Comparisons

Question

Hi all,

I am confused about usage of word 'than' in comparisons. I read in gmatclub grammer book and also remember reading somewhere in manhattan SC book that..

"My father is taller" is correct. The argument is that subject here is known so you do not need the word 'than'. I do not understand what this means.

Because, my understanding of the word 'than' is that it should be used everytime we are comparing two things for ex: I am shorter than Mary.

So, in my opinion "My father is taller" does not make sense. It should be either "My father is tall" or "My father is taller than yours".

Can someone please help me here ?

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear freakygeek , I'm happy to help.

Here's a blog you might find informative: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-idio ... omparison/ That blog gives a number of different ways to phrase a comparison. We are getting into a territory that is more related to use of language in the real world than anything you would see on the GMAT SC. In the real world, anything written has several sentences in a row, and these sentences provide context for each other. For example, "... My mother was the shortest of her five sisters. She is so short that sometimes she wears children-sized clothes. My father is taller . ...." There, it's 100% clear from context that the object of comparison in that last sentence is my mother, that we are directly implying my father is taller "than my mother". That's an example in which the " than " construction is not needed. Of course, what's very artificial about the GMAT SC format is that we are always considering just one sentence in isolation. Nevertheless, even in one sentence, we can establish this kind of contrast if the sentence is complex enough. The United States' Atlantic Coast is a popular place for swimming in the summer, but the Pacific Coast has much colder waters and is inhospitable to swimmers for most of its stretch . In that sentence, we use the comparative " much colder ", and we don't need " than " because it's perfectly clear from context, from the contrast words in the larger sentence, exactly what the comparison is. Does all this make sense? Mike

Comparisons

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards