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In his eagerness to find a city worthy of Priam, the German archaeologist Schliemann cut through Troy and uncovered a civilization a thousand years [u]older as was the city Homer’s heroes knew[/u].
(A) older as was the city Homer’s heroes knew
(B) more ancient than the city known to Homer’s heroes
(C) older than was the city known to Homer’s heroes
(D) more ancient of a city than Homer’s heroes knew
(E) older of a city than was the one known to Homer’s heroes
I am stuck with B and C.
Plz explain ur answer.
Thanks
Satya
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Hi guys! Just wanted to offer some additional clarification on the use of the verb "was" in this question. It's actually an issue of parallelism -- if you're comparing two CLAUSES, both clauses must include a verb. If you're comparing NOUNS, you omit the verb. A couple examples: My brother is 2 years older than I am. Here, we're comparing clauses ("my brother is" and "I am"), so we use the verb both times to maintain parallelism. ...a civilization a thousand years more ancient than the city.... Here, we're comparing nouns ("a civilization" and "the city"), so we don't use verbs for either item. The verb "was" in answer choice C actually violates the parallelism here. One other interesting note: When you compare clauses, you can flip the order of the second noun and verb. So either of these constructions is correct: My brother is 2 years older than I am. My brother is 2 years older than am I. The second version sounds a bit awkward, but it's grammatically correct and you will occasionally see it on the GMAT. Hope that helps!
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singh_satya wrote: In his eagerness to find a city worthy of Priam, the German archaeologist Schliemann cut through Troy and uncovered a civilization a thousand years older as was the city Homer’s heroes knew.
(A) older as was the city Homer’s heroes knew
(B) more ancient than the city known to Homer’s heroes
(C) older than was the city known to Homer’s heroes
(D) more ancient of a city than Homer’s heroes knew
(E) older of a city than was the one known to Homer’s heroes
I am stuck with B and C.
Plz explain ur answer.
Thanks
Satya
I think that the correct answer is C.
1. 'a civilization' cannot be 'a thousand years' more 'ancient'
As far as I know 'ancient' - by definition relates to smth in the early history of the world, something that has existed a long time, but the number of years and centuries isn't specified. I've never seen ancient used in a specific context of a thousand years or anything similar.
The above eliminates B &D.
2. the correct usage would be 'a thousand years older than'
This eliminates A.
3. To me, E sounds redundant.
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My brother is 2 years older than I am
My brother is 2 years more ancient than I am
Isn't 2nd sentence awkward?
As smashinggrace said, when talking about # of years separating 2 subjects, "older than" is proper idiom
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hello
my ans wud be ... ya B : my bro is older than me by 2 years =perfect usage but here we are talking about civilizations and not ''humans'' and civilizations go more like ''ancient civilizxation of the azteck or the harrapns'' also equally ''older'' could alos be used no offence!
A) SOME HOW i THINK THIS IS THE RIGHT ANS but if the thing is that the '' german'' was searching for a ''city'' older than the city of troy this is wrong cos this goes like' the city he found /uncovered and the city of troy were the same''
C) its looks''perfect'' but some how ''older than X or Y '' wud be better than ''older than WAS x OR y '' SOME ONE HELP ME IN THIS REGARD!
d) the use of ''OF A CITY'' does npot give proper measning.
E ) I gues we would be lost in the ''ancient times '' by the time we get to know what this particular sentence meant 
hope that Helps! let me know If I m 
Have Fun
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C is my FA. It should be ancient and not thouseand years ancient. Alsu C sounds right to ears.
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I too believe "older than" is sounds better than "more than". (C) should be the answer.
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I believe this is not a choice between older than and more ancient than
The problem with (C) is presence of "was"
Why do you need a verb there?
Compare two cities and be done with it. But it is generally preferable to use ancient to bygone civilizations. I cannot say this with utmost confidence.
I would go with (B) here.
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OA is B
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anandnk wrote: I believe this is not a choice between older than and more ancient than
The problem with (C) is presence of "was"
Why do you need a verb there?
Compare two cities and be done with it. But it is generally preferable to use ancient to bygone civilizations. I cannot say this with utmost confidence.
I would go with (B) here.
Nice one Anandnk. Good explanation
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anandnk wrote: I believe this is not a choice between older than and more ancient than
The problem with (C) is presence of "was"
Why do you need a verb there?
Compare two cities and be done with it. But it is generally preferable to use ancient to bygone civilizations. I cannot say this with utmost confidence.
I would go with (B) here.
I also think this is a question of whether the usage of 'was' is required here. Seems like quite a few of us thought that was the case (including myself). Can someone come up with a rule that explains why 'was' was superfluous in this case?
Merci!
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my query is same.
Does the usage 'older than was X' wrong. I have seen couple of sentences with such usage and so do not know which one is right.
SC gurus plz help
Thanks
Satya
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Guys I need ur help in this question.
Is the usage 'older than was X' wrong.
Is it always X older than Y.
Thanks
Satya
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singh_satya wrote: Guys I need ur help in this question.
Is the usage 'older than was X' wrong.
Is it always X older than Y.
Thanks
Satya
Its kind of awkward yes.. X older than Y is better.
Satya, a great way of solving TOUGH SCs on the real test is simply process of elimination. The reason is .. it is so tough to know everything about American English if you are a non-native. There will be normally two (or three choices) that you can easily eliminate.. you might then be faced with two or three tough choices.. but you will have a better shot at getting the right answer
thanks
praet
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Praetorian wrote: singh_satya wrote: Guys I need ur help in this question.
Is the usage 'older than was X' wrong.
Is it always X older than Y.
Thanks
Satya Its kind of awkward yes.. X older than Y is better. Satya, a great way of solving TOUGH SCs on the real test is simply process of elimination. The reason is .. it is so tough to know everything about American English if you are a non-native. There will be normally two (or three choices) that you can easily eliminate.. you might then be faced with two or three tough choices.. but you will have a better shot at getting the right answer thanks praet good explanation. thanks praet
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This post is old, but I'm reading through the top 70 SC in the verbal forum so I'll assume at least another person is doing the same! This may help... Just as we don't wish to split infinitives, we should look to avoid splitting comparisons like this too (in this case with a verb). Once we narrow it down to [B] and [C], we have... (B) more ancient than the city known to Homer’s heroes (C) older than was the city known to Homer’s heroes had it been "older than the city...", we would have had a real big dilemma between [B] and [C] here, though, [B]
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I am very confused between B and C. Could anybody clarify? thanks.
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