can run faster than my father --> this means that i can run faster than my father can run right now.
i can run faster than my father could (at some point in the past) --> tense change requires "could"

= > Can you please give me a single example where in we might need to repeat the verb even if the sentence is unambiguous ?

... if you have a tense change. see above.