In 1980 the United States exported twice as much of its national outpu

A , B & E - out - as all of them using they to point the United States - a nation- singular.
D - out - as the in the 2nd part of comparison used wrong verb (has (exported)) wrt the 1st part (exported).
C . Correct .

The subject in the sentence is United States. At the first glance,we may consider it as plural because of an extra 's'in states however it is singular. Therefore, 'it' is correct usage.
A, B and E eliminated-uses 'they'
The action in 1970 has already occurred before the action done in 1980. Based on this, D is eliminated.
C is the correct answer choice.

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My answer is C:

In 1980 the United States exported twice as much of its national output of goods as they had in 1970.

(A) twice as much of its national output of goods as they had
>>>United States is singular, "they" is incorrect

(B) double the amount of their national output of goods as they did
>>>United States is singular, "they" is incorrect

(C) twice as much of its national output of goods as it did
>>>Correct Idiom: "as.... as..." + correct use of singular form of pronoun "it"

(D) double the amount of its national output of goods as it has
>>>InCorrect Idiom: "double.... as..." + Incorrect use of pronoun "has"

(E) twice as much of their national output of goods as they had
>>>United States is singular, "their, they" is incorrect

Twice as much as is correct usage, errors in other options highlighted in RED.

C is our best answer!

D and E are the next closest!

D has the correct pronouns, but idiomatically incorrect.
E is idiomatically correct, but incorrect pronouns.

(A) twice as much of its national output of goods as they had ---> use of they had at the end is incorrect should suggests us exported twice the amount of good it had in 1970

(B) double the amount of their national output of goods as they did ---> Double the amount is incorrect idiomatic usage

(C) twice as much of its national output of goods as it did ---> Idiomatic usage Twice as much x as y is correct use of it and its is correct

(D) double the amount of its national output of goods as it has ---> Idiom error same as B,

(E) twice as much of their national output of goods as they had ---> pronouns error their and they is incorrect usage

Official Explanation :

Choice A is incorrect because the plural pronoun they does not agree with its singular noun referent, the United States, and because had cannot substitute for exported.

In choice B, double the amount is a less idiomatic form of comparison than twice as much; also, the plural pronouns their and they are incorrect.

Choice C is best: the form of the comparison is idiomatic, the pronouns agree with the noun referent, and did - the simple past tense of do - can substitute for exported.

Choice D contains double the amount as well as has for exported, and

Choice E is faulty because of their and they had.

A, B and E - wrong use of they
D- idiom issue
correct answer - C

In 1980 the United States exported twice as much of its national output of goods as they had in 1970.

(A) twice as much of its national output of goods as they had - Pronoun issue "they" can't refer to the US

(B) double the amount of their national output of goods as they did - Pronoun issue "they" can't refer to the US ; double the amount is worse that twice as much

(C) twice as much of its national output of goods as it did

(D) double the amount of its national output of goods as it has - tense issue - it has ;

(E) twice as much of their national output of goods as they had - Pronoun issue "they" can't refer to the US

Answer C

As per ellipses, option C becomes as-
In 1980 the United States exported twice as much of its national output of goods as it did (export) in 1970.

But for ellipses, shouldn't the omitted words be present in the first part of the sentence in the same form ? Here, exported and export are not in the same form.



------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------
Ellipsis-
This is a case of ellipsis in comparison. In this, some words omitted from the sentence to make it more concise. Both noun and verb can be omitted. The omitted words should be present in the first part of the sentence in the same form.

-"Siri's AI capabilities are better than Alexa's (AI capabilities). - Correct! ("AI capabilities" is implied)

- Siri is smarter than Alexa (is). - Correct! ("is" is implied)

Siri is smarter than Alexa and Cortana are -- Here we CANNOT omit "are" since the verb in the earlier part is "is"?


Q1-For ellipsis, is it NECESSARY that the omitted words should be present in the first part of the sentence in the same form?

Q2- Also, are there any other rules/exceptions for ellipses other than two listed below.

The omission of a noun for concision is straightforward. Just make sure that the 2 nouns in the sentence can be logically compared. But there are certain exceptions when you are deciding -

1. Tense Shift-
If the verb tense changes from the first to the second half of the sentence, then the verb must not be omitted in the second half.

· You look more beautiful this year than last year. - Incorrect

· You look more beautiful this year than you did last year.- Correct


2. Meaning Ambiguity-
Do not omit the verb if doing so will make the sentence’s meaning ambiguous.

I love my dog more than my friend. - Incorrect -- ambiguity

·I love my dog more than I love my friend.- Correct!
·I love my dog more than my friend does.- Correct!


AjiteshArun , GMATNinja , MagooshExpert , GMATGuruNY , VeritasKarishma , VeritasPrepBrian , MartyMurray , ChiranjeevSingh ,ccooley, RonPurewal ,other experts - please enlighten

1/. The USA is a singular noun, so ''they'' (plurial) is incorrect.

2/. The USA exported as much as it did, not it had.

So C is the answer.

Main Issue:

1) Pronoun: US is a collective noun, and hence, it is singular.

(A) twice as much of its national output of goods as they had - Wrong: Pronoun 2) Verb. Should use past tense "did" instead of past perfect "had" since only one action happened 1970, an action not related to that of 1980.

(B) double the amount of their national output of goods as they did - Wrong: Pronoun

(C) twice as much of its national output of goods as it did - Correct

(D) double the amount of its national output of goods as it has - Wrong: Verb. Should use past tense "did" instead of present continuous "has" since the action happened in the past.

(E) twice as much of their national output of goods as they had - Wrong: Pronoun 2) Verb. Should use past tense "did" instead of past perfect "had" since only one action happened 1970, an action not related to that of 1980.

In 1980 the United States exported twice as much of its national output of goods as they had in 1970.


(A) twice as much of its national output of goods as they had

(B) double the amount of their national output of goods as they did

(C) twice as much of its national output of goods as it did

(D) double the amount of its national output of goods as it has

(E) twice as much of their national output of goods as they had

Subject United States is singular , Hence A, B, E Out . Between C & D , D is using has for something ended long back .
Hence correct Ans is C

I see C is the correct answer.
But i am puzzled by "of its national output of goods" contruction. why add an"of" before the its national output?
AND
1.Whether I can restructure the sentence as following:
In 1980 the United States exported twice of its national output as much as it did in 1970.
2. is "twice of" in original sentence similar with handreds of/thousands of ?
3. AND I THINK: In 1980 the United States exported twice its national output as much as it did in 1970(&equal to:In 1980 the United States exported twice as much its national output as it did in 1970 ). NO "OF" is 100% correct?

Thanks！

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