The European Economic Community exported just under $400 billion in goods in 1988, sixty percent more than the United States did and nearly twice as much as Japan's exports . (A) the United States did and nearly twice as much as Japan's exports (B) the United States and nearly double what the Japanese exports were (C) the United States exported and nearly twice as much as the Japanese did (D) what the United States did and nearly twice as much as Japan's exports (E) what the United States exported and nearly double the Japanese exports https://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/23/business/the-growing-fear-of-fortress-europe.html The European Community exported just under $400 billion in goods last year, 60 percent more than what the United States exported and nearly double Japan's exports . The community's imports are also huge, totaling just under $400 billion as well, roughly equal to the American import volume and more than three times Japan's volume. One goal of the 1992 program is to expand Europe's exports by reducing the costs of European companies - a goal that increased protectionism could well undermine.

Hello, I need help here. The European Economic Community exported just under $400 billion in goods in 1988, sixty percent more than the United States did and nearly twice as much as Japan's exports. Here I see that the main clause is "The European Economic Community exported just under $400 billion in goods in 1988". "sixty percent more ..." is modifying "$400 billion in goods" So I see the sentence as follows: The European Economic Community exported just under $400 billion in goods in 1988, sixty percent more than the United States did and nearly twice as much as Japan's exports. Now I see that "sixty percent more..." and "nearly twice as..." are in parallel. The compared entities seem to be between: 1. "$400 billion in goods" and "the United States did" - 2. "$400 billion in goods" and "Japan's export" - Now if we look at the comparison, we can see that it should be: "($400 billion in goods was) sixty percent more than what the United States exported" and "($400 billion in goods was) nearly twice as much as Japan's export" Compiling the whole sentence it should be: The European Economic Community exported just under $400 billion in goods in 1988, sixty percent more than what the United States did and nearly twice as much as Japan's exports. Now "did", the helping verb, can be changed to complete verb. The European Economic Community exported just under $400 billion in goods in 1988, sixty percent more than what the United States exported and nearly twice as much as Japan's exports. That is why I understand choice D to be correct. Could someone please explain where I went wrong?

Last visit was: 19 Nov 2025, 04:26

It is currently 19 Nov 2025, 04:26

Toolkit

Sentence Correction (SC - EA only)

GMAT Club Daily Prep

Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.

Go to My Error Log Learn more

Request Expert Reply

Confirm Cancel

Nov 20
UCR MBA Impact - Live Q&A with UCR AdCom & Student
07:30 AM PST
-
08:30 AM PST
Learn what truly sets the UC Riverside MBA apart and how it helps in your professional growth
Nov 22
GMAT RC Masterclass
11:00 AM IST
-
01:00 PM IST
Do RC/MSR passages scare you? e-GMAT is conducting a masterclass to help you learn – Learn effective reading strategies Tackle difficult RC & MSR with confidence Excel in timed test environment
Nov 23
Conquer Algebra on the GMAT Focus Edition
11:00 AM IST
-
01:00 PM IST
Attend this free GMAT Algebra Webinar and learn how to master the most challenging Inequalities and Absolute Value problems with ease.
Nov 25
Try OnDemand GMAT Masterclass
10:00 AM EST
-
11:00 AM EST
Prefer video-based learning? The Target Test Prep OnDemand course is a one-of-a-kind video masterclass featuring 400 hours of lecture-style teaching by Scott Woodbury-Stewart, founder of Target Test Prep and one of the most accomplished GMAT instructors.

Back to Forum

Create Topic

The European Economic Community exported just under $400 billion in

1 2

warriorguy

Retired Moderator

Joined: 04 Aug 2016

Last visit: 08 Feb 2023

Posts: 378

Own Kudos:

357

[1]

Given Kudos: 144

Location: India

Concentration: Leadership, Strategy

GPA: 4

WE:Engineering (Telecommunications)

Posts: 378

Kudos: 357

[1]

13 Dec 2016, 09:33

Kudos

Bookmarks

sayantanc2k

Yes, you are absolutely right. In this example, if the second verb were "has"/"have" ("...as the Japanese have"), then the point you have mentioned would be applicable (this would then be a case of omission) - since there is no past participle ("exported") form in the first part of the sentence, using "have" would be wrong.

