OFFICIAL EXPLANATIONProject SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC1)
Quote:
In the years after he left the White House, Richard Nixon strove to burnish his image for history more assiduously than did any former president.
A) more assiduously than did any [OTHER] former president
B) more assiduously than any other former president
C) with an assiduousness unmatched by any [OTHER] former president
D) with more assiduousness than did any other former president
E) more assiduously in comparison to any [OTHER] former president
• Split #1: ANY vs. ANY OTHER[/quote]
Whenever we compare one member of a group to others in that same group we need the words ANY
OTHER.
→
Serena Williams has won more Grand Slam titles than any other woman tennis player.→
The United States has recorded more COVID-19 cases than any other country in the world.We know that this sentence is describing Nixon as a former president because the sentence mentions "after he LEFT the White House."
Well, he can't do something more assiduously than ANY former president because that group includes himself.
If we say that he did something more assiduously than any OTHER former president, we know that the sentence describes all the other former presidents.
To native speakers, this "any OTHER" rule might seem very odd.
Okay. But GMAC still tests the rule, and we must use any
other in this sort of comparison.
Options A, C, and E fail to use any OTHER former president.
Eliminate them.
Other errors?
Option C uses too many words to say what option B does.
Option E incorrectly uses a comparison word and the phrase
in comparison to in the same sentence. Wrong.
→ Do not use
more . . . than and
in comparison to in the same sentence.
More already implies comparison.
• Split #2: ConcisionBefore you start assessing adverbs and adjectives, look at how many words the sentence uses to express the same ideas.
In other words, your
first style check is for concision.
→ Don't go overboard. Some sentences are better when written in passive voice, and passive voice usually uses more words than active voice.
→ In this case we have an active verb phrase:
strove to burnish, which just means that he tried to make his image look better
Our remaining options:
B) more assiduously than any other former president
D) with more assiduousness than did any other former president
Option D is grammatical.
But it is longer than B.
Option D uses more words than B does to say the same thing.
Additionally, the phrasing in option D is less direct.
→
with more assiduousness is not as directly connected to the verb as is
more assiduously. (The preposition
with in option D is part of the problem.
With is not straight up wrong. In this case, it's just not as effective as the straight adverb. More to the point, the with-phrase is longer than "more assiduously.")
Option B uses fewer words to express the same thing as D does.
Choose the shorter version.
Eliminate D.
The answer is B.NOTESDid is an active verb.
It stands in for
strove [to burnish]Ellipsis? Whether or not to include the word
did?
When must we repeat the verb?
Answer: It depends.
We can use ellipsis (omission of words) as long as the sentence makes sense.
If the sentence is ambiguous without the repeated verb, repeat the verb.
In option B, we don't need the word "did."
Without
did, are we really tempted to believe that Nixon tried to burnish his historical image more than Nixon tried to burnish "any other" former president?
→ I highly doubt so.
How, exactly, might Nixon go about burnishing a
person?We can burnish an image, whether it be our own or that of another person.
But we cannot really burnish a person herself.
I would read
this terrific post, here on repeating the verb phrase on the GMAT.
COMMENTSFor the most part, the analysis in these answers is varied, creative, and sophisticated.
Your ever-improving critical reasoning skills are on display.
Very nicely done.
If you
explained, you get kudos.