Even though vs even if vs although

[elisabetta.portioli]

Grazie!

Ho appena terminato la mia prima simulazione con GMAT prep software e ho ottenuto il peggior voto mai ottenuto sino ad ora. Sono affranta....giusto per usare un eufemismo. Se puoi, mettiti in contatto appena ti è possibile. (Sei riuscito a decifrare la mail?)


'Un bel dì vedremo levarsi un fil di fumo sull'estremo confin del mare.....' beh può essere che sia io che prendo fuoco a furia di studiare il GMAT! Avrei preferito immedesimarmi in Calaf, Turandot, nel 'nessun dorma' (la versione di Pavarotti è meravigliosa e impareggiabile). 'All'alba vincerò ....il GMAT' magari! ma con la performance di oggi sono molto più simile a Madama Butterfly....:(.

[tim]

I'm not going to make a big deal about this conversation not being in English, because I can't find a rule that says our forums are English only, but we do have a rule that conversations in a given thread must be pertinent to the thread. If you wish to have a conversation with Ron that does not have to do with the topic of this thread, please conduct it elsewhere. Since you indicated you are not sure how to contact Ron outside the forum, I would suggest posting in the General GMAT Strategy Questions section or, alternatively, contacting Manhattan GMAT Student Services to get Ron's email address.

[elisabetta.portioli]

I'm not going to make a big deal about this conversation not being in English, because I can't find a rule that says our forums are English only, but we do have a rule that conversations in a given thread must be pertinent to the thread. If you wish to have a conversation with Ron that does not have to do with the topic of this thread, please conduct it elsewhere. Since you indicated you are not sure how to contact Ron outside the forum, I would suggest posting in the General GMAT Strategy Questions section or, alternatively, contacting Manhattan GMAT Student Services to get Ron's email address.

Hello Tim, I apologize for the inconvenience. This won't happen anymore.

[RonPurewal]

Hello Tim, I apologize for the inconvenience. This won't happen anymore.

Nah, you're ok. My signature says you can ask me questions in Italian, so ... you can ask me questions in Italian.
I may occasionally translate my responses into English (in case future readers are interested in the thread), but feel free to ask your questions in any of the 4 languages listed at the bottom of my signature.

Regarding the post above yours, don't worry about it; that was a misunderstanding.

[tim]

Hi Elisabetta,

Ron is absolutely right that you can ask questions on these forums in any language you wish, and if one of us can help we certainly will! Nothing in my previous post should be interpreted to indicate otherwise (I don't get any sense that you misinterpreted my post, but Ron's response seems to suggest that he may have thought I took issue with your posts because of the language they were written in).

My only concern with your posts was that they were no longer connected to the topic of the thread. However, I have since been informed by the Director of our online community that requests for tutoring are always welcome on our forums regardless of which thread they occur in! In general, tutoring requests will likely receive a faster and more appropriate response if you contact Manhattan GMAT directly, but if you post such requests on our forums we'll do our best to get you talking to the right people. :)

[samwong]

Energized by its new coaching staff, the team already won twice as many games this year as last year, even though several games still remain to be played this year.

A) already won twice as many games this year as did last year, even though

B) has already won twice as many games this year as last year, even if

C) already won twice as many games this year as it did last year, even if

D) has already won twice as many games this year as did last year, even though

E) has already won twice as many games this year as last year, even though

Hi Ron,

I can't read Italian so I'm not sure whether you already discussed the following question in your above posts. Please correct me if I'm wrong. The comparison in B, C and E are all correct. However, the construction in B and E is different from C. Do they have the same meaning?

1) sub + verb AS MANY noun AS sub + verb
"I ate as many grapes as (did) Stacey did."
I ate 10 grapes and Stacey also ate 10 grapes.

2) sub + verb AS MANY noun AS noun
"I ate as many grapes as cherries"
I ate 10 grapes AND 10 cherries.

Are those two sentences correct?

Thank you.

[RonPurewal]

Those two sentences are fine.