However the simple past "exported" can be replaced with "did". (This is not a case of omission.)

So if I understood correctly, it is part of the concept wherein if we have the verb without any auxiliary verb in the first part of the sentence, we need not re-write the verb in the second part but just replace it with either do,did or does; however, if the verb in the first part has an auxiliary verb + verb construction then just repeat the auxiliary verb in second part of the sentence?

sayantanc2k

Joined: 14 Dec 2013

Last visit: 09 Dec 2022

Posts: 2,393

Own Kudos:

15,523

[2]

Given Kudos: 26

Location: Germany

Schools:

GMAT 1: 780 Q50 V47 Verified score

WE:Corporate Finance (Pharmaceuticals and Biotech)

Expert

Expert reply

Schools:

GMAT 1: 780 Q50 V47 Verified score

Posts: 2,393

Kudos: 15,523

[2]

14 Dec 2016, 07:15

Kudos

Bookmarks

warriorguy

sayantanc2k

Yes, you are right - you have described the generalization very well.

CKHE

Joined: 11 Mar 2019

Last visit: 02 Jan 2025

Posts: 83

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 199

Location: India

GMAT 1: 720 Q49 V39 Verified score

GMAT 2: 690 Q49 V36 Verified score

Posts: 83

Kudos: 83

07 Sep 2021, 05:17

Kudos

Bookmarks

GMATNinja

Can you please explain why a comparison between actions and not nouns is necessary here?

Since, the modifier '60% more than' refers to 'exports worth $400 billion', 'what the United States exported' (noun phrase referring to value of goods exported) and Japanese exports mentioned in option E seems correct.

GMATNinja

GMAT Club Verbal Expert

Joined: 13 Aug 2009

Last visit: 18 Nov 2025

Posts: 7,445

Own Kudos:

69,783

[2]

Given Kudos: 2,060

Status: GMAT/GRE/LSAT tutors

Location: United States (CO)

GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V46 Verified score

GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51 Verified score

GRE 1: Q170 V170 Verified score

GRE 2: Q170 V170 Verified score

Products:

Expert

Expert reply

GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51 Verified score

GRE 1: Q170 V170 Verified score

GRE 2: Q170 V170 Verified score

Posts: 7,445

Kudos: 69,783

[2]

17 Sep 2021, 15:47

Kudos

Bookmarks

Chitkrish

Let's start with a couple simpler examples:

"Winery A sold 60% more jalapeño wine than Winery B."
We're comparing how much Winery A sold to how much Winery B sold (note that the second "sold" is implied and thus does not need to be repeated). You're probably OK with this one, even though the second implied "sold" is omitted from the comparison.

(You're probably less OK with the idea of jalapeño wine. Yes, we know a guy who makes the stuff in Iowa. It's... um... interesting?

)

Here, have another:

"Winery A sold 5,000 liters of jalapeño wine, 60% more than Winery B sold."
We're still comparing how much Winery A sold to how much Winery B sold, but in a slightly different way. And the implied words are a little different. Here, it's basically, "Winery A sold 5,000 liters of jalapeño wine, [which is] 60% more than [the amount of wine that] Winery B sold." But even without the words in brackets, it's clear that we are comparing the amount of wine sold by the two wineries.

Choice (C) is a lot like the second example above:

"The European Economic Community exported just under $400 billion in goods in 1988, sixty percent more than [the value in goods that] the United States exported and nearly twice as much as [the value in goods that] the Japanese [exported]."
Even without the words in brackets, it's clear that we are comparing the value in goods exported by the EEC, the US, and Japan.

