prep-1-24 关于比较结构的省略

24.  (25819-!-item-!-188;#058&002130)

Employment costs rose 2.8 percent in the 12 months that ended in September, slightly less than
they did in the year that ended in the previous quarter.

(A) less than they did
(B) less than it did
(C) less than they were
(D) lower than
(E) lower than they were

答案是A，我想问的是笔记关于D的解释：(D) lower只能做形容词,不能修饰动词rose; than in the year比较结构表达太模糊,完全可以理解为 than others expected in the year或  than price rose in the year等等
 

是这样吗？按我的理解，比较的部分是状语in the 12 months...和in the year...，句子的主语和谓语（即Employment costs rose)应该都是可以省略的，是不会有象笔记解释中的那样的歧义的。这里D不正确，只是因为lower是形容词，不能修饰rose动词。

请大家帮忙看一下，谢谢！

笔记的解释还是有道理的，

A do B in...than A do in...；B部分相同可以省略;

A do B in...than in...；than什么不清楚，

可以是employment costs今年升了2.8，比去年operation costs 略少了….

谢谢LS回复，刚才在OG上找到一句（如下），也就是说，....in 1986 there were 20736 female ministers, ..., twice as many as in 1977也是可以的。

那不是和本句D若改成less than类似么？

Btw, 我不觉得本句是A do B的主谓宾结构，而是主谓+状语（一个程度状语+一个时间状语），继续请教。

4.     A survey by the National Council of Churches showed that in 1986 there were 20,736 female ministers, almost 9 percent of the nation’s clergy, twice as much as 1977.

(A) twice as much as 1977

(B) twice as many as 1977

(C) double what it was in 1977

(D) double the figure for 1977

(E) a number double that of 1977’s

Diction

Some quantities, such as people, can be counted; other quantities, such as respect, cannot. It can be said that a person earned much respect, or that many people attended an event. Here, much is incorrectly applied to ministers. As 1977 incorrectly completes the comparison; it would have to be as many as in 1977, which is not one of the possible answers. Another way to make the comparison emphasizes the number, 20,736; a number can be doubled.

Double the figure for 1977 places the focus on the number and correctly completes the comparison.

A     Much incorrectly refers to ministers; as should be as in

B      As 1977 does not correctly complete this comparison; it should be as in 1977

C     What it was is awkward, wordy, and unclear

D     Correct.
    Double the figure places the emphasis of the sentence on the number of ministers; for 1977 correctly completes the comparison.

E      Wordy and awkward construction

The correct answer is D.

lower只能做形容词。less才是副词。

比较规律中是主语+不及物动词，后面可以省略主谓； 如果是主语+谓(rose)+宾（2.8%）这种情况，比较主语，则应该补出主+谓。

也就是说，如果这句话是：Employment costs rose in the 12 months that ended in September, slightly less than in the year that ended in the previous quarter. (比较主语）

或者是Employment costs rose 2.8 % in the 12 months that ended in September, slightly less than that in the year that ended in the previous quarter. （比较宾语）

应该是可以的。

如果不补出they did的话，那么就不清楚，比较的是employment costs还是2.8%。

 你这么一说，我也有点糊涂了，那个rise怎么能直接接2.8 percent呢，这里是不是省略了by呢，这样以一来真不是主谓宾结构了；

 你说的1977的例子，确实是省略后没有歧异，我也找了下面这道，

大全766. The human growth hormone, made by the pituitary gland, is secreted during sleep in higher concentrations than when awake.

(A) during sleep in higher concentrations than when awake

(B) when sleeping in higher concentrations than waking hours

(C) in higher concentrations during sleeping than waking

(D) in higher concentrations during sleep than during waking hours（D）

(E) in higher concentrations when asleep than when awake

The human growth hormone, made by the pituitary gland, is secreted in higher concentrations during sleep than during waking hours. 应该没问题；

如果非要说sth. rose by 2.8 in …, than in…有歧异的话，也就只能指这里rose后面有其他成分，可能是比较的by后面的，可能是比较rose后面的，我认为如果改成，

A rose by 2.8 in…, less than(    )by 2.9 in…

括号里的they did则绝对可以省略并绝对不会造成歧异；

Domestic automobile manufacturers have invested millions of dollars into research to develop cars more gasoline-efficient even than presently on the road.

(A) into research to develop cars more gasoline-efficient even than presently on the road

(B) into research for developing even more gasoline-efficient cars on the road than at present

(C) for research for cars to be developed that are more gasoline-efficient even than presently the road

(D) in research to develop cars even more gasoline-efficient than those at present on the road

(E) in research for developing cars that are even more gasoline-efficient than presently on the road

In A, the phrase more gasoline-efficient... than presently on the road does not identify the second term of the comparison.

这里more前面很多成分，在这种情况下如果不明确地标出比较对象的话，我们不知道是比较什么东西，这句里，可以是

…have invested…more…than…invested…

…develop cars more…than…develop…

…dollars more than…

这些歧异都是很不明显的或者说很强词夺理的,说有就有，说没有就没什么；

这里比较的是employment costs rise的幅度，所以后面应该是用less（修饰rise动词的），而不是lower。换句话就是Employment costs rose LESS in the 12 months that ended in September THAN in the year that ended in the previous quarter.

如果要用lower的话，可以这么说 The increase in employment costs in the 12 months that ended in Sep. was 2.8 percent, slightly LOWER THAN that in the year that ended in the previous quarter. 这里比较的是2.8 percent, lower 修饰的是名词。

以下是引用steve66在2008-6-9 21:36:00的发言：

 你这么一说，我也有点糊涂了，那个rise怎么能直接接2.8 percent呢，这里是不是省略了by呢，这样以一来真不是主谓宾结构了；
            

 是的，它就是一个不及物动词(rise)后面加状语的形式

 你说的1977的例子，确实是省略后没有歧异，我也找了下面这道，

 大全766. The human growth hormone, made by the pituitary gland, is secreted during sleep in higher concentrations than when awake.

 大全766. The human growth hormone, made by the pituitary gland, is secreted during sleep in higher concentrations than when awake.

(A) during sleep in higher concentrations than when awake

(B) when sleeping in higher concentrations than waking hours

(C) in higher concentrations during sleeping than waking

(D) in higher concentrations during sleep than during waking hours（D）
            

(E) in higher concentrations when asleep than when awake

The human growth hormone, made by the pituitary gland, is secreted in higher concentrations during sleep than during waking hours. 应该没问题；
            

Bingo, 这里比较的还是状语。

如果非要说sth. rose by 2.8 in …, than in…有歧异的话，也就只能指这里rose后面有其他成分，可能是比较的by后面的，可能是比较rose后面的，我认为如果改成，

A rose by 2.8 in…, less than(    )by 2.9 in…

括号里的they did则绝对可以省略并绝对不会造成歧异；

其实说起来，这种歧异和那种扭曲句意的还不一样(OG里Aleuts or Inuits那道)，我决得这种歧异就是怎么说都可以的，因为比较的对象已经相对很明显了，判断起来很难有十足的把握，所以124那道还用了个lower在那，我想如果换道题选项D里面的lower改成了less，ETS说正确，我们也没话可说，还是就题论题吧(毕竟这里有lower的错误)；

另外，1977那道题，为什么不把B改成in 1977作正确选项呢，因为即使那样，也还会小小的，微弱的不清楚，而D用一个figure，绝对没说的了，我们只能选best，lower那道也是一样如果没有A，要我看the best就是改了less的D了；

的确，讨论改答案只能作为作完题目后的一个小思考，不必执着，因为毕竟没有ETS的明确答案来验证，很有可能得不偿失。

我再拿个例子，看看对比一下，

OG10-112.

Domestic automobile manufacturers have invested millions of dollars into research to develop cars more gasoline-efficient even than presently on the road.

(A) into research to develop cars more gasoline-efficient even than presently on the road

(B) into research for developing even more gasoline-efficient cars on the road than at present

(C) for research for cars to be developed that are more gasoline-efficient even than presently the road

(D) in research to develop cars even more gasoline-efficient than those at present on the road

(E) in research for developing cars that are even more gasoline-efficient than presently on the road

In A, the phrase more gasoline-efficient... than presently on the road does not identify the second term of the comparison.

 这里我觉得说的就是比较对象概念对等的问题，而且，这里的确就是主谓宾结构了，但比较的是宾语，所以不用补出主谓。

多谢各位的讨论，偶然见到一个帖子被顶了上来，是关于比较结构总结的，很有用，供参考：

http://forum.chasedream.com/dispbbs.asp?boardID=23&ID=263606&page=1

sigh....怪不得我的SC到现在错误率都居高不下呢，

刚刚查了一下，rise的确是只有不及物动词的性质。还有一句peculiar的例子：Our newest ride rises 320 feet into the air.

题目中，只能归结于把rise (by)20% 的by 省略掉了，真是气得人心肝疼啊！！！！！！

另外LZ贴的那个贴，的确是讲解比较的精华贴，但是却仍然不能解决GMAT里面所有的比较问题。

总体来说，能省略更好，但是在“矮子里面拔将军”的原则指导下，把省略的内容补出，却绝对不是排除标志！！

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