Ranked as one of the most important of Europe’s young playwrights,

i say D. i think you need the "those" there to make it clear that you are comparing works between authors.

Dear Akhil,
Thank you for providing your analysis for this question and I hope you are feeling better now. 
You have done a great job in the meaning analysis. Kudos for that! I think the answer to your question is hidden in the meaning analysis itself. For ready reference, please find the same below:

Your analysis: Meaning

Franz Xaver Kroetz has been ranked one of Europe's most important playwrigths.
He has written forty plays and his works
- have been translated into over thirty languages.
- and his works are produced more often than works of any other contemporary german dramatist.

My comments:
While writing the intended comparison, you have taken care to write “than (the) works of any other contemporary German dramatist”. Clearly, you understand that logically the works of one person can be compared only with the works of another person and not to a complete other person.

Now coming to your analysis of Choice A :

The only error that i see here is the usage of "than any". This is incorrect as works of Franz XK also fall into this category "than any".
The sentence means to say that works of Franz XK are produced more often than works of any other german dramatist.
Here when we add any other then Franz XK is excluded from the list "any other" and the comparison makes sense.
Also works of need not be there in this sentence as it is used as an ellipsis and works and german dramatist comparison is illogical.

My comments:
You are correct in your understanding of the meaning and the literal place where the error is in choice A but your understanding of how that error affects the meaning of choice A is not correct. First of all, Franz XK is not present in the sentence, his works are. So if anything, the comparison is between Franz XK’s works and any German dramatist (irrespective of including or excluding Franz XK as a dramatist). Accordingly, Choice A compares XK’s works with any contemporary German dramatist, saying that the works of a person are produced more often than any German dramatist. This is clearly nonsensical. A dramatist cannot be produced. Plus, as stated earlier, a dramatist can be compared with another dramatist but a dramatists’ works cannot be compared with another dramatist. They have to be compared with the works of another dramatist and no, omitting a literal reference to works is not OK. Let’s look at different versions of another sentence to understand the same. The comparison we intend to convey is that a particular person’s movies (Don Jon’s) are more successful than the movies made by any other person.
1. Don Jon’s movies are more successful than any man.
2. Don Jon’s movies are more successful than any other man.
3. Don Jon’s movies are more successful than those of any other man.
In sentences 1 and 2 above, the only ellipsis at play is the one in the verbs. So, if we were to write the two sentences without any ellipsis, they would be:

1. Don Jon’s movies are more successful than any man is (successful).
2. Don Jon’s movies are more successful than any other man is (successful).

In both the cases, we are comparing the movies of a particular person with an actual person. Where you are getting confused is that “any man” can include Don Jon whereas “any other man” cannot include Don Jon. However, that difference is of no consequence here. Don Jon is not present in the sentence. His movies are. So we are comparing his movies with actual sets of people. This makes no sense. There is no other ellipsis in the two sentences above. However, let’s take the case of sentence number 3 and get rid of the ellipsis in it:

3. Don Jon’s movies are more successful than those of any other man are (successful).

The sentence makes complete sentence with or without the ellipsis in the verb. We are comparing the movies of a person with the movies of any other person. This is because we use “those” to refer back to movies. This literal reference is a MUST.
Do you see now how choices A and B in the official question commit the same errors as sentences 1 and 2 here and how choice D is the correct choice?

Please get rid of the ellipsis in the verbs in choices A and B and present me your new analysis for them. Also, to solidify your understanding of ellipsis in comparison, please visit our in depth article on the subject here: https://e-gmat.com/blogs/?p=3577



Hope the above discussion helps!



Regards,

Neeti.

Knocked em all out to B and D. his works are produced more often than any other... any other what?

his works are produced more often that those of any other.

Go for D.

C completely changes the meaning, as do A and B. All three compare the works of Kroetz with other German dramatists (not the works of other German dramatists), which is absurd.

Read it again, breaking it down slowly and you will see it.

You still have to be careful, Tanchat. Yes, in isolation, the comparison itself would start off fine enough: his works are produced more often than are [the works] of.... However, you have to consider whether Franz Xaver Kroetz is German. If so, the comparison would need to continue, than are those of any other contemporary German dramatist, and this word is noticeably absent in (E).

