Like the Dreyfus affair at the century and the Sacco-Vanzetti trial in

A. the more so because
B. more for its being 'being' is generally wrong on GMAT. additionaly, 'more for its being it was...' is very awkward
C. more for the reason 'for' and 'reason' are redundant. 'For' here is representing 'because', which has same meaning as 'reson'
D. the more so for the reason because. 'reason' and 'beacuse' are redundant
E. the reason of it being more so is that very awkward structure

A is the answer
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Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of the crucial part of this sentence is that the Hiss case became the political cause of an era, and an additional reason why it did so was that it was the first time a congressional hearing was shown on television.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Comparisons + Idioms + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• "more" and "less" must have a logical sequence with "than"; in a comparison, "more/less...than" is the idiomatic construction.
• "more so" is an idiomatic construction used to convey why a particular characteristic applies to a greater degree.

A: This answer choice uses the phrase "the more so because", conveying the intended meaning - that the Hiss case became the political cause of an era, and an additional reason why it did so was that it was the first time a congressional hearing was shown on television; remember, "more so" is an idiomatic construction used to convey why a particular characteristic applies to a greater degree. Further, Option A is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

B: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "more for its being"; the construction of this phrase leads to an incoherent meaning because it presents an incomplete comparison; remember, "more" and "less" must have a logical sequence with "than"; in a comparison, "more/less...than" is the idiomatic construction.

C: Trap. This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "more for the reason that it was"; the construction of this phrase leads to an incoherent meaning because it presents an incomplete comparison; remember, "more" and "less" must have a logical sequence with "than"; in a comparison, "more/less...than" is the idiomatic construction. Further, Option C uses the needlessly wordy phrase "for the reason that it was", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

D: This answer choice uses the redundant phrase "for the reason because it was", rendering it awkward and needlessly wordy; this usage is redundant because "for the reason" and "because" convey the same meaning.

E: This answer choice uses the needlessly wordy phrase "the reason of it being...is that it was", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

Hence, A is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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In the correct choice (A), "so" refers to an entire action introduced in the previous clause: "became the political cause". This usage implies: "the Hiss more became the political cause."

Not using "so" does not re-introduce the previous clause. Therefore A is better than C.

Could you elaborate on the usage of "the more" here?
Since I am not a native speaker, I am not sure why we can put "the more" after the comma.
Is this an idiom or a common usage in standard English?

This is what https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/(all)%20the%20more%20so says about "the more so":

Used to say why something (such as an attribute or quality) applies to a greater degree or extent <The play was impressive—(all) the more so because the students had written it themselves.

As a non-native speaker, I was also totally clueless on this one.

Since this is NOT a typical comparative adjective that requires a mandatory "than", it would probably be better to memorize it as an idiom.

This usage may be considerd as stating an action and then providing an additional reason for taking the action - a reason that made someone take the action with stronger justification.

I went to the party, more so because she was there.

Fact: I went to the party
Additional reason that provided stronger justification for my action: because she was there.

Removign "more so" would not convey the sense of this additional justification for my action.

Moreover the preceding post from sukanyar is helpful in understanding the meaning better.

Hi,
the initial phrase -Like the Dreyfus affair at the turn of the century and the Sacco-Vanzetti trial in 1921- correctly modifies 'teh hiss'.. also it is part of non-underlined portion..
So our Q mainly is - the Hiss case became the political cause of an era, the more so because it was the first time a congressional hearing was shown on television.

lets see each statement


Like the Dreyfus affair at the turn of the century and the Sacco-Vanzetti trial in 1921, the Hiss case became the political cause of an era, the more so because it was the first time a congressional hearing was shown on television.

1. the more so because it was..
here 'more so', a kind of an IDIOM, is correctly used to refer to entire preceding clause...
MORE requires 'so' here to make sense

2. more for its being
requirement of So...
its being is not a better construction then A

3. more for the reason that it was
Same SO is missing..
SO is must to connect to previous clause

4. the more so for the reason because it was
more so is correctly used, but BOTH reason and because are redundant

5. the reason of it being more so is that it was
Clearly awkward construction

A
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thangvietnam, it's just an idiom. "The more so" basically means "even more so." Here, it could be seen as saying "and this was even more true in this case."
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Experts,

Please help, still not clear why C is wrong.

Please refer to this post:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/like-the-drey ... l#p1675309

"So" is required to refer to the event "became the political issue". Option C could still be considered if it were "...more so for the reason that...", but even then option A would be better because of the more concise "because" instead of " for the reason that". "More so" can be considered an idiom and in absence of "so", the comparative adjective "more" would require "than" - the structure then would be " more for the resaon X than for the reason Y" OR "more because X than because Y".

I understand, but i am not convinced with the "The" appearing before "More so". Sounds awkward. Would an answer without the "the" be right?

Hi Prateek1793,

We can try using all the more so instead of the more so. They are equivalent, so the meaning doesn't change, but I think more people are more comfortable with all the more so.
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MartyTargetTestPrep GMATNinja is there nothing else other than idioms that allows us to eliminate answer choices in this question?

Logic takes care of a lot.

(B) More for its being? More than what?

(C) More for the reason? More what for the reason? Also, more than what?

(D) The "reason because"? How does that make sense? Redundant and illogical.

(E) The reason of "it"? The reason of what?

The only idiom you need is "the more so." All the rest of the versions are illogical. So, what you need to know is that "the more so" is accepted and used in a certain way.

I doubt that such a question would show up on the test today. "The more so" is not widely known outside of English speaking countries, and the test-makers seek to make the test as fair as possible for all.
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Hi GMATNinja GMATNinjaTwo VeritasKarishma Veritas egmat ManhattanPrep Other experts

Can we use "the" before "more"? I mean "the" should be succeeded by superlative form, isn't it?

Please help

'the more so'/'all the more so' is an idiom. It shows why something applies even more.

e.g.
I was surprised to see him - the more so because I thought he was still in Paris.
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!!!!Option C Has A Meaning Issue!!!!

I couldn't find a satisfactory explanation, so here is my contribution. The meaning issue is very subtle.

The Hiss case became the political cause of an era, more for the reason X.

The sentence seems to say that The Hiss itself had a more important reason X, which was why the Hiss became the political cause. Whereas the intended meaning is: the reason that it was the first time that a congressional hearing was shown on television; this reason made The Hiss more political cause of an era.

Thanks for your explanation here chetan2u
I picked A and eliminated the others for the reasons you've mentioned above. But in Option A, I'm unable to comprehend the need for "the" before "more so". Why is "the" added here ? Would the sentence still be correct if we did not have "the"?

Thanks in advance!

Hi UserMaple5, I am not he to whom you directed the question, but I'll be happy to help

The reason why we need a "the" here before "more so" is that without a "the", "more so" would still take on the role of a comparative, and would, therefore have to be followed by a "than". And there is only one reason provided for why the Hiss case became the political cause of an era. On the other hand, if there were another reason to justify why the Hiss case became the political cause, then we could say "more for this reason than for another reason", as the following sentence, by way of example, illustrates:

The Hiss case became the political cause of an era, more so because it was the first time a congressional hearing was shown on television than because it was backed by a powerful politician.

Here, we are providing two reasons as to why the Hiss case became a political cause, and one reason is given greater weightage than the other. Here, "the more so" is closer to all the more so in terms of meaning, emphasizing the primary reason why the Hiss case became the political cause.

Hope this helps. Please let me know in case of any queries.
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