Local residents claim that San Antonio, Texas, has more good Mexican

To recap the issues that were raised here:

1) Use 'other'/'else' to compare an item to the group to which that item belongs.

Can you tell which of the following 2 sentences is false?

Alaska is bigger than any state in the U.S.

Russia is bigger than any state in the U.S.

The first is false because 'any state' includes Texas, in which case the first sentence says that Texas is bigger than itself.

Correction: Texas is bigger than any other state.

Likewise, "My mother is nicer than anyone I have met," indicates that I have not met my own mother. A cheerier sentence would be, "My mother is nicer than anyone else I have met."

2. The second verb in comparisons:

Tip: In your head, complete the verb at the end of a comparison.

Correct: Bob eats more than Joe does (eat).

This is correct because the word "eat" appears elsewhere in the sentence, so it is o.k. to leave it off at the end.

Incorrect: Bob has eaten more than Joe did (eat).

This sentence is incorrect because the word "eat" does not appear anywhere in the sentence, so it is not o.k. to leave it off at the end.

Correction: Bob has eaten more than Joe ate.

So try this one:

Bob will eat as much as Joe has.

This is incorrect. The word 'eaten' is implied by the 'has', but never shows up in the sentence.

The main idea is that the reader should not have to invent words that never appear on the page-- the sentence should be self-sufficient. Everything implied should be there.

(More on this issue and other ellipses can be found in the Comparisons lesson and the Small Details lesson at gmaxonline!)

Hey All,

This question has already been explained well, but I was asked by private message to weigh in, so I guess I'll give it the professional gloss. : )

Local residents claim that San Antonio, Texas, has more good Mexican American restaurants than any city does in the United States.

A. any city does
PROBLEM: We want the "other" in here, because right now it's illogical. Obviously, San Antonio can't have more good Mexican restaurants than itself.

B. does any other city
ANSWER: There's nothing wrong with putting the "does" here in front, as it's an idiomatic expression.

C. other cities do
PROBLEM: We need to parallel the original verb (has), and "do" doesn't parallel it, because it's plural, when we want singular.

D. any city
PROBLEM: We need the "does", because this sounds like San Antonio has more good Mexican American restaurants THAN IT HAS "any city" in the US (which is totally illogical).

E. other cities
PROBLEM: Same as above.

Hope that helps!

-tommy

A,B,C ..

"do"/"does" --> should be used for action verbs.. not possesive verbs.

Yeap D for parallelism.

Texas has.. more GMA resstaurants than "any city" <has> in the United States.

I tend to disagree. By choosing ANY CITY we are also eliminating San Antonio Texas itself! (San Antonio texas has more good rests than ANY CITY in the US....ANY CITY in US would ALSO include San Antonio). So this one can't be it.

I choose B for this one.

Local residents claim that San Antonio, Texas, has more good Mexican American restaurants than does any OTHER city in the United States.

Here HAS is paralleled by DOES.

Ok agreed with B.

Here is great explanation by BOB (URCH forum).

"
Well, Spidey is not quite right. With the nonauxiliary "have/has/had", you have a choice. You may replace with "do/does/did", but you are not required to do so. The same is true with other verbs.

John eats more meat than Paul eats.
John eats more meat than Paul does.

Both are correct. You may replace "eats" with "does", but you are not required to do so. Likewise:

...which had industrial growth more rapid than other American cities had
...which had industrial growth more rapid than other American cities did

Both are correct. You have the option.

However, when "have/has/had" is an aulixiary verb, you do not have the same option. You do have a choice to repeat or not repeat the past participle, but you cannot change "have/has/had" to "do/does/did":

John has always eaten more meat than Paul has eaten.
John has always eaten more meat than Paul has. (correct)
John has always eaten more meat than Paul does. (incorrect)
"


https://www.urch.com/forums/gmat-sentence-correction/50568-when-use-whose-2.html

Local residents claim that San Antonio, Texas, has more good Mexican American restaurants than any city does in the United States.

A. any city does

B. does any other city

C. other cities do

D. any city

E. other cities

OA is B.

I did some quick research and found that it is preferred that one use "any other" to "any" when used with 'than".

Is this trues as well: GMAT comparisons have to parallel. Therefore "has more good Mexican American restaurants than" has to be compared to something and that is "does". Please comment.

there is an another explanation to why B is correct. It says

When we are comparing two similiar things
Ex: Newyork city is better than any other city in the USA - correct

Here you are comparing Newyork, which is a city to an another city, so you use 'any other city'

On the other hand, if we are comparing two dissimilar things
Ex: Newyork city is better than any village in the USA - correct

Here you are comparing a city with a village , so we do not use the 'any other' form we just use 'any'.

This explanation is from a trusted source, you can rely on it.

the problem with A is that it uses any city ... SA should be compared to rest of the US cities ... so other city is required here
eliminate any answer that uses any city ... A & D are out

more X than Y ... both X and Y should agree in numbers ... they can be both either singular or plural ... SA is just one city, so compare it with only one city
eliminate any answer that uses cities ... C & E are out

the elimination leaves us with B

btw Does/do/did can replace only non-auxiliary verbs has/have/had .. so B is correct
has any other city .... or ... any other city in the US (has) .... both are also correct


cheers!

Isn't C) other cities do .............similar to
Correct: Bob eats more than Joe does (eat). Here, using the same logic we should have have
"Bob eats more than does Joe " to make it similar to option (B).
Then why have we ruled out C. Please clarify. Little perplexed....

Thanks,
Aakash

In C you lose the 'any', and the point of this comparison is to compare one city to all (any) of the rest.

You can't say any city because you have to exclude San Antonio. Since it is a parallelism error :

Local residents claim that San Antonio, Texas, has more good Mexican American restaurants than any city does in the United States.

X more than Y.
X = Texas, has more good Mexican American restaurants
Y = does any other city

Note that in Y Verb comes first but it is still a correct choice because X is a clause so shall Y.

hence b.

I still think the order of words in the OA is not appropriate. The answer B should be corrected as follows: "any other city does". Correct me if I'm wrong, please!

Hi haihai89

You have a good question. I think I can help you a bit.

The grammar of B is correct. This is "inversion" used in comparison. You can put auxiliary verb before noun, if want to emphasize the verb.
For example:
CORRECT: You speak English better than I speak/do.
CORRECT: You speak English better than do I.
WRONG: You speak English better than speak I (speak is not auxiliary verb)

Hope it helps.

Dear Pqhai,
Thank you for your explanation. So there are still some inversions that I should learn more.
In fact, I have just found this useful article about 18 types of subject/verb inversion.
Hope that it's helpful for people like me


1. neg intro
Never do I sleep.
Only at night can I study.
In no way could I help you with your Japanese grammar question.
I believe that only rarely will I need your help.
Not until I got home did I realize that my shoes were untied.

2. intro adverbial
Into the room ran the lady.
First comes love, then comes marriage.
After A comes B, then comes C, next comes D.
Down came the rain and washed the spider out.

3. intro –ed
Found in San Francisco is Lombard Street, the so-called crookedest street in the world.
Lost among the old tables and chairs was the priceless Victorian desk.
Located between San Francisco and Marin County is the Golden Gate Bridge.

4. comparatives
Cheetahs run faster than do antelopes.
You speak Chinese better than do I.
Jessica is more interested in Computer Science than is Benjamin.

5. intro comparative
Bigger than an apatosaur is the blue whale.
More important than your personal statement is your GPA.
No less impressive than the invention of the laser was the development of the wheel.

6. as
Megumi is from Japan, as is Sato.
So-eun wants to leave early today, as does Oi.
If thrown into the water, camels can swim, as can cats.

7. so… that…
So happy was I that I bought flowers for everybody in class.
So quickly did she leave that we did not even realize was gone.
So rarely does a comet appear visible to the naked eye that when one does, it is considered a major event.

8. had, should, were for if-clauses
Had I remembered Tomomi's birthday, she wouldn’t be mad at me now.
Note that the word if does NOT appear in the clause when inversion is used:
Had I remembered = If I had remembered
Should you need a hand, I will be more than happy to help you.
Should you need a hand = If you should need a hand
Were I you, I think I would study more for your exam tomorrow.
Were I you = If I were you

9. there is, there are, there exists, there comes, etc.
There is a good restaurant nearby.
There comes a time in every person’s life when she realizes that she is responsible for her own happiness, not other people.
Scientists hypothesize that there exists a certain type of particle that can travel faster than the speed of light.

10. here is, here are, here comes, here come
Here is some good food for you to try.
Here are the books that I don’t need anymore.
Here comes the bus!

11. intro -ing
Burning out of control was the forest located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Coming in last in the race was Joe "Elephant Legs" Blow.
Not helping the situation was little Susie, who was throwing newspaper on the spreading fire.

12. emphasis
Boy am I hungry.
Is it ever hot in here!
Do you know how to cook!

13. the bigger, the better
The closer an object is to another object, the greater is the gravity between the two objects.

14. questions
Is this the last example?
Do you enjoy reading these lists?
Are we finished yet?

15. "story speech"
“I think it’s time to go,” said Susan.
“It’s time for you, but not for me,” replied Gary.
“Maybe we should collect our thoughts for a moment,” commented Lany.


16. nor
No one has volunteered for the job, nor do we expect anyone to volunteer in the future.
Hok-ming cannot speak Portuguese, nor can José speak Cantonese.
The zoo regulations will not permit you to touch the animals, nor would most people advise you to do so.

17. "so do I"/ "neither do I."
“So do I.”
“So can Terry.”
“Neither do most people I know.”

18. intro adjective
Beautiful beyond belief was my baby daughter.
Happy about their acceptance into their dream schools were Lany and Tomo.
Quick and painless will be your medical procedure.

(Source: Testmagic)

"any city" in choice A implies that it also includes San Antonio, Texas and it will be wrong to compare San Antonio city with itself. So proper comparison will be compairing San Antonio with "any other city" in the United States.

Hope it helps.

I understand that any city is incorrect and we need any other city.
In option B, is the helping verb 'does' needed? If we remove 'does' from option B, then we have the following interpretations-

1. San Antonio has more good Mexican American restaurants than any other city in the United States has
2. San Antonio has more good Mexican American restaurants than San Antonio has any other city in the United States

Isn't meaning 2 illogical? So, 'does' is not necessary here? (Though adding 'does' will not make the option incorrect)

AjiteshArun , GMATNinja , MagooshExpert , GMATGuruNY , VeritasPrepBrian , MartyTargetTestPrep , DmitryFarber , VeritasKarishma , generis , jennpt , other expert - please enligthen
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I don't think that the does is necessary, but it does help clarify what the sentence is trying to say.
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Agreed--"does" is unnecessary but not harmful. I'd argue not just that the second meaning is illogical, but that we really can't read the sentence that way at all.

Compare to this official q, in which "those" prevents a silly alternative meaning:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/ranked-as-on ... l#p1715469
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MentorTutoring VeritasKarishma AjiteshArun




I am confused as to why we can not ASSUME verb (has) after other cities.
We are simply comparing two nouns - Texax vs City/Cities and I can safely assume
verb in (E) even if it is absent.

How do I know which of below is correct sentence:
I have more apples than Rock.
I have more apples than Rock (has).
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