- Andrew

+1 D

However, I have a doubt. Does choice C have a Subject-verb agreement mistake?

Excerpt from New York Times & The Economist

1. Costs for prescription drugs — including generics alongside brand names — have been rising faster than those for any other health care category, marked by high-profile cases such as the reported 400 percent increase for Mylan’s EpiPen and a 5,000 percent spike for Turing Pharmaceuticals’ Daraprim.

2. The New York Times has won 122 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper.

3. According to a new study, recent graduates of SUNY Maritime earn more than graduates of any other university in the United States.

4. It’s true that Muslim Americans — both born in the United States and immigrants from countries other than those subject to Trump’s restrictions — have carried out deadly terrorism in America.

5. South Korean men do less housework than those in any other advanced country.

6. Because the workings of the brain are less well understood than those of any other organ, it is quite common in psychiatry for useful drugs to be stumbled upon.

To be honest, saby1410, I think the phrase and sentence would be fine without as:

Ranked one of the most important... playwrights...

That is, without or without the word in question, we understand that this modifying phrase describes Kroetz. However, in the interest of helping you with your question, this usage of as fits the bill of a preposition—specifically, "used to describe the purpose or quality of someone or something" (from the Cambridge Dictionary). Consider this similar sentence from the same source:

She works as a waitress.

I would suggest reading through the entire dictionary entry for further reference. Concerning any versus any other, as always, look to the context of the sentence for clues. In this case, the original sentence conveys that, when considered among all contemporary German dramatists, Kroetz has written works that are produced the most—he is considered alongside his compatriots. Meanwhile, (B) conveys that in a direct comparison between how often his works are produced, Kroetz outranks any other contemporary German dramatist—a single person within the larger group. Of course, both comparisons are skewed in (A) and (B)—plays should not be directly compared to people—but you said you understood that already.

I hope my response proves helpful to you. Thank you for thinking to ask.

- Andrew

No, Tanchat, answer choice (E) is grammatically unsound: more _____ as draws an improper comparison and is built on a faulty mishmash of two idiomatic constructs—[comparative] + than and as _____ as. Watch out for this exact issue in comparison questions: it shows up not infrequently in one or two answer choices, and if you know how to spot it, you can make a quick elimination or two.

Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

A reads:

..his works are produced more often than any contemporary German dramatist.

So, this seems to be comparing "his works" with "any contemporary German dramatist".

D correct compares "his works" with "those (works) of any other contemporary German dramatist".

Hi E-gmat team,

Can you please let us know why option B is incorrect.
As asked in the original question since the comparison is pretty clear why cant we use ellipsis here.

Dear Akhilesh,

I appreciate your question. However before I give you the answer, I would like to see your analysis. Please send me your meaning analysis and error analysis for choice A and the answer choice analysis for choice C. Also, I will give you a hint here – once you figure out what is wrong with choice A, you will be able to understand the error in choice B as well.

Regards,
Neeti.

Hi Neeti,

Apologies for replying late , i was diagnosed with chicken pox and was offline for a few days.
Here is my analysis of the question.

Ranked as one of the most important of Europe’s young playwrights, Franz Xaver Kroetz has written forty plays; his works—translated into over thirty languages—are produced more often than any contemporary German dramatist.
(A) than any
(B) than any other
(C) than are any
(D) than those of any other
(E) as are those of any

Meaning
Franz Xaver Kroetz has been ranked one of Europe's most important playwrigths.
He has written forty plays and his works
- have been translated into over thirty languages.
- and his works are produced more often than works of any other contemporary german dramatist.

Error analysis
The original sentence contains a comparison between frequency of Franz XK works with frequency of any other german dramatist.
The only error that i see here is the usage of "than any". This is incorrect as works of Franz XK also fall into this category "than any".
The sentence means to say that works of Franz XK are produced more often than works of any other german dramatist.
Here when we add any other then Franz XK is excluded from the list "any other" and the comparison makes sense.
Also works of need not be there in this sentence as it is used as an ellipsis and works and german dramatist comparison is illogical.