The first one has no potential for ambiguity, and can only be used in one way (subject vs. subject). So, as long as the correct things are compared, that construction will always work.

The second can be used in two different ways.
* Subject vs. subject: I read more books than my wife.
* Object vs. object: I read more books than magazines.
These examples are fine, because they are not ambiguous -- i.e., the former is nonsense if read in the latter way, and the latter is nonsense if read in the former way.
On the other hand, a sentence that makes sense in both ways (e.g., I have known Sharon longer than Tom) is genuinely ambiguous, and therefore unacceptable.

[parajaymishra]

@RonPurewal - Those examples make things pretty clear. I use to majorly had problems with subject-object differentiation.

[RonPurewal]

Excellent.

[Serendipity750]

Hi Ron,

I have some questions about D and correct answer E, can you pls help me out?

Why is D incorrect?
Is that because there is no subject for did, or because 'did' cannot stand for a different verb tense, say 'has won' in this sentence.

For E,
it seems the sentence is simply comparing 'this year' and 'last year', what's the complete sentence then?
-- has won twice as many games this year as (the team has won) last year ( in this case, we know we can only omit what has appeared in preceding sentence)
or -- has won twice as many games this year as (the team won) last year ( simple past tense makes more sense with the specific time frame 'last year')

Totally confused here.

Moreover, I occasionally saw your notes on parallel which stated as below:

quote
in general,* if you use did/do/does/etc. to stand for an action verb, then it can be parallel to any tense of that action verb.e.g., you can use "did" in parallel to saw (which is in the same tense), but you can also use it in parallel to has/have seen, will see, sees, etc.
unquote

Regarding "did to parallel with has/have done", it seems some forums or even the SC book published by Manhattan have different opinions. Are you still insisting this rule?

Many thanks in advance.

[sabrinax656]

Ron my expert:

Could you please help to correct me if I am wrong in analysis the Option D,

D:has already won twice as many games this year as did last year, even though

Personally, I think D is wrong not because of it is not so concise as option E, but because it is ungrammatical.
The verb "did " is acceptable because it can stand of the past tense of win, won here, But the real problem is that the subject of the verb did is missing, letting reader to think who did last year, and therefore option D is wrong.

Please correct me my Guru

[qianl891]

Ron my expert:

Could you please help to correct me if I am wrong in analysis the Option D,

D:has already won twice as many games this year as did last year, even though

Personally, I think D is wrong not because of it is not so concise as option E, but because it is ungrammatical.
The verb "did " is acceptable because it can stand of the past tense of win, won here, But the real problem is that the subject of the verb did is missing, letting reader to think who did last year, and therefore option D is wrong.

Please correct me my Guru

Hi,instructors

I have the same problem. Why is D incorrect?

I read this sentence before in OG:
In one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, four times as many American were killed as would later be killed on the beaches of Normandy during D-Day.

Can the 'as' be regarded as a conjunction and a pronoun at the same time? If true, why not we choose D, which is more accurate since it includes a helping verb?

Thank you for your time!

[SauravS154]

I am a completely confused on Options D and E. If someone can throw some light on it.
Thanks

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

I'll focus on why answer D is wrong. It uses a construction that is strange to our modern ears: reversing the the order of the noun and verb. Take the following (correct) example: 'I like tomatoes more than Tom likes tomatoes.' It sounds a bit clunky to repeat the verb, so we'll more commonly say 'I like tomatoes more than Tom does'. Here the 'does' stands in for 'likes tomatoes'. Further, you'll often see the following version in GMAT (also correct): 'I like tomatoes more than does Tom'. Although it sounds a little funny, it's totally fine. Importantly, note the relationship: Tom is the subject of the verb 'does'.

Let's apply that to answer D: the team has already won twice as many games this year as did last year, even though ... What's the subject of the verb 'did' in this sentence at the moment? Uncover the answer here: the subject is 'last year', and this makes the meaning of the sentence crazy- last year didn't win any games; it was the team that won games.