GMAT Prep: she was less successful after

[davetzulin]

(A) She was less successful after she had emigrated to New York compared to her native germany

Ron,

Am i correct about my interpretation of "compared to"? maybe a different way to get to the same conclusion you gave.

as you said "compared to" is not to be used with other comparison markers, less/more, etc. then the way i interpreted choice A is "New York - Compared to - Her native germany". Two items just stated. I saw it similar to parallelism where it's a 1-part marker, and I can select how much before I'd like to compare.

so then she is less successful after she had emigrated to new york compared to after she had emigrated from her native germany

all the answer choices with "compared to" have the same problem.

right, but you're forgetting that you have to end up with a comparison that actually makes sense.
the problem here -- all considerations of omitted words, etc. notwithstanding -- is that nothing is actually being compared with germany.
in other words, if you have "compared to germany", then the context of the sentence must actually have an intended comparison between germany and some other place.

viz.
the unemployment rate in county x is 5%, compared to 8% in county y
(a correct sentence)
--> note that this sentence actually compares what it is intended to compare. i.e., "compared to 8%" is actually sensible, because the intended comparison is actually between the two percentage values.

Ron, thanks again. and yes i didn't explicitly say it, but I totally agree the comparison does not make sense in any of the "compared to" cases .

I wanted to make a case for it grammatically and then eliminate it on meaning... sort of in anticipation for the grammatically correct, but meaning flawed answer choices

[RonPurewal]

okay.

[shanmupoy]

Hi,

If answer choice, D had been

Although less successful after she emigrated to New York than she had been in....

Would it be correct? (Not compared to C, but just looking at D alone)

The thing I am trying to understand is, whether "Although" and "Nevertheless" can be used together?

Thanks,
Shan

[jlucero]

Hi,

If answer choice, D had been

Although less successful after she emigrated to New York than she had been in....

Would it be correct? (Not compared to C, but just looking at D alone)

The thing I am trying to understand is, whether "Although" and "Nevertheless" can be used together?

Thanks,
Shan

Your revised sentence looks fine. Although and nevertheless can be used together in the same sentence. Moral of the story: don't think about how you would write the sentence, look for grammatical errors.

[jyothi h]

Are there any other issues with option D , other than redundancy in the usage of "compared to" ? I thought using both "although" and "nevertheless", in this particular sentence , is also rendering the sentence redundant . Appreciate if any of the instructors can clarify on this.

Thanks
Jyothi

[RonPurewal]

Are there any other issues with option D , other than redundancy in the usage of "compared to" ? I thought using both "although" and "nevertheless", in this particular sentence , is also rendering the sentence redundant . Appreciate if any of the instructors can clarify on this.

Thanks
Jyothi

I don't think that's redundant.

"Although" has essentially the same function as "but".
Jake studied for the test but nevertheless failed it is a perfectly respectable sentence, so there doesn't seem to be anything objectionable about combining "although" and "nevertheless".

[jyothi h]

Are there any other issues with option D , other than redundancy in the usage of "compared to" ? I thought using both "although" and "nevertheless", in this particular sentence , is also rendering the sentence redundant . Appreciate if any of the instructors can clarify on this.

Thanks
Jyothi

I don't think that's redundant.

"Although" has essentially the same function as "but".
Jake studied for the test but nevertheless failed it is a perfectly respectable sentence, so there doesn't seem to be anything objectionable about combining "although" and "nevertheless".

Thanks for clarifying , Ron !

-Jyothi

[RonPurewal]

You're welcome.

[manhhiep2509]

Hello.

In the correct answer, the sentence is comparing Lotte Jacobi's success in two periods of time.
So, does the sentence omit "when" or something indicates time frame between "than" and "she had been in"?

Please give tell me how to realize what are really compared. I find the structure complicate and it takes me a lot of time realizing that the sentence is comparing the success in two periods of time.

[RonPurewal]

Hello.

In the correct answer, the sentence is comparing Lotte Jacobi's success in two periods of time.
So, does the sentence omit "when" or something indicates time frame between "than" and "she had been in"?

Nothing is omitted. (If something were "omitted" from the correct answer, it wouldn't be the correct answer!)

In this sentence, there IS an explicit timeframe. It's "after she had emigrated to New York".

If you're imagining that there's some sort of fundamental difference between "after xxxx" and "when xxxx"... then, well, don't. Both of them describe timeframes.

[RonPurewal]

Please give tell me how to realize what are really compared.

3 things:

1/
Take your time reading the original prompt. Do not rush the "understand what the sentence actually means" step of this process.

2/
Read the sentence as though it were a normal sentence appearing in a magazine, or on a website, or wherever. When you read the original sentence, DO NOT think of it as an "academic"/"grammar" problem. Not only will that point of view serve little purpose, but it will just make otherwise straightforward sentences seem "hard".

3/
When you read the sentence, do not look for errors. Just read for the meaning.
Finding errors is best left to the answer choices, where you can concentrate specifically on one difference ("split") at a time.

If you do these three things, you should have no trouble at all, ever, in understanding the context of these sentences.

[manhhiep2509]

Hello.

In the correct answer, the sentence is comparing Lotte Jacobi's success in two periods of time.
So, does the sentence omit "when" or something indicates time frame between "than" and "she had been in"?

Nothing is omitted. (If something were "omitted" from the correct answer, it wouldn't be the correct answer!)

In this sentence, there IS an explicit timeframe. It's "after she had emigrated to New York".

If you're imagining that there's some sort of fundamental difference between "after xxxx" and "when xxxx"... then, well, don't. Both of them describe timeframes.

Thanks Ron.
I am sorry because I did not accurately explain my question.
Actually, I was not sure whether there is a indicator of time frame because I related the sentence to the below sentence:

I had a bigger lunch today than yesterday.

Two meals in two different periods of time are compared and the comparison has two indicators of time frame, i.e. today and yesterday.

Come back to our sentence.
"Less successful after she emigrated to New York than she had been in her native Germany"

I know that "after she emigrated to New York" is an indicator of time frame. So what is the other?
Is "she had been in her native Germany" the other indicator of time frame?

Thank you.

[RonPurewal]

Is "she had been in her native Germany" the other indicator of time frame?

Thank you.

Yes.

In context, it's abundantly clear that she was in Germany before she was in New York, so that's enough information to serve as a timeframe.

[sinyuchen.828]

Hi Ron， happy new year！
here is a puzzle

nevertheless can be used as an adv. and conj.
would u plz explain 1' the uses in different contexts?
2' if we can put commas before and after nevertheless to change the word into a conj ?

[RonPurewal]

Nevertheless is strictly an adverb. You can't use it to connect two sentences.