A study on couples' retirement transitions found that

[shankar245]

Notice here that you are comparing two groups of women: those who take new jobs, and those who retire completely. When making a comparison, you have to make sure you explicitly mention both groups.

B, C, and D don't do this. (In fact, B and D change the original meaning of the sentence to make the second part of the comparison a hypothetical - but the original meaning is that the ones who take new jobs are being compared to those who don't.)

Also remember that, for comparisons, they two things / groups / whatever compared should be parallel. "women who took" and "those who retired" are parallel. The other options aren't.

Hi Stacey / Ron,
I'm confused with this comparison rule here. If we have to explicitly mention the groups, is it applicable only for the cases where it compares things
Please see this official Question( Gmat Prep)
More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

Here ideally the underlined part must be more than does all the north american Great lakes combined.

So When we compare two groups it is mandatory that we specify both the groups but it is okay not to repeat the actions?
Is that correct?

[RonPurewal]

Here ideally the underlined part must be more than does all the north american Great lakes combined.

digression, but still important:
"ideally" and "must" contradict each other.
if something must be true, then there's nothing "ideal" about it.
if something is "ideally" true, then, by definition, it doesn't have to be true -- but it's just the best possible situation.

e.g.
you must have a calculator for the exam. --> you can't take the exam without one.
ideally, you'll have a calculator for the exam. --> the best possible situation is to have one, although it's not completely necessary.

the problem with your use of "must" AND "ideally" is that i can't tell which meaning you actually intended. can't be both.

So When we compare two groups it is mandatory that we specify both the groups but it is okay not to repeat the actions?
Is that correct?

if the actions are identical, there's no need for a second verb unless the construction is ambiguous without it.

e.g.
I have played hockey for longer than Tom.
--> this is perfectly fine; there's only one possible meaning.

I have played hockey for longer than Tom has.
--> also fine, although the "has" is unnecessary.

BUT

I have known Sarah for longer than Tom.
--> not fine anymore. this sentence could mean
1/ both tom and i know sarah, but i met her first, OR
2/ i know both sarah and tom, but i met sarah first.

I have known Sarah for longer than Tom has.
of the two meanings above, this one corresponds only to #1, so it's fine.

in the sentence about the great lakes, there is no ambiguity, so there's no need for a verb.

[shankar245]

Ron , thanks for the reply. :)

[jnelson0612]

:-)

[eggpain24]

sorry for bumping this old thread

dear ron and other instructors

this question also show up in prep question，but with differently ordered answer choice


A study on couples' retirement transitions found that women who took new jobs after retiring from their primary careers reported high marital satisfaction, more than when retiring completely.A C



(A) more than when retiring

(B) more than if they were to retire

(C) more so than those who retired

(D) which was more so than those retiring

(E) which was more than if they had retired


the thread above say that

there are two different meaning conveyed by choice A and C

A states the second part of the comparison a hypothetical

C states he ones who take new jobs are being compared to those who don't


If we are going to protect the intended meaning， how should we still choose C when C is no longer the original meaning

Is it A and B wrong for other more explicit reason such as inferior meaning or？？

thx

[jlucero]

sorry for bumping this old thread

dear ron and other instructors

this question also show up in prep question，but with differently ordered answer choice


A study on couples' retirement transitions found that women who took new jobs after retiring from their primary careers reported high marital satisfaction, more than when retiring completely.A C



(A) more than when retiring

(B) more than if they were to retire

(C) more so than those who retired

(D) which was more so than those retiring

(E) which was more than if they had retired


the thread above say that

there are two different meaning conveyed by choice A and C

A states the second part of the comparison a hypothetical

C states he ones who take new jobs are being compared to those who don't


If we are going to protect the intended meaning， how should we still choose C when C is no longer the original meaning

Is it A and B wrong for other more explicit reason such as inferior meaning or？？

thx

Yeah, I think "original meaning" is something that many instructors are starting to de-emphasize and "proper meaning" is more apropos. The original meaning is really the original INTENDED meaning. The meaning here makes most sense when you are comparing the satisfaction level of two different groups of women.

