John was able to climb as fast as his brother did/ was. OA

Question

John was able to climb as fast as his brother   did/ was  .

OA said we should use   did  . But I think we should use   was  .

Any hints to share pls?

I think the above is similar to below, in which we should use  could , instead of  did .
John   could   climb as fast as his brother   did/could  .

hm... very simple, but very confused.

vbalex · Answer

When you must replace an action you must use the verb "to do", so we have "was'", a past tense, so the best choice is "did"

ssandeepan · Answer

John was able to climb as fast as his brother  was able to climb

now if we rewrite the sentence

John was able to climb as fast as his brother was.. then the meaning changes and looks like John's ability is compared to his brother and not to his brother's ability.

So, we should use did to replace 'was able to climb'

scthakur · Answer

Here you go. This clearly explains why "did" and not "was".

spriya · Answer

John was able to climb as fast as his brother   did/ was 
did is correct usage since john was able to climb AS FAST AS X
X refers to climb, hence brother did refers to climbed which is correct.
brother was what ?Wrong
brother did climb....Right
in the second statement ,
john could climb as fast as his brother could is correct usage .
here brother could climb is correct

VerbalBot · Answer

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John was able to climb as fast as his brother did/ was. OA

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