According to a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine, aspirin prevents blood clots just as well as a commonly used and more expensive blood-thinning drug does.

(A) prevents blood clots just as well as a commonly used and more expensive blood-thinning drug does
(B) prevents blood clots just as well as does a commonly used and a more expensive blood-thinning drug
(C) prevents blood clots just as well as will a commonly used and more expensive blood-thinning drug
(D) works just as well as a commonly used and more expensive blood-thinning drug at the prevention of blood clots
(E) works just as well as does a commonly used blood-thinning drug, which is also more expensive, at preventing blood clots

OA:A

Can somebody please explain me why choice A is better than B. And when to do Subject verb inversion as done in choice B?

Hi Rajesh,

i think B is wrong, Because
verb and subject are very far apart...
in comparison type Question - subject - verb inversion is accepted when they are close to each other..I think so..!

I think the main problem with option B is the article "a"

aspirin prevents blood clots just as well as does a commonly used and a more expensive blood-thinning drug

I don't know how to explain it, but the second "a" kind of implies that there are two drugs rather than one.

On the other hand if you remove modifiers in option A is clear

aspirin prevents blood clots just as well as a commonly used and more expensive blood-thinning drug does

I remember reading in one of Ron's earlier posts that for comparison structures with noun+modifiers/preposition phrases in the latter to be correct, they need to have the verb before the noun, as in option B.
If I remember correct the example quoted was the sentence comparing the damages caused to homes by termites Vs branches of trees.
Now I am thoroughly confused.

bump!
what's wrong with B?

_________________
stephen

yes. excellent explanation.

articles precede nouns. so if you have "a/an X and a/an Y", or "the X and the Y", then you MUST be talking about two different nouns.

the color illustrations are also excellent: the parallel structure is just "ADJ and ADJ".

well done.