In (E), "what the United States exported" isn't bad (basically the same as "[the amount] the United States exported"). The problem with (E) is that we are comparing WHAT the EEC and US exported to Japanese exports themselves. For consistency, we'd want to compare WHAT the EEC and US exported to WHAT the Japanese exported. That's exactly what we get in (C), making the comparison more symmetrical (even if a few implied words are omitted).

Keep in mind that this is a very old, retired question from a paper test, so I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it.

Anandanwar

Joined: 29 Oct 2021

Last visit: 19 Nov 2025

Posts: 55

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 2,991

Products:

Posts: 55

Kudos: 8

08 Nov 2021, 10:21

Kudos

Bookmarks

Hello,

I need help here.

The European Economic Community exported just under $400 billion in goods in 1988, sixty percent more than the United States did and nearly twice as much as Japan's exports.

Here I see that the main clause is "The European Economic Community exported just under $400 billion in goods in 1988".

"sixty percent more ..." is modifying "$400 billion in goods"

So I see the sentence as follows:

The European Economic Community exported just under $400 billion in goods in 1988, sixty percent more than the United States did and nearly twice as much as Japan's exports.

Now I see that "sixty percent more..." and "nearly twice as..." are in parallel.
The compared entities seem to be between:
1. "$400 billion in goods" and "the United States did" - <WRONG>
2. "$400 billion in goods" and "Japan's export" - <CORRECT>

Now if we look at the comparison, we can see that it should be:

"($400 billion in goods was) sixty percent more than what the United States exported"
and
"($400 billion in goods was) nearly twice as much as Japan's export"

Compiling the whole sentence it should be:
The European Economic Community exported just under $400 billion in goods in 1988, sixty percent more than what the United States did and nearly twice as much as Japan's exports.

Now "did", the helping verb, can be changed to complete verb.
The European Economic Community exported just under $400 billion in goods in 1988, sixty percent more than what the United States exported and nearly twice as much as Japan's exports.

That is why I understand choice D to be correct.

Could someone please explain where I went wrong?

ExpertsGlobal5

Experts' Global Representative

Joined: 10 Jul 2017

Last visit: 19 Nov 2025

Posts: 5,195

Own Kudos:

4,765

Given Kudos: 43

Location: India

GMAT Date: 11-01-2019

Expert

Expert reply

Posts: 5,195

Kudos: 4,765

09 Nov 2021, 04:44

Kudos

Bookmarks

Anandanwar

Hello Anandanwar,

We hope this finds you well.

Having gone through the question and your query, we believe that we can resolve your doubt.

The simplest way to see that Option D is incorrect is because of the lack of parallelism between "what the United States did (exported)" and "Japan's exports"; the former is a verb phrase, and the latter is a noun phrase; please remember, any elements liked by conjunction must be parallel. By comparison, Option C - the correct answer choice - uses the parallel constructions "the United States did" and "the Japanese did".

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

tinbq

Joined: 04 Nov 2016

Last visit: 26 May 2024

Posts: 119

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 599

Location: Viet Nam

Schools: Cornell '26 (WL)

GMAT 1: 710 Q50 V35 Verified score

GMAT 2: 720 Q49 V38 Verified score

GPA: 3.12

Schools: Cornell '26 (WL)

GMAT 2: 720 Q49 V38 Verified score

Posts: 119

Kudos: 24

13 Dec 2021, 03:46

Kudos

Bookmarks

Hi experts,

I am still confused why D is incorrect. Isn't 'What the US did' a noun clause? If yes, then elements in D are parallel.

