do/does or is/are at the end in comparison sentences

Question

Matt drivers fast cars like his sister.
Matt drivers fast cars  like  his sister  does .

So, here first is correct while second should use as.
To compare nouns use  like  and to compare clauses use  As , that's the rule if I'm not wrong.

But in a broader sense, I get confused when I see do/does at the end.

Can someone please explain when to use do/does or is/are and when not to?

cc  nightblade354   GMATNinja

madgmat2019 · Answer

In the simple present and simple past tenses, we use do/does as a helping verb when we have a different main verb

we use 'be' as our verb when we do not have another verb in the simple present or past tense......like is/are follwed by noun/adj/prep.

Hope it helps!

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi Neha,  do/does/did  are all forms of the verb  to do . These forms of  to do  verbs are very  flexible ; they can  stand for  the  main verb  of the sentence: the  main verb  can be in  any  tense, but  do/does  depict the main verb in  simple present  tense, while  did  depicts the main verb in  simple past  tense.

On the other hand, if the main verb of a sentence is a  linking  verb, the  to do  forms of the verb  cannot  stand for the main verb.

So, following would be incorrect:

Peter is more hardworking than his grandfather did .

The main verb of this sentence is a  linking  verb ( is ) and hence, we  cannot  use  did .

The correct sentence is:

Peter is more hardworking than his grandfather  was  .

p.s. Our book    EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana    discusses  to do verbs . Have attached the corresponding section of the book, for your reference.

sj24 · Answer

Thank you Ashish. This was helpful.
I'm confused regarding whether to use such verbs at the end or not. When to and when not to.

So for example,

I run as fast as he.
OR
I run as fast as he does.

Can you give me some clarity on such sentences and regarding its rule?

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi Neha, both are valid statements and mean exactly the same.

Broadly speaking, as long as the  tense  does not change and the meaning is not  ambiguous , it is  optional  to explicitly mention the verb.

However, let's look at the following sentence:

He runs as fast as his great-grandfather .

This would mean:

He runs as fast as his great-grandfather (runs) .

However, most probably, the intended meaning of the original sentence is:

He runs as fast as his great-grandfather (used to run in his days as a runner) .

So, since the tense is changing, the correct sentence would be one in which we  explicitly  mention the  verb  with the correct  tense :

He runs as fast as his great-grandfather  did .

ccooley · Answer

Ask yourself whether you'd use 'is' or 'does' as a helping verb in the original sentence.

"Matt  does  drive fast cars" sounds good.
"Matt  is  drive fast cars" is wrong.

So, in this case, it'd be "Matt drives fast cars as his sister  does " (technically, you're more likely to see something like "Matt drives fast cars, as does his sister.")

VerbalBot · Answer

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do/does or is/are at the end in comparison sentences

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