POE

(A) than any
- incorrect for the reasons mentioned above.
(B) than any other
- correct as per me
(C) than are any
- usage of are is incorrect
(D) than those of any other
- looks to me a wordy choice
(E) as are those of any
- usage of any is incorrect.
Makes the original mitake


Regards
Akhil

Hi Neeti,

Thanks for the brilliant explanation as always.
I have become your fan and now enjoy learning this topic more than ever before.
Sentence correction has always been a nightmare for me from my days as a CAT aspirant but now i feel more confident than ever in approaching these question , thanks to you and the e-gmat team.
I still have a long way to go and hopefully will come away with flying colours.

I have a question though about ellipsis - is ellipsis always done on verbs.
I have gone through the blog post and also seen the same pattern there.
Are there any exceptions to this rule that you have seen in the gmat official questions so far.

Here is my analysis again for the question

Ranked as one of the most important of Europe’s young playwrights, Franz Xaver Kroetz has written forty plays; his works—translated into over thirty languages—are produced more often than any contemporary German dramatist.
(A) than any
(B) than any other
(C) than are any
(D) than those of any other
(E) as are those of any

Meaning
Franz Xaver Kroetz has been ranked one of Europe's most important playwrigths.
He has written forty plays and his works
- have been translated into over thirty languages.
- and his works are produced more often than works of any other contemporary german dramatist.

Error analysis
The original sentence contains a comparison between frequency of Franz XK works with any german dramatist.
This comparison does not make any sense and hence is incorrect.

POE

(A) than any
- incorrect comparison as mentioned above.
(B) than any other
- again incorrect comparison
(C) than are any
- incorrect comparison.
(D) than those of any other
- Correct - the comparison is appropriate now between works of Frank XZ and works of any other German dramatist.
(E) as are those of any
- does not convey the intended meaning.

I hope my analysis is proper this time.

Regards
Akhil

Dear Akhil,

Thank you for your kind words. I am really glad to hear that you have started enjoying SC. Great going.

Coming to your question regarding what entities can be omitted using ellipsis- the simple answer to this question would be that it depends on what we want to avoid repeating in the sentence without compromising the intended meaning of the author. An example of the same would be to use ellipsis to omit a preposition that is common to all the elements in a list. Consider the following simple sentence to understand this concept more:

Romano went to Paris in 1989 and he went to Paris in 2001.

Now from the above sentence, it’s clear that it was Romano who went to Paris in the mentioned two years. So he is the subject of both the clauses.
Accordingly, we can shorten the sentence by saying:

Romano went to Paris in 1989 and he went to Paris in 2001.

Again, we know that both the years take the same preposition – in. So we can avoid repeating the this preposition by using ellipsis and saying that:

Romano went to Paris in 1989 and in 2001. = Romano went to Paris in 1989 and 2001.

Let’s take an official example in which a preposition common to multiple elements has been omitted to avoid repetition (OG 13 q.84):

Recently physicians have determined that stomach ulcers are caused not by stress, alcohol, or rich foods, but by a bacterium that dwells in the mucous lining of the stomach.

Do you see the same pattern in the above choice? The preposition “by” has been left out after writing it in front of the first element (stress, alcohol, or rich foods). This is because each element in the list takes the same preposition. So for the sake of concision, we can avoid repeating the same---without compromising the meaning of the sentence. Also, besides the mentioned use of ellipsis in this sentence, can you point out another ellipsis in it?

As regards your analysis of the Franz XK question- great stuff indeed! Just one minor bit- choice E doesn’t convey any logical meaning.

Hope the above discussion helps!

Regards,
Neeti.

I have a question here:
I understand that the intended comparison is between works of FX and works of other contemporary German dramatist but
Is comparison between works of FX and works of any contemporary German dramatist correct ?
.....than those of any contemporary German dramatist - an option like this would that be correct ?

Posted from my mobile device

So, you are suggesting:

.....than those of any contemporary German dramatist

The correction option (D) is:

.....than those of any other contemporary German dramatist

I would prefer other, because FXK himself was a German dramatist. Hence, it would not be ideal to compare FXK with any contemporary German dramatist, because in some sense it would then suggest that we are comparing FXK with himself:)