Thanks

GMATNinja

GMAT Club Verbal Expert

Joined: 13 Aug 2009

Last visit: 18 Nov 2025

Posts: 7,445

Own Kudos:

69,783

[1]

Given Kudos: 2,060

Status: GMAT/GRE/LSAT tutors

Location: United States (CO)

GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V46 Verified score

GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51 Verified score

GRE 1: Q170 V170 Verified score

GRE 2: Q170 V170 Verified score

Products:

Expert

Expert reply

GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51 Verified score

GRE 1: Q170 V170 Verified score

GRE 2: Q170 V170 Verified score

Posts: 7,445

Kudos: 69,783

[1]

14 Dec 2021, 13:48

Kudos

Bookmarks

tinbq

Hi experts,

I am still confused why D is incorrect. Isn't 'What the US did' a noun clause? If yes, then elements in D are parallel.

Thanks

Well, all clauses have nouns, but there is a problem with the parallelism in (D).

First, take another look at the parallelism in (C):

Quote:

The European Economic Community exported just under $400 billion in goods in 1988, sixty percent more than the United States exported and nearly twice as much as the Japanese did.

Notice that we're comparing three actions. How much the ECC exported; how much the US exported; and how much the Japanese did. ("Did" is just a stand-in for "exported" here.) Looks good and parallel to me.

Now contrast that with (D):

Quote:

The European Economic Community exported just under $400 billion in goods in 1988, sixty percent more than what the United States did and nearly twice as much as Japan's exports.

Now we get actions for the first two elements in the comparison: how much the ECC exported; how much the US did (or exported.) But that last element, "Japan's exports" is a noun phrase with no verb. And we can't assume the same verb applies, otherwise, we'd be talking about how much Japan's exports exported, which is clearly nonsensical.

So that's why (D)'s parallelism is faulty.

I hope that clears things up!

aditya999

Joined: 24 Mar 2020

Last visit: 31 Aug 2022

Posts: 9

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 127

Posts: 9

Kudos: 4

15 Dec 2021, 22:21

Kudos

Bookmarks

Hi experts,

I eliminated options C & E because these two options compares the exports of entities/countries (EEC & US) with citizens of a country i.e. Japanese. Can we realy compare exports of a country with the exports of citizens from a country.
Is this legit?
Please help me understand if I am wrong

Posted from my mobile device

ExpertsGlobal5

Experts' Global Representative

Joined: 10 Jul 2017

Last visit: 19 Nov 2025

Posts: 5,195

Own Kudos:

4,765

Given Kudos: 43

Location: India

GMAT Date: 11-01-2019

Expert

Expert reply

Posts: 5,195

Kudos: 4,765

16 Dec 2021, 06:47

Kudos

Bookmarks

aditya999

Hello aditya999,

We hope this finds you well.

Having gone through the question and your query, we believe we can resolve your doubt.

If you look closely, Option C does not compare "goods" to "the Japanese"; it compares the verb phrases "exported just under $400 billion in goods in 1988" and "the Japanese did". Similarly, Option E compares "just under $400 billion in goods" with "the Japanese exports".

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

KittyDoodles

Joined: 21 Jan 2020

Last visit: 26 Mar 2025

Posts: 102

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 346

Schools: ISB '27 (A)

Posts: 102

Kudos: 6

11 Oct 2022, 23:28

Kudos

Bookmarks

Hi Experts,

I selected option D as i thought the phrases "sixty percent more than what the United States did" and "nearly twice as much as Japan's exports" is modifying "$400 billion in goods".

Thus $400 billion in goods is sixty percent more than what the United States did and $400 billion in goods is nearly twice as much as Japan's exports.

Please advise what is wrong in my above understanding as i had missed the parallelism.

GMATGuruNY

Tutor

Joined: 04 Aug 2010

Last visit: 18 Nov 2025

Posts: 1,344

Own Kudos:

3,796

[1]

Given Kudos: 9

Schools:Dartmouth College

Expert

Expert reply

Posts: 1,344

Kudos: 3,796

[1]

13 Oct 2022, 03:48

Kudos

Bookmarks

KittyDoodles

I received a DM requesting that I comment.