Beyond that, there are a few issues:

more/more so- idiomatic usage:

I am happy more than sad. (comparing happy vs sad)
I am happy, more so than him. (comparing me to him)

Both A&B (in your version) are also incorrect b/c they don't set up the right comparison of people to other people. The correct answer compares people A to people B.

C (correct): Women X reported high marital satisfaction, more so than Y.

A: Women who took new jobs after X reported high marital satisfaction, more than when Y.

Slight parallelism issue (after/when), but the meaning is still misconstrued: you are comparing women who took new jobs after retiring to when they retired completely.

B: Women who took new jobs reported high marital satisfaction, more than if they were to retire completely.

How do you compare women who took new jobs to what would happen if they were to retire? You can't compare someone to someone they might have been.

[eggpain24]

although I’ve already finished my exam， I still deeply appreciate u for answering my question

that"˜s insightful！

[tim]

:)

[lindaliu9273]

Hi instructor,

Can someone explain E? Can "if they had retired" be subjunctive mood?

And I eliminate C because I thought it compare "reported high marital satisfaction" with "women who retired". Can you please correct me?

Thank you!

[thanghnvn]

A study on couples' retirement transitions found that women who took new jobs after retiring from their primary careers reported high marital satisfaction, more so than those who retired completely.
A. more so than those who retired
B. which was more than if they had retired
C. more than when retiring
D. more than if they were to retire
E. which was more so than those retiring
OA is A.
I wonder whether "more so than" is also an idiom?
Thanks

I think A dose not change if we omit "so".
what is the different between A with "so" and A without "so". ?

[jlucero]

Hi instructor,

Can someone explain E? Can "if they had retired" be subjunctive mood?

And I eliminate C because I thought it compare "reported high marital satisfaction" with "women who retired". Can you please correct me?

Thank you!

E is wrong because the "which" modifies the noun phrase before it "high marital satisfaction". The last modifier should be describing how they report on something.


I'm assuming your C is the original problems' A (please don't refer to other people's problems in the thread without being specific). If so, then yes, the comparison is wrong there and Stacey's original explanation of more/more so should help answer your question.

[jlucero]

A study on couples' retirement transitions found that women who took new jobs after retiring from their primary careers reported high marital satisfaction, more so than those who retired completely.
A. more so than those who retired
B. which was more than if they had retired
C. more than when retiring
D. more than if they were to retire
E. which was more so than those retiring
OA is A.
I wonder whether "more so than" is also an idiom?
Thanks

I think A dose not change if we omit "so".
what is the different between A with "so" and A without "so". ?

The difference is explained by Ron on the first page.

[Crisc419]

I got totally confused. I even don't know what the sentence intends to compare: the numbers of the two group of women or the satisfaction reported by these two groups of women?


could anyone clarify this, thanks in advance.


Cris

[RonPurewal]

I got totally confused. I even don't know what the sentence intends to compare: the numbers of the two group of women or the satisfaction reported by these two groups of women?

forget that you're taking a test, and just think about this with common sense.

before the comparison happens, we have...
"women who took new jobs after retiring from their primary careers reported high marital satisfaction"

what would be the only possible point of mentioning this?

what is the ONLY possible comparison that makes sense to mention after this?

[Crisc419]

I got totally confused. I even don't know what the sentence intends to compare: the numbers of the two group of women or the satisfaction reported by these two groups of women?

forget that you're taking a test, and just think about this with common sense.

before the comparison happens, we have...
"women who took new jobs after retiring from their primary careers reported high marital satisfaction"

what would be the only possible point of mentioning this?

what is the ONLY possible comparison that makes sense to mention after this?

I thought to compare the numbers of two different groups of women will make more sense.

But when after reading the choices, i was not sure, because some chioces seem to compare the degree of the satisfaction of the same group.