Freedmans survey showed that people living in small towns and rural

Question

Freedman’s survey showed that people living in small towns and rural areas consider themselves  no happier than do people living  in big cities.

(A) no happier than do people living

(B) not any happier than do people living

(C) not any happier than do people who live

(D) no happier than are people who are living

(E) not as happy as are people who live

https://www.nytimes.com/1979/12/16/archives/health-the-big-city-has-no-corner-on-mental-illness-health.html

Similar results were derived from a survey by Dr. Jonathan L. Freedman of Columbia University's psychology department. People in small towns and rural areas, he found, consider themselves  no happier than do people living  in big cities. And both common sense and Dr. Srole's studies indicate that there is a positive correlation between levels of general happiness and of mental health.

sayantanc2k · Accepted Answer

Konstantin1983

The simplified structure of the sentence is as follows:

X consider themselves happier than Y consider themselves.

The comparison is between  how happy X consider themselves  and  how happy Y consider themselves .

You may replace the second verb  consider  with  do , but not with  are .

If you use  are  instead of  do , the comparison would be between  how happy X consider themselves  and  how happy Y actually are . This meaning is not intended.

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

The difference here is not just about idiom or wordiness; it's about structure and meaning.

We are making a comparison, but what exactly are we comparing?

NO ___-ER THAN could set up a noun comparison or a verb comparison. Noun comparison: " I  am no louder than  you ." Verb comparison: "I  am  no louder than you  are " or "I  laugh  no louder than you  do ." (Notice that we use IS/ARE to refer back to another TO BE verb, while we can use DO to refer back to pretty much any other verb. Also notice that in the first of these, "louder" is an adjective, while in the second, "louder" is an adverb--we could have said "more loudly" to be clearer. The question uses "happier" as an adjective.)

Since A gives us "do people," it's setting up a verb comparison. The degree to which small town people consider themselves happy is no higher than the degree to which city people consider themselves happy.

NOT ANY ___-ER THAN sets up a noun comparison only. Why? It's the NOT. I can't say "I am not louder than you are." I am not what? Louder. Louder than what? You. "Are" doesn't fit anymore. The presence of NOT breaks up the sentence in such a way that we can't refer back to the previous verb. We have to compare nouns.

We might use this structure in B and C to convey a different meaning from A, and for all we know it's the correct one. (A doesn't have to have the right meaning.) People in small towns think they are NOT ANY HAPPIER THAN people in cities. So now we're not comparing how the two groups see themselves. We're looking at how one group (rural) compares itself to the other (city). This could work, but then the use of DO ruins the comparison. If we're comparing nouns, the verb DO is out of place.

This cuts B and C.

What about D? What happens when we change DO to ARE? Well, then we need a verb for ARE to refer back to, and it should also be a form of TO BE. (Notice that earlier we compared what I AM to what YOU ARE.) If we cut ARE, we'd avoid this problem and successfully convey the noun comparison that B and C were trying for. But we don't have that, so D fails.

(Also, the modifier switch in D is not great. "Living in X" is just a noun modifier--it describes the living place of the people in question. "Who are living" now has a verb in it, and it implies that this is happening in the present. That's not a crazy meaning, but it's not consistent with the earlier usage, and there's no reason for it.)

E? Again, ARE doesn't work without another similar TO BE verb to refer back to. So the meaning in A wins by default. Most of these choices are trying to make a different comparison than A is making, but none of them do so in a valid way! That's a bit unusual (often the correct meaning is repeated a bit more), but it can happen.

aragonn · Answer

Official Explanation: 
Choice A is best. In B, C, and E, the phrases beginning with not inplace of no are wordy and unidiomatic. In D and E, the use of are presents a verb substitution problem: are cannot take the place of the verb consider, as do can in A, because consider is something that people do, not something that they are.D and E thus fail to compare the attitudes of the two groups of people, referring instead only to how those in small towns and rural areas consider themselves. E also distorts the intended meaning by saying that people living in small towns and rural areas consider themselves less happy than people living in big cities.

