Although they are less obvious, termites does significantly

by **ruben** Thu Aug 23, 2007 12:36 am

Hi,

The correct answer to this questions given is E. However it seems that "instead of a "do" ther should be a "to" at the ent of the sentence.

Can anyone help? thanks

Although they are less obvious, termites does significantly more damage to homes than branches from trees.

termites does significantly more damage to homes than
termites do the most damage to significant homes than do
the termite does significantly more damage to homes as do
termites do significantly more damage to homes than
termites do significantly more damage to homes than do

by **StaceyKoprince** Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:37 pm

Hi, ruben - I'm sorry you've had to wait so long for a response to this question - it slipped through the cracks somehow.

We want a "do" at the end of this sentence, not a "to." The sentence is saying that both termites and branches from trees damage homes, but termites damage homes more than branches from trees damage homes.

I think you might have been reading it to say that termites do damage to homes and termites do damage to branches? I can see how you might have read it that way - I suppose termites could also eat tree branches. (I don't really know actually - but if they like the wood in our houses, I'd assume they also like wood from trees!)

by **girl.jobless** Thu Oct 01, 2009 12:28 am

Hi Stacey,

I have a doubt in the same question.

Although they are less obvious, termites does significantly more damage to homes than branches from trees.

termites does significantly more damage to homes than
termites do the most damage to significant homes than do
the termite does significantly more damage to homes as do
termites do significantly more damage to homes than
termites do significantly more damage to homes than do

Is the choice E parallel to the first part of the sentence.
In the first part... termites do.... than ...branches do.
So ideally shouldnt the question have a do at the end? Is placing the do before brances correct with respect to parallelism?

Thanks.

by **RonPurewal** Sat Nov 07, 2009 8:32 am

girl.jobless Wrote:So ideally shouldnt the question have a do at the end? Is placing the do before brances correct with respect to parallelism?

Thanks.

here's the full deal with this.

* if you have just a noun - WITHOUT modifiers - in the second half of your parallel structure, then you can place the helping verb ("do", in this case) EITHER before OR after that noun.
ex:
i know more about shakespeare than my brother does. --> correct
i know more about shakespeare than does my brother. --> correct
in this case, the first one (helping verb AFTER the noun) is usually preferred, because it flows more naturally, but either is correct.

* if you have a noun followed by modifier(s) in the second half of your parallel structure, then you MUST place the helping verb BEFORE the noun.
ex:
i know more about shakespeare than my brother, who has never studied literature, does. --> WRONG
i know more about shakespeare than does my brother, who has never studied literature,. --> correct

--

in this problem, "branches" is followed by a modifier ("from trees"), so you MUST place "do" before it.

...than do branches from trees --> correct
...than branches from trees do --> WRONG

by **andy_11_30** Mon Jan 18, 2010 1:01 am

girl.jobless Wrote:Hi Stacey,

I have a doubt in the same question.

Although they are less obvious, termites does significantly more damage to homes than branches from trees.

termites does significantly more damage to homes than
termites do the most damage to significant homes than do
the termite does significantly more damage to homes as do
termites do significantly more damage to homes than
termites do significantly more damage to homes than do

Is the choice E parallel to the first part of the sentence.
In the first part... termites do.... than ...branches do.
So ideally shouldnt the question have a do at the end? Is placing the do before brances correct with respect to parallelism?

Thanks.

RON, ur the man !!

this reminds me of yet another sentence from OG 12

[Deleted because this question is from a banned source - see below.]

by **tim** Sun Apr 18, 2010 3:58 am

OG is a banned source; it is illegal to post OG questions anywhere on the web.
If you are in one of our classes, please ask OG questions during office hours or before/after class.

by **viveksharma247** Sat Jul 24, 2010 5:30 pm

Hi Ron,

I am aware about your policy of never questioning the OA. However, for this particular problem, I would like to know what is wrong with choice D?

First of all, the question is a bit confusing in terms of the meaning as in whether " termites do significantly more damage to homes than (to) branches from trees" seems parallel and makes more sense. I really thought that the question is testing ellipses!!

Had the damage done by termites was compared with the damage done by some other insects, I would have automatically marked 'E' without a second thought) ... But as pointed out by Stacey and I am sure it is the correct interpretation that " termites do significantly more damage to homes than do branches from trees (to homes). I completely understand the sentence well this way. However, there has to be something wrong about choice D and if choice D is correct (grammatically).. and only faulters in changing the meaning then how do I decide which meaning to stick to... especially since (according to me) the original sentence is closer in meaning to the first scenario that I just pointed out. Request you to please correct me if I am wrong, and please shed some light on this one. In terms of quality, I don't think this one comes too close to the GMAT standards.

by **tim** Mon Aug 23, 2010 8:02 pm

Hi Vivek,
There is nothing wrong with wondering what makes a choice incorrect. What you want to avoid is claiming that the OG is wrong, which you haven’t done.. :)

D would be grammatically correct were it not for the first clause. D appears to compare homes to branches, which is fine in isolation. However, the opening clause indicates that termites are less obvious than something, which means the intent of the sentence MUST be to draw termites into a comparison. This is why the change in meaning that D accomplishes is unacceptable..

by **gaurav_a_rathi** Thu Feb 16, 2012 9:41 am

Hi, I want to know what/ who does "they" (In the original sentence, non-underlined part) refer to?
Damage or termites?

Isn't its reference to termites awkward?

by **060504** Thu Feb 16, 2012 1:37 pm

To clarify:

Although they are less obvious, termites do significantly more damage to homes than do branches from trees.

Does the above sentence mean that:

damage caused by termites on homes > damage caused by termites on branches from trees?

If so, how do I write a sentence to say that:

damage caused by termites on homes > damage caused by branches from trees?

"Although they are less obvious, termites do significantly more damage to homes than do branches from trees." - seems to be saying that.

Re: question above - I think "they" refers to termites as there is no ambiguous plural object / subject for "they" to refer to. It is awkward because the question becomes "what does it really mean for termites to be 'obvious'".

by **tim** Mon Feb 27, 2012 12:48 am

no, the reference to termites is not awkward; it is the only appropriate antecedent for "they"..

060504: no, the correct interpretation is
damage caused by termites to homes > damage caused by branches to homes

thus the correct answer expresses the sentiment you are looking for..

by **rhompem** Sat Nov 24, 2012 9:44 am

Hi, I want to know what/ who does "they" (In the original sentence, non-underlined part) refer to?

[spam deleted]

by **tim** Sat Nov 24, 2012 1:34 pm

keep your spam off our boards!

by **TooLong150** Sat Aug 30, 2014 10:18 pm

Hi Experts,

I am having trouble understanding the parallel structure of sentences containing "more...than". I could not find my answer to this question in the forum or via Google.

The correct version of this sentence is below:
Although they are less obvious, termites do significantly more damage to homes than do branches from trees.

What elements are made in parallel here?
Is it "termites do" with "do branches from trees"? Does it mean that the correct structure for "more...than" is X More Than Y?

by **jnelson0612** Sat Nov 01, 2014 10:07 pm

TooLong150 Wrote:Hi Experts,

I am having trouble understanding the parallel structure of sentences containing "more...than". I could not find my answer to this question in the forum or via Google.

The correct version of this sentence is below:
Although they are less obvious, termites do significantly more damage to homes than do branches from trees.

What elements are made in parallel here?
Is it "termites do" with "do branches from trees"? Does it mean that the correct structure for "more...than" is X More Than Y?

The parallel structure here is:
termites do more damage than do branches.

Or technically termites do more than branches do.

It's like saying "Jane bakes more cakes than does Mary". I can also say "Jane bakes more cakes than Mary does". Same meaning! I hope that this helps you.

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