the elliptical entities must be the same

[thanghnvn]

Soaring television costs accounted for more than half the spending in the presidential campaign of 1992,// a greater proportion than it was// in any previous election.

A. a greater proportion than it was
B. a greater proportion than
C. a greater proportion than they have been
D. which is greater than was so
E. which is greater than it has been

above problem is in gmatprep and is discussed a lot in this forum. I open a new thread for new question.

we will not discuss why A, C, D, and E are wrong here. anyone who want to know why they are wrong, pls, read the old posting in this forum

we discuss the OA , B.

pls help, I want to know the full version of B. of course, B is an ellipsis. pls, make full the choice B

the following is another problem, also from gmatprep.

Today's techonology allows manufacturers to make //small cars more fuel efficient now than at any time in their //production history.

a. Same as above
b. small cars that are more fuel-efficient than they were at any time in their
c. small cars that are more fuel-efficient than those at any other time in
d. more fuel-efficient small cars than those at any other time in their
e. more fuel-efficient small cars now than at any time in

choice A in above problem is considered wrong while choice B in the first problem is considered right

I want to learn from official answers as Ron told us.

the explanation of the wrongness of choice A is that the elliptical entities are the same entities in the first half of the comparision and this makes no sense.

according to this explanation, choice B, the oa in the first problem is also wrong. in choice B, the oa, "proportion" is elliptical and so is the same "proportion" in the first half of comparision. This make no sense.

I am confused, Please, explain, Ron, Manhantan expert and members.

[thanghnvn]

Soaring television costs accounted for more than half the spending in the presidential campaign of 1992,// a greater proportion than it was// in any previous election.

A. a greater proportion than it was
B. a greater proportion than
C. a greater proportion than they have been
D. which is greater than was so
E. which is greater than it has been

regarding choice B.
sorry, I read the postings of this problem but find no explanation satisfying

in B, the oa, "proportion" modifies the whole preceding clause or modifies " more than half". Pls, explain.

[Haibara]

Soaring television costs accounted for more than half the spending in the presidential campaign of 1992,// a greater proportion than it was// in any previous election.

A. a greater proportion than it was
B. a greater proportion than
C. a greater proportion than they have been
D. which is greater than was so
E. which is greater than it has been

regarding choice B.
sorry, I read the postings of this problem but find no explanation satisfying

in B, the oa, "proportion" modifies the whole preceding clause or modifies " more than half". Pls, explain.

I guess "a greater proportion" is appositive modifier of "more than half the spending...". If you insist on ellipsis, then the sentence would be:

Soaring television costs accounted for more than half the spending in the presidential campaign of 1992, greater than television costs did in any previous election.

I'm not sure whether the above sentence is correct. Hope Ron would help me rectify it.

Thanks for Ron.

[RonPurewal]

pls help, I want to know the full version of B. of course, B is an ellipsis. pls, make full the choice B

Thanghnvn, I know I've told you this several times, on several different forum threads: There is no such thing as "making full versions" of comparison sentences.
Please stop asking us to do so. It's not a thing.

Some comparison sentences can be written in multiple ways, some longer than others. For instance, one could write either of the following sentences:
I eat peanuts more often than almonds. (parallel elements are "peanuts" and "almonds")
I eat peanuts more often than I eat almonds. (parallel elements are "I eat peanuts" and "I eat almonds")

On the other hand, other comparison sentences cannot be written in any way that's longer than the original.
For instance, "More people walk than drive in New York" cannot be expressed in any way that's longer.

[RonPurewal]

Today's techonology allows manufacturers to make //small cars more fuel efficient now than at any time in their //production history.

a. Same as above
b. small cars that are more fuel-efficient than they were at any time in their
c. small cars that are more fuel-efficient than those at any other time in
d. more fuel-efficient small cars than those at any other time in their
e. more fuel-efficient small cars now than at any time in

choice A in above problem is considered wrong while choice B in the first problem is considered right

I want to learn from official answers as Ron told us.

the explanation of the wrongness of choice A is that the elliptical entities are the same entities in the first half of the comparision and this makes no sense.

Choice A is incorrect because of the pronoun "their", which suggests that we're talking about the same cars on both sides of the sentence.
This is a pronoun issue. It has nothing at all to do with the comparison; there is nothing inherently wrong with the structure of the comparison itself.

according to this explanation, choice B, the oa in the first problem is also wrong. in choice B, the oa, "proportion" is elliptical and so is the same "proportion" in the first half of comparision. This make no sense.

"Comparison" is not a pronoun, so there is no issue.

I have no idea what "elliptical" means, but I suspect you're trying to make simple things much more complicated than they actually are.

[RonPurewal]

Since the forum rules stipulate "one problem per thread", this thread is now locked.

There are already lengthy forum threads on these problems. Please do not start new threads; any new threads started on these problems will be deleted.
Thanks.