KarishmaB · Answer

@anshul0131

We can compare either people/objects or actions.

A is no happier than B. (Comparing A with B)
We have 'to be' verb here. We are not comparing actions. We do not say "A is no happier than is B". We are directly comparing A to B.

A considers himself no happier than does B.
Now we are comparing actions. What A considers vs what B considers. Say A consider himself at 5 on the happiness scale and B considers himself at 5 or higher on the happiness scale (Higher is happier). So we can say that A considers himself no happier than does B.

Interestingly, this sentence gives us some context. There was a survey. In survey we are likely to question a varied bunch of people to arrive at some conclusions about their traits. So it is likely that we surveyed both rural and city people. So we are likely comparing actions. 
Then option (A) is perfect. It is parallel and it uses 'do' for the action.

...people living in small towns consider themselves no happier than do people living in big cities. (perfect)
I don't think I can make it any better even if I had a free hand.

(B) "no happier" is superior to "not any happier"
(C) "no happier" is superior to "not any happier" and parallelism is not perfect. (people living vs people who live)
(D) As discussed above, we do not need "are" here since we seem to be comparing people here, not actions. In this context, comparing actions does make more sense. Also parallelism is not perfect. 
(E) We don't need "are" and comparison is not perfect. Also, this comparison is not the same as others but we are not eliminating based on that. Who knows what the author had in mind. This option is anyway not correct grammatically.

Answer (A)

patedhav · Answer

1) "not any happier than'' is not idiomatic, "no hammer than' is idiomatic.....so we are left with a) and d).
2) "are people who are leaving" - wordier and "are people" cannot be used here it requires "do people".

prasun9 · Answer

It seems the confusion is between no happier and not any happier. The difference becomes apparent if we insert the word more, which is implicit. The second form is actually not any more happier which conveys the same meaning as no happier. As happier is the comparative form of happy, so we don't need a second comparative any more.

For eg.
X is not taller than Y. - concise
X is not any (more) taller than Y. - too verbose

For eg. 
X is not taller than Y. - concise 
X is not any (more) taller than Y. - too verbose

Konstantin1983 · Answer

In D and E we have wrong comparison (happiness vs people). In C and B "not any happier" is wordy, i think. Hence correct choice is A

stevekeating · Answer

It is also interesting to note that E changes the meaning. “Not as happy” is not the same as “no happier”. Eliminate E. “No happier” is better than “not any happier”. Eliminate B and C. The simplified sentence structure is “people A consider themselves happier than people B consider themselves”. To eliminate repetition of “consider” you can use the auxiliary verb “do”. Eliminate D. A is the answer. To simplify the sentence by breaking it down to its essential structure is a very valuable tool in sentence correction.

surendrasaini1 · Answer

Freedman’s survey showed that people living in small towns and rural areas consider themselves  no happier than do people living  in big cities.

(A)  no happier than do people living ( Correct, people living in small towns and rural areas is parallel to people living in big cities)
 
(B)  not any happier than do people living( not any is awkward)

(C)  not any happier than do people who live( not any is awkward, who live is not parallel to living)

(D)  no happier than are people who are living(then are people is incorrect, who are living is not required living is sufficient)

(E)  not as happy as are people who live ( who live is not parallel to living)
 
Will go with choice A

Thanks

baru · Answer

(A) no happier than do people living - Hold as no error

(B) not any happier than do people living - Wrong - not happier than is correct - not any happier is wrong and awkward

(C) not any happier than do people who live - same error as B and added " who live " should be " who living " to be parallel

(D) no happier than are people who are living - Error with the use of are before people which is awkward, 'do' should be used instead of 'are' there

(E) not as happy as are people who live- not parallel with living

So will go with  Option A

KHow · Answer

Hello,

Could someone please help me to understand why the comparison of happier-do is correct? I was under the impression that one must "be" happy, not "do" happy.