Generally, the GMAT will not use more than to state that one value is more than another.
Incorrect:
The rate in 1990 was more than the rate in 1980.
To compare two values, the GMAT will typically use an -er word such as greater or higher.
The rate was HIGHER in 1990 than in 1980.

On the GMAT, more than typically serves to compare two VERBS.
John ate more than Mary.
Implied comparison:
John ate more than Mary [ate].

Non-underlined portion in the SC above:
The European Economic Community exported just under $400 billion in goods in 1988, sixty percent more than...
Here, more than serves to compare the preceding verb -- exported -- to another verb, as follows:
The European Economic Community EXPORTED more than some other entity EXPORTED.
The result is the OA:
The European Economic Community exported just under $400 billion in goods in 1988, sixty percent more than the United States exported.
Implied comparison:
The European Economic Community exported sixty percent more [goods] than the United States exported [goods].

Other official examples:
Lake Baikal holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.
Here, more than serves to compare the preceding verb -- holds -- to another verb, as follows:
Lake Baikal HOLDS more than some other entity HOLDS.
Implied comparison:
Lake Bailkal holds more [fresh water] than all the North American Great Lakes combined [hold fresh water].

The gap will be $3.7 billion, a billion dollars more than officials had predicted.
Here, more than serves to compare the preceding verb will be to the subsequent verb had predicted.
Implied comparison:
The gap WILL BE a billion dollars more than officials HAD PREDICTED [that the gap would be].

GMATNinja

GMAT Club Verbal Expert

Joined: 13 Aug 2009

Last visit: 18 Nov 2025

Posts: 7,445

Own Kudos:

69,783

Given Kudos: 2,060

Status: GMAT/GRE/LSAT tutors

Location: United States (CO)

GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V46 Verified score

GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51 Verified score

GRE 1: Q170 V170 Verified score

GRE 2: Q170 V170 Verified score

Products:

Expert

Expert reply

GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51 Verified score

GRE 1: Q170 V170 Verified score

GRE 2: Q170 V170 Verified score

Posts: 7,445

Kudos: 69,783

19 Oct 2022, 16:05

Kudos

Bookmarks

KittyDoodles

If you haven't done so already, try reviewing these two posts from earlier in the thread:

1) https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-european ... l#p2862256
2) https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-european ... l#p2924034

Raman109

Joined: 17 Aug 2009

Last visit: 28 Jul 2025

Posts: 805

Own Kudos:

170

Given Kudos: 33

Posts: 805

Kudos: 170

08 Oct 2023, 04:51

Kudos

Bookmarks

Option elimination-

(A) the United States did and nearly twice as much as Japan's exports - with "and" we need a parallelism. "nearly twice as much as Japan's exports " is a phrase.
(B) the United States and nearly double what the Japanese exports were - broken parallelism. Also correct usage of "double" is as follows - The company plans to double the size of its workforce or The sales team aims to double the number of clients."
(C) the United States exported and nearly twice as much as the Japanese did - "did" refers to exported. Perfect parallelism.
(D) what the United States did and nearly twice as much as Japan's exports - "nearly twice as much as Japan's exports" phrase.
(E) what the United States exported and nearly double the Japanese exports - "nearly double the Japanese exports" phrase.

1 2

Moderators:

GMATNinja

GMAT Club Verbal Expert

7445 posts

GMATNinjaTwo

GMAT Club Verbal Expert

234 posts

miag

188 posts

Prep Toolkit

Announcements

How the UC Riverside MBA Helps You Thrive Personally & Professionally

Thursday, Nov 20, 2025
10:30am NY / 3:30pm London / 9pm Mumbai

Master in Management, Finance, Business Analytics and more Master’s Programs!

Live Profile Evaluation Chat Session with ARINGO

Wednesday, November 19, 2025
09:00 am PDT | 10:30 pm IST
Location: GMAT Club Chat

Top GMAT Focus Debriefs

The European Economic Community exported just under $400 billion in

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

The European Economic Community exported just under $400 billion in

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards