ChrisKnapp1231 wrote:
Hello. I have a few questions about the correct option ("...letters take far more effort to write than emails do"):
- Why is it correct to end with "do"?
- If it did not end with "do", would it still be correct?
- If we replaced "do" with "take", would it still be correct?
- Is the answer the same if "to write" is excluded?
1. In parallel structures it is often a practice to use "do" within the second element rather than repeating the verb itself used within the first element. In such cases, the verb "do" replaces the verb in the first element. The other repeated part ("effort") can be omitted without obscuring the meaning.
2. It is allowed to omit the repeated portions from the second element, even the verb, as long as the meaning is not obscured. Therefore it is also allowed to omit the verb "do" from the second element. However quite often, without the verb "do", the sentence becomes ambiguous:
I like sweets more than Jane.
The above sentence may have two meanings:
I like sweets; Jane likes sweets. But I like sweets more than Jane does. ("does" is used to replace "likes", "sweets" is omitted)
I like sweets; I like Jane. But I like sweets more than I like Jane.
In order to clarify which meaning is intended, it is often preferable to retain the "do" ( in case the first one is intended).
3. Yes, that would be still be correct. But as mentioned above, it is a common practice ( and a better practice) to replace "take" with "do" in order to avoid repetition.
4. Probably not, omitting "to write" would make the sentence a bit ambiguous since the reader would still wonder letters require less effort
to do what..... though grammatically the sentence would still be correct.