Magoosh Idiom -- When + compare

Dear zoezhuyan

How are you, my friend?

Yes, there are exceptions to that rule in the idiom ebook.

Here's the basic idea. The word "when" and "although" are two examples of subordinate conjunctions. The role of a subordinate conjunction is to begin a dependent clause. A dependent clause is still a full clause--it must have a noun + a full verb. We are breaking the rules if "when" or "although" or another subordinate conjunction doesn't have a full verb after it--for example, if it simply has a participle, rather than a full verb.

That's the basic idea, but that's not the whole story. The whole story is that when a pronoun & helping verb are implied, then don't need to be stated explicitly. Thus, what's printed on the page will look like a [subordinate conjunction] + [participle], but when we fill in the implied words, we have a full subject & verb.

In this example:
printed = "even when compared with sales in previous Novembers"
with implied text = "even when they are compared with sales in previous Novembers"

Those short words don't have to be written--they are understood. Nevertheless, the only way we make sense of the grammar in the dependent clause is to remember to include these.

Notice that this wouldn't work with all participle
"even when comparing with sales in previous Novembers"
That example is 100% wrong, because there's no pronoun & helping verb combination that we can use that would make sense in the context of the sentence.

Does all this make sense?

Take good care of yourself, my friend!

Mike