TomB wrote:
Hi
1) She worked more painstakingly than Ralph.
2) He behaved more comically than all the other clowns.
1) comparison signal: more than. "Painstakingly" is adverb as it describes the " worked" (verb). so are we comparing how she works with Ralph.
2) comparison signal: more than. "comically" is adverb as it describes the "behaved' (verb). so are we comparing how he behaved with other clowns.
1.1) She worked more painstakingly than Ralph does
2.1) He behaved more comically than all the other clowns do
Are the above sentences correct? If not , please explain
1 & 2 above are grammatically correct, but I want to talk about your analysis a bit. You are correctly identifying how the adverb modifies the verb in each sentence, but don't confuse modifiers with comparisons. 'More than' is the comparison signal, but what we are comparing is 'She' and 'Ralph' (in their level of painstakingness - if that is a word). On the GMAT comparison questions, you will need to determine if the comparisons are valid. Here are some examples of how the GMAT would test comparisons: "She worked more painstakingly than Ralph" - correct vs. "She worked more painstakingly than Ralph's work" - incorrect because you illogically compare "She" with "Ralph's work".
Your second set of sentences are not correct. The construction still wants to compare "She" to "Ralph", but when you include the verb "does" there is an illogical comparison between "she" and "Ralph does". Same issue in 2.1 with the clowns.
BTW - I loved the examples...made me chuckle...
KW
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Kyle Widdison | Manhattan GMAT Instructor | Utah
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