The new sports car is heavier than usual for a performance automobile

Question

The new sports car is heavier than  usual  for a performance automobile, but it is exceptional because of its high-powered engine.

(A) usual 
(B) it is usual 
(C) one usually is 
(D) is usual 
(E) has been usual

ArtVandaley · Answer

I will go with A.

B is incorrect as it compares the same car. The sentence says the sports car is heavier that the sports car is usual.
 
C is incorrect as one refers to a very specific car that we are talking about. On the contrary, usual is applicable to many.

D is incorrect as it says- sports car is heavy that sports car is usual. It's like saying Apple is red than apply is heavy. Incorrect attribute comparison.

E is wrong for the same reason as E. Plus there is no reason to use present perfect as there is no other action mentioned in the sentence

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ahabib · Answer

Hi  Bunuel  , can you post the official explanation?

I'm mainly wondering what makes (C) wrong.. Is it because it's overly formal?

Thank you

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

ahabib  Try filling in "a sports car" where you see the pronoun "one" in C:

The new sports car is heavier than a sports car usually is for a performance automobile, but it is exceptional because of its high-powered engine.

Do you see the redundancy? We can say "heavier than a sports car usually is" or "heavier than usual for a performance automobile," but the combination of the two doesn't make sense. In the second phrase, "for a performance automobile" modifies "usual." But if it is attached to "usually is," we're saying that there's some usual level of heaviness that sports cars have "for a performance automobile" as opposed to the rest of the time. There's no real meaning in that.

ahabib · Answer

DmitryFarber

Thanks a ton, that helped a lot!

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Peddi · Answer

I picked c. I understood the explanation given by Dmitry Farber. But why is d correct , is usual doesn't make any sense

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gmat1393 · Answer

DmitryFarber  I still can’t understand why C is wrong..can you please elaborate?

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gmatway · Answer

The new sports car is heavier than usual for a performance automobile, but it is exceptional because of its high-powered engine. The tense of whole sentence is present tense and hence we need ACTIVE voice in present tense . (A) usual - not proper comparison . we are comparing sports car with USUAL (B) it is usual - IT is unnecessary (C) one usually is - hmmn lets keep it for now (D) is usual - ohkay nothing wrong keep it (E) has been usual - never ever will I choose has BEEN - It means NEW sports car has always has been heavier .ITS AWKWARD no proper meaning can be derived from E. NOW LETS WORK ON OUR SELECTED OPTIONS (C) - one (sports car ) usually (adverb ) is (present tense ) - Nothing wrong here but it sounds passive and a bit jumbled . often our mind skips such minor difference . BETTER WAY TO COMPARE -The new sports car is heavier than usually a sports car is ..... this makes sense . option D - is usual - refers to other sports car --> sports car in general use (other than this new sports car) .THE WORD USUAL IS ACTING AS A VERB . we dont want usually which is adverb . so when you plug it in question you get The new sports car is heavier than IS(a sports car normally is IN GENERAL) USUAL for a performance automobile..... I anyways have no other better option left so D is the winner

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DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

Peddi  The car is heavier. Heavier than what? Heavier than is usual. Usual for what? Usual for a performance automobile.

This kind of phrasing is fairly common:

I spent more than is advisable for someone at my income level. 
The amount of snow has been greater than was expected this season.

GKomoku · Answer

D.PNG Hello DmitryFarber , could you please advise is my reasoning valid? Even if we omit comparison made here, this two sentence are correct from meaning standpoint? The new sports car is heavy for a performance automobile, but it is exceptional because of its high-powered engine. The new sports car is usual for a performance automobile, but it is exceptional because of its high-powered engine. (this construction sounds odd to me) As two verbs 'is' made parallel in (D) so if we separate them as independent verbs they still have to make sense right?

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

GKomoku That structure is not quite right. "Than" is not a parallelism marker, so we don't have a reason to make the two instances of "is" parallel. Take a look at the first of my example sentences: "I spent more than is advisable . . . " We certainly wouldn't say that "spent" and "is" are parallel here.

Basically, when we say that something is "more than is usual," we are saying that it is more than the amount that is usual. So "than is usual . . . automobile" is all just a modifier for "heavier." After that, you are right that we have a second independent clause.

By the way, some people might be wondering why we don't just use the simplest form: answer choice A. The trouble is that "heavier than usual" implies "heavier than this thing usually is." (If I am heavier than usual, it means that I have gained weight compared to my previous state , not that I weigh more than others.) So then adding the modifier "for a performance automobile" makes things a bit confusing, even though in real life we'd all probably understand the intended meaning.

By the way, here's the original question this is copying: https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-partheno ... 06455.html

rishab0507 · Answer

The new sports car is heavier than usual for a performance automobile, but it is exceptional because of its high-powered engine.

Author is making comparison of new sports car with Something: what is something: Other sports car, which is not directly referred but just by comparison, In 2nd clause after comma we are told about New sports car that its fine being heavier.

We can test it by IDIOM : X than Y : 
X : Is heavier : THAN : Y : Is usual
Correct choice D

(A) usual : we need is ; Heavier than usual gives no clear meaning what usual refer to : car, automobile or something else
(B) it is usual : Pronoun it is wrong : we need comparison: here comparison is made with itself
(C) one usually is : This is strong contender option, but we don't need Usually: adjective
(D) is usual :  Correct for reasons explained above  
(E) has been usual : incorrect, don't need present perfect

GKomoku · Answer

hello DmitryFarber thank you for help D.PNG So is this construction correct now? I found below rules in the internet : ***************************************** Usual vs Is Usual When something is compared to itself, usual is fine. When something is compared to a subgroup to which it belongs, is usual should be used. For example: 1. He is nicer than usual 2. He is faster than is usual for any human being. 3. Ram is faster than usual today. 4. Emails are often written in a much formal way than is usual in writing. 5. The sun looks less brightly than usual to-day. *********************************** Also examined the question that was mentioned by you: But I was sceptical to KAPLAN expert reply about parallelism: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- So in bottomline: Even if our question is about comparison, we cannot 'explicitly' state what entities is being compared "heart

of the comparison" By the context we can only understand that "The new sports car is compared to other cars " - abstractly. This question is also 'meaning' based not just a simple comparison question. 'is usual' here is prefered over 'usual' because 'the new sports car' is compared to other cars not itself. so could you please advise is all above make sense?

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The new sports car is heavier than usual for a performance automobile

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The new sports car is heavier than usual for a performance automobile

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