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Employment costs rose 2.8 percent in the 12 months that ended in Septe 25 May 2023, 16:20
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Stanindaw
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Employment costs rose 2.8 percent in the 12 months that ended in September, slightly less than they did in the year that ended in the previous quarter.

A. less than they did

B. less than it did

C. less than they were

D. lower than

E. lower than they were

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Could someone also explain what the difference is between A and C?

Thank,

jjhko

Could somebody please tell, what type of modifier is "slightly less than.....quarter"
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To understand the modifier, first consider this simplified version of (A):

    "Employment costs rose less than they [rose] in 1982."

All we've done here is modify the verb. How much did employment costs rise? Less than they did in 1982. That technically makes it an adverb, but luckily the GMAT doesn't really care about grammar terminology. As long as you understand the meaning, you're good!

In (A), "slightly" further modifies the modifier (not just "less than"... only "slightly less than"). And instead of "in 1982" we have "in the year that ended in the previous quarter" -- this prepositional phrase just points to the year in question.

The comparison in (A) is "interrupted" by the 2.8 percent part, which tells us exactly how much employment costs rose. But the function of the "slightly less than..." modifier remains the same.

I hope that helps!
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Employment costs rose 2.8 percent in the 12 months that ended in Septe 24 Jul 2023, 09:23
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Stanindaw
jjhko
Employment costs rose 2.8 percent in the 12 months that ended in September, slightly less than they did in the year that ended in the previous quarter.

A. less than they did

B. less than it did

C. less than they were

D. lower than

E. lower than they were

Show Spoiler
Could someone also explain what the difference is between A and C?

Thank,

jjhko

Could somebody please tell, what type of modifier is "slightly less than.....quarter"
To understand the modifier, first consider this simplified version of (A):

    "Employment costs rose less than they [rose] in 1982."

All we've done here is modify the verb. How much did employment costs rise? Less than they did in 1982. That technically makes it an adverb, but luckily the GMAT doesn't really care about grammar terminology. As long as you understand the meaning, you're good!

In (A), "slightly" further modifies the modifier (not just "less than"... only "slightly less than"). And instead of "in 1982" we have "in the year that ended in the previous quarter" -- this prepositional phrase just points to the year in question.

The comparison in (A) is "interrupted" by the 2.8 percent part, which tells us exactly how much employment costs rose. But the function of the "slightly less than..." modifier remains the same.

I hope that helps!
Show more

So shall i say that it is an absolute phrase, modifuing verb raise?
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Employment costs rose 2.8 percent in the 12 months that ended in Septe 27 Jul 2023, 13:35
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Stanindaw
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To understand the modifier, first consider this simplified version of (A):

    "Employment costs rose less than they [rose] in 1982."

All we've done here is modify the verb. How much did employment costs rise? Less than they did in 1982. That technically makes it an adverb, but luckily the GMAT doesn't really care about grammar terminology. As long as you understand the meaning, you're good!

In (A), "slightly" further modifies the modifier (not just "less than"... only "slightly less than"). And instead of "in 1982" we have "in the year that ended in the previous quarter" -- this prepositional phrase just points to the year in question.

The comparison in (A) is "interrupted" by the 2.8 percent part, which tells us exactly how much employment costs rose. But the function of the "slightly less than..." modifier remains the same.

I hope that helps!

So shall i say that it is an absolute phrase, modifuing verb raise?
Show more

An absolute phrase is basically a type of noun that modifies the entire sentence. In (A), the modifier after the comma ("slightly less...") isn't a noun or noun phrase, so it's not an absolute phrase.

But remember, the label you give to a modifier doesn't matter on the GMAT. As long as you understand what it's doing (i.e. what's modifying what), you're probably going to be fine. For more on that, check out this post: https://gmatclub.com/forum/there-are-no ... l#p3177966.
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Employment costs rose 2.8 percent in the 12 months that ended in Septe 24 Nov 2023, 14:12
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Employment costs rose 2.8 percent in the 12 months that ended in September, slightly less than they did in the year that ended in the previous quarter.

Option Elimination -

A. less than they did - the sentence after the comma "slightly less than they did in the year that ended in the previous quarter" is adverbial. Modifying what? Modifying "employment costs rose." "they" refers to "employment cost," and "did" refers to "rose." We are comparing the rise. "less" here is an adverb and modifies the verb "rise." ok. (less can be used as a determiner, pronoun, adverb, preposition, and adjective. Look for its usage in the sentence)
B. less than it did - "it" for plural "employment costs" is wrong.
C. less than they were - The idea here is to compare the rise and not the employment costs. Moreover, in ellipses, when we refer to the action verb, it is better to use "did" or "do" than the helping verb. The helping verb in the latter part is normally used if we used the helping verb in the earlier part. Wrong.
D. lower than -
Let's brush up on the basics here.
1. "less" is used to compare two quantities or amounts. It is used to refer to uncountable nouns or a collective quantity. E.g., She has less money than her sister.
2. "low" is an adjective used to describe a state or the condition of being at a small distance from the bottom, base, or minimum. It is used to compare one thing with an absolute standard or to describe general characteristics. E.g., The temperature is low.
3. "lower" is a comparative adjective used to indicate a lower degree, rank, or position compared to something else. It is used when making a specific comparison between two or more items. For example, The temperature in New York is lower than the temperature in Miami.

The bottom line is that "lower" is an adjective and can not be used to refer to a verb i.e., "rise." Moreover, "the rise" is compared with "in the year," a comparison that doesn't make sense. Wrong.


E. lower than they were - Same issues as in D and C.
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Employment costs rose 2.8 percent in the 12 months that ended in Septe 07 Dec 2024, 13:58
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