Any input would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

aragonn · Answer

KHow - This post covers your doubt. for hint - consider is something that people do, not something that they are. https://gmatclub.com/forum/freedman-s-s ... l#p2181558

Rakeshtewatia · Answer

Can anyone please clearly tell why no is correct and not "not". Also the role of "do" here in the sentence. Thanks

aragonn · Answer

Rakeshtewatia - this question is not about no/not . and probably GMAT will never ask a question around this. Following post will resolve your concern though.

https://www.englishforums.com/English/H ... w/post.htm

sahilbhatia · Answer

Rakeshtewatia , KHow , karnaidu , faltan Comparison: consideraton of ppl in small twn n rural to consideration of ppl in big cities A) 'do' acts for 'consider' ---> Perfectly parallel Compare consideration to consideration B) Not any is not preffered C) Not any is not preffered and the choice is too wordy D) compares consideration to Living conditions ( are denotes the living conditions) --> Incorrect E) compares consideration to Living conditions ( are denotes the living conditions) --> Incorrect ____________________________________ Kudos if you like my explaination

All the best with your preparation

Happy Learning

Harsh2111s · Answer

GMATNinja ,  VeritasKarishma   MentorTutoring 
Freedman’s survey showed that people living in small towns and rural areas consider themselves  no happier than people living  in big cities.
Is anything wrong in above sentence ?
I am comparing people living in small towns with people living in big cities.

AndrewN · Answer

Good question,  Harsh2111s . As simple as the omission of  do  seems, it touches on a few grammatical points. In the original sentence,  do  is being used as a  substitute  (yes, that is a grammatical term) for  consider themselves . You can argue for  ellipsis , or deletion of such a word, but by doing so, you actually change the meaning of the sentence at hand. Consider:

1)  Freedman’s survey showed that people living in small towns and rural areas consider themselves no happier than do people living in big cities. 
 Interpretation : With  do  in the sentence, we are comparing how two different groups of people  consider themselves . The end of the sentence, without the substitute, would read,  than people living in big cities  consider themselves  .

2)  Freedman’s survey showed that people living in small towns and rural areas consider themselves no happier than people living in big cities. 
 Interpretation : Without  do  in the sentence, we are stuck with the musings of a single group of people, those  living in small towns and rural areas . That is, we do not get any considerations from the group of people  living in big cities , so the sentence is conveying that some rural folk are  projecting  how their city-dwelling counterparts must feel.

In short, in the sentence at hand, since all five options force us to take into account how  both  groups of people think of themselves, we need the auxiliary verb  do . In an isolated sentence outside of the GMAT™, the comparison in 2) above would be fine.

I hope that helps with your question. Keep in mind, you always have to go by what is on the screen, not by what you want to be there. (I remind myself of this from time to time if I get caught up in a Sentence Correction question myself.)

- Andrew

mSKR · Answer

Hi

Experts, Please check the explanation based on grammatical rules and meaning wise.

As per grammatical rules:  
 happier  is adjective
 NO/NOT  modifies adjective
so  NO  or  not  should be adverb
both are grammatical correct.

Next step meaning wise:  
NO:
Adjective: He has no bananas  ( quantifier) 
Adverb: He is no good, He is no heavier than him,   ( degree)

NOT:  only adverb ( negate) 
he does not speak fluent

For this particular question, degree of happier makes sense. instead of saying  no happier 
hence  no  is better

NO: degree of negation --> happier /happiest --> no happier ; no happiest
NOT: negation of word : happy ---> Not Happy
we should use NO because we want to mention less happy instead of not happy.

Hence A makes sense.

please comment  AndrewN  .

Thanks!

AndrewN · Answer

I would not have thought to break down the  no-versus-not  split in such a way,  mSKR , but I like the attention to detail. I would say that in isolation, a sentence that incorporated  not any happier  would not be incorrect, but  no happier  would still express the same notion more succinctly, and yes, it is a matter of degree, just as you said. In this question,  no happier than  is superior to  not any happier than , plain and simple.

- Andrew

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