Apple, the company that has the highest revenue per employee, focusses

Thanks everyone for their overwhelming participation in this question. Here is the much awaited solution!

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



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

The sentence presents a comparison. However, the way this sentence is written, one can infer two comparisons:
o Apple focusses more on simplistic and functional design than on its competitors. The entities compared are simplistic and functional design and competitors.
o Apple focusses more on simplistic and functional design than its competitors focus on. The entities compared are Apple and its competitors.
The correct sentence should clearly state one clear meaning.



Error Analysis

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

If the sentence is intended to compare simplistic and functional design and competitors (stating that Apple focuses on design more than it focuses on its competitors), then we need the pronoun “on” before “its competitors” to make the comparison clear.
If the sentence is intended to compare Apple and its competitors (stating that Apple focuses on design more than its competitors do), then we need the helping verb “do” before “its competitors” to make the comparison clear.

PoE

A. more on simplistic and functional design than Incorrect for the reasons stated above.

B. on more simplistic yet functional design than: Incorrect.

Error 1 – Repeats the same ambiguous comparison error as in choice A.
Error 2 – Change of placement of “more” changes the meaning. Per the original sentence, “more” modifies “focusses”. Apple focusses more on design than its competitors. Per this choice, “more” modifies “simplistic design”. Here the emphasis is not the action of focusing but on the design itself.
Error 3 – Use of “yet” changes the meaning. Per the original choice, “and” suggests that the design is simple and functional. Use of word “yet” brings in the contrast, implying that even though the design is simple, it is functional. The original sentence does not present this contrast.

C. more on simplistic and functional design than on: Correct Answer
Use of preposition “on” makes the comparison clear. The sentence states that Apple focusses on design more than it focuses on its competitors.

D. on simplistic and functional design than: Incorrect.

Error 1 – Use of “than” requires the use of some comparative terms such as “more” to present comparison. Just using “than” leads to idiom error in this choice.
Error 2 – Repeats the same ambiguous comparison error as in choice A.

E. more on simplistic design and is more functional than are: Incorrect.

Error 1 – This choice distorts the intended meaning. Per this choice, the subject for “is” is
“Apple”. The choice suggests that Apple is more functional whereas, per the original choice, the design is functional. Also the choice suggests comparison between Apple and the competitors on the basis that Apple is more functional. This is certainly not the intended meaning of the sentence



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.
2. Pay attention to the change in placement of the words. Such changes in placement may lead to change in the intended meaning of the sentence.
3. Be wary of the choices that distort the intended meaning of the sentence.

Thanks.
Payal
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correct ans is A..
There is ellipsis used in A.

more on simplistic and functional design than do

The 'do' mentioned in italics is missing as the meaning is clear and hence A is the correct ans..

The intended meaning is that Apple focuses more on A and B than do its competitors.


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Meaning :- Apple focuses on 2 things
a. Simplistic and functional design
b. its competitors

Apple focuses more on a than on b.

Error analysis :- need 'on' before competitors to have a proper comparison

a. Explained
b. change of meaning , focus on more simplistic but functional design is different from more focus on simplistic but functional design
c. Correct, the comparison between 2 entities on which apple focuses is proper
d. need an 'on' to have proper comparison, also change of meaning per this option Apple focuses on only 1 option
e. change of meaning, sentence now compares the functional capability of apple with its competitors.

IMO :- C

This question tests the principles of Parallelism in Comparison. The correct comparison marker is More X than Y, where X & Y need to be parallel grammatically as well as logically.

Apple, the company that has the highest revenue per employee, focusses more on simplistic and functional design than its competitors.
A. more on simplistic and functional design than - Incorrect because X = on simplistic and functional design & Y = its competitors
B. on more simplistic yet functional design than - This sentence changes the original meaning. The original intent is Apple focuses on Design & functionality rather than focusing on competitors, but this option means that Apple focuses on designs that more simple & functional than it focuses on competitors
C. more on simplistic and functional design than on - Correct, Maintains parallelism while preserving the original intent.
D. on simplistic and functional design than - Incorrect because X = on simplistic and functional design & Y = its competitors; Moreover, comparison marker MORE is absent
E. more on simplistic design and is more functional than are - This sentence changes the original meaning. The original intent is Apple focuses on Design & functionality rather than focusing on competitors, but this option means that Apple focuses on design more than its competitors focus on design

Thus the answer is C

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

To maintain parallelism correct structure should be more on X than on Y

A. more on simplistic and functional design than incorrect structure - more on X than Y
B. on more simplistic yet functional design than incorrect conjugation alters the meaning
C. more on simplistic and functional design than on -correct structure "more on X than on Y" and hence maintains parallelism
D. on simplistic and functional design than incorrect structure - more on X than Y
E. more on simplistic design and is more functional than are meaning issue - apple is more functional than its competitors

Rock750,
It can't be D because when you have a 'than', you need a comparative word such as more , less, greater, higher, etc

Please Press kudos if this helps
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Thanks Sachin9 , you are right .. i just had the impression seing a comparative word on this option.
At this stage , i'm stuck , i would choose A for the same reason you choose it but not convinced at all ..

I do not know why B is wrong.

here the meaning is stressed on the fact that apple use a simplicistic approach on its iphone for instance but at the same time are functional AND this fact is accomplished at the same time AND in a manner much better than its competitors

B for me is fine and the best of the bill.

I C seems that apple concentrate more energy on its iphone than the competitors. In other words: it cares about only of its iphone and no attention on other companies. and this is not true
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Apple, the company that has the highest revenue per employee, focusses more on simplistic and functional design than its competitors.

A. more on simplistic and functional design than-Correct clear and concise
B. on more simplistic yet functional design than-Completely change the intent
C. more on simplistic and functional design than on-Literally change the meaning
D. on simplistic and functional design than--"More" required to compare followed by "Than"
E. more on simplistic design and is more functional than are--Awkward

IMO:A:
meaning : comparison betn Apple company n betn its competitors
1 Apple focusses more on simplistic and functional design than its competitors do
No necessarily need to write "Do" after its competitor)
So no error

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

A. more on simplistic and functional design than :correct (explained)
B. on more simplistic yet functional design than :incorrect (meaning changed)
C. more on simplistic and functional design than on :incorrect (meaning changed)
D. on simplistic and functional design than ( than without more ) :incorrect (meaning changed)
E. more on simplistic design and is more functional than are:incorrect (meaning changed)

you are welcome. Kudos would have helped me
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carcas,
B is wrong because design is compared with competitors.

Hope it helps. If it does, press kudos
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bloody hell grrrrrrrrr.....moreover, yet MUST be preceded by comma.................I could have sworn to see a comma................ :

However, waiting for OA

Thanks

PS: please carcass with two S
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Dear Carcass,

Don't get frustrated. The good thing is that you know where you need to improve. I am sure that you are a few steps away from a stellar GMAT score.

-Rajat
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Hi Payal,
Can't 'do' be missing because of usage of ellipsis as mentioned in my post below:
apple-the-company-that-has-the-highest-tricky-sc-question-146724.html#p1177558
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Well, Official explanation is already posted but I'm happy that I got it right prior to seeing your explanation or OA e-GMAT...

Voting button pressed....
BTW, great question Payal...and look forward to see several more like this in the Club.
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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
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Thanks Payal. I was wondering why would a company focus on a competitor. Company would rather focus on things to get ahead of competitor for eg, design in this case and hence I eliminated the meaning that could be derived from C
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Folks,
Added this to my post : e-GMAT's ALL SC topics-Consolidated

Refer to my sig.
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