Last visit was: 16 Jul 2025, 17:51 It is currently 16 Jul 2025, 17:51
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
User avatar
suryav
User avatar
Current Student
Joined: 27 Jan 2013
Last visit: 07 Apr 2017
Posts: 60
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 4
Concentration: Marketing, Strategy
GMAT 1: 730 Q50 V38
GPA: 3
WE:Engineering (Telecommunications)
GMAT 1: 730 Q50 V38
Posts: 60
Kudos: 63
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
User avatar
egmat
User avatar
e-GMAT Representative
Joined: 02 Nov 2011
Last visit: 16 Jul 2025
Posts: 4,601
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 687
GMAT Date: 08-19-2020
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 4,601
Kudos: 32,360
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
User avatar
Sachin9
Joined: 22 Jul 2012
Last visit: 25 Dec 2015
Posts: 355
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 562
Status:Gonna rock this time!!!
Location: India
GMAT 1: 640 Q43 V34
GMAT 2: 630 Q47 V29
WE:Information Technology (Computer Software)
GMAT 2: 630 Q47 V29
Posts: 355
Kudos: 172
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
User avatar
WaterFlowsUp
User avatar
Retired Moderator
Joined: 04 Jun 2013
Last visit: 08 Nov 2021
Posts: 334
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 92
Status:Getting strong now, I'm so strong now!!!
Affiliations: National Institute of Technology, Durgapur
Location: United States (DE)
GPA: 3.32
WE:Information Technology (Healthcare/Pharmaceuticals)
Products:
Posts: 334
Kudos: 2,009
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
avatar
gmatjewel
Joined: 25 Jan 2014
Last visit: 25 Jan 2014
Posts: 3
Own Kudos:
Location: United States
Concentration: Marketing, Entrepreneurship
GMAT 1: 560 Q35 V28
GPA: 3.33
GMAT 1: 560 Q35 V28
Posts: 3
Kudos: 5
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Which is it? is it A or C?
My first impression is that it's A, because the intended meaning is that Apple focuses more on those things than its competitors do, not that Apple focuses more on those things than ON competitors. These are two different meanings and it's difficult to understand author's meaning.
User avatar
egmat
User avatar
e-GMAT Representative
Joined: 02 Nov 2011
Last visit: 16 Jul 2025
Posts: 4,601
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 687
GMAT Date: 08-19-2020
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 4,601
Kudos: 32,360
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
gmatjewel
Which is it? is it A or C?
My first impression is that it's A, because the intended meaning is that Apple focuses more on those things than its competitors do, not that Apple focuses more on those things than ON competitors. These are two different meanings and it's difficult to understand author's meaning.

Hi gmatjewel,

The Correct Answer is C. In the previous page of this thread, the detailed solution has it all.

The way the sentence has been written, it is really NOT clear whether Apple focuses more on design than on its competitors OR Apple focuses more on design than do its competitors. The way it "seems" to you that it is the latter, to someone else it may "seem" that the former is the intended meaning. This is the concept that GMAT tests through these sentences.

If your argument is that that in Choice A, "do" is understood, it won't work because we can use ellipses ONLY to the extent till it DOES NOT lead to any ambiguity in the comparison. The word "do" has to be present in this sentence to do away with any scope of ambiguity. This e-GMAT sentence actually do so. Hence, Choice C is correct because it CLEARLY and UNAMBIGUOUSLY states the intended comparison.

You can review OGV2# 103. The same concept is tested there.

Hope this helps. :-)
Thanks.
Shraddha
avatar
Ivan91
Joined: 26 Jul 2010
Last visit: 02 Sep 2022
Posts: 293
Own Kudos:
164
 [1]
Given Kudos: 41
Location: European union
Posts: 293
Kudos: 164
 [1]
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
I think that this question is extremely bad and ill-conceived.

Its impossible to determine from A) whether Apple focuses more on simplistic design than the competitors focus on simplistic design or whether Apple focuses more on simplistic design than on the competitors.

Thats why stick with official questions :)
avatar
amitahlawat06
Joined: 14 Jul 2018
Last visit: 24 Jul 2021
Posts: 20
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 4
Posts: 20
Kudos: 2
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Apple, the company that has the highest revenue per employee, focusses more on simplistic and functional design than its competitors.

Here meaning of there underline portion is that Apple focuses more on X and Y than its competitors focuses on X and Y. Whereas, its actual meaning is Apple's focus on X and Y , rather than on what its competitors are doing

so correct answer is : C -more on simplistic and functional design than on
User avatar
himanshu0123
Joined: 27 Mar 2016
Last visit: 20 Mar 2023
Posts: 191
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 101
Posts: 191
Kudos: 5
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
isn't the 'do' verb assumed in A]? It is said all the time in such comparison questions

Thus the comparison is b/w how the apple and its competitors focuses?
User avatar
GMATking94
Joined: 16 Jan 2022
Last visit: 18 Apr 2025
Posts: 180
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 125
Status:Do or Die
Location: India
GMAT 1: 700 Q48 V37
GPA: 4
WE:Operations (Energy)
Products:
GMAT 1: 700 Q48 V37
Posts: 180
Kudos: 73
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
egmat
Sachin9
Hi Payal,
Can't 'do' be missing because of usage of ellipsis as mentioned in my post below:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/apple-the-co ... l#p1177558

Great question Sachin. The concept behind your doubt is one of the main things being tested in this question. If I were to generalize your question, what you are asking is "when can we omit the helping verb and when can we not". We have explained this in detail in the article below: Please review it thoroughly and then apply the learning on the sentence in this question.
https://e-gmat.com/blogs/?p=194

We omit words (ellipses) only till the point the sentence communicates clear meaning. There should not be any ambiguity in the meaning communicated by the sentence.
Let's take the sentence again: this time simplified version of the sentence:

Apple focuses more on simplistic and functional design than its competitors.
As discussed in the official solution, there are two possible interpretations of this sentence. Now what I will do is progressively start to omit words and see what I get when I omit too much.

A: Apple focuses more on simplistic and functional design than its competitors do.
Expanded1 A: Apple focuses more on simplistic and functional design than its competitors focus.
Expanded2 A: Apple focuses more on simplistic and functional design than its competitors do. {replacing focus with do}
Expanded3 A: Apple focuses more on simplistic and functional design than its competitors do. {Omitting do}

B: Apple focuses more on simplistic and functional design than on its competitors.
Expanded B: Apple focuses more on simplistic and functional design than Apple focuses on its competitors.
Expanded2 B: Apple focuses more on simplistic and functional design than Apple focuses on its competitors. {omitting SV}
Expanded3 B: Apple focuses more on simplistic and functional design than on its competitors. {omitting on}

Notice that Expanded3A is same as Expanded3B = simplified original choice A. In both cases when I omitted too much i.e. omitted "do" in case A and omitted "on" in case B, I got a sentence that is now ambiguous.

And hence the takeaway:

1. The sentence must be constructed in such a way that the comparison is absolutely clear. As we saw in this case due to omission of words, the comparison was no longer clear. So when we omit words we should always make sure that the comparison does not become unclear.

I hope this helps clarify the confusion. In addition to this question, apply this learning on the official question from OG Verbal Review 2 - #103.

Regards,

Payal

Hi egmat Payel

I would not agree 100% on it since how much to omit to clearly specify the meaning is something we all can argue based on various sentence construction in English language. I choose (A) in case of (C) because though (C) is parallel and grammatically correct, the intended meaning through the construction seems not logical. Why will a company focus on design and it competitors? Maybe if it was written -

Quote:
Apple, the company that has the highest revenue per employee, focusses more on simplistic and functional design than on its competitors design.

So in this case also we can argue that the sentence could have ended with "design" and that can make the intended meaning clearer.

I hope I was able to convey my doubt.

Thanks!
   1   2 
Moderators:
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
7359 posts
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
235 posts