The blue dress looks more flattering on you than the red one

[Guest]

The blue dress looks more flattering on you than the red one does
Isn't does unnecessary in the above sentence:

The blue dress is being compared with red dress and hence I think the comparison is complete..

AM I missing something...?
Pls Help

[esledge]

The blue dress looks more flattering on you than the red one. (INCORRECT)
The blue dress looks more flattering on you than the red one does. (CORRECT)

Technically, it is possible that "you" is compared to "the red one." That is, an alternative interpretation is possible: The blue dress looks more flattering on you than the blue dress looks on the red one. The GMAT is a stickler for unambiguous phrasing, so would prefer the correct phrasing above.

That said, this is a close call, and in day-to-day speech I think either way would be fine. You essentially argue that the incorrect sentence above is clear because a dress can't wear a dress, so the comparison must logically be between the two dresses, and I see your point. The GMAT might not split hairs to this degree, but this is good practice for a situation you might encounter on the real GMAT: a split between choices that include a verb in the comparison, and choices that don't.

[g3]

The blue dress looks more flattering on you than the red one does
Isn't does unnecessary in the above sentence:


Please check my response and let me know if this is OK?

The blue dress looks more flattering on you than the red one's.

Will this one FLY?

[StaceyKoprince]

Unfortunately, no. The possessive (that's what that apostrophe s is called) needs to refer to some noun. The red one's what? In this case, we don't have an answer.

I could say: My dress is prettier than my sister's. My sister's what? My sister's dress. So that one's okay. But in the above sentence, I don't have another noun I can pick up from the sentence and put after "the red one's" to make sense.

[shrenik]

Hi,

I was wondering if the following form is correct or not.Please help me with this.

The blue dress looks more flattering on you than does the red one.

[esledge]

Shrenik,

That one would work. All you have done is swap the order of the subject and verb in the 2nd half of the comparison: "the red one does" became "does the red one." Either way, the subject-verb pair, and thus the meaning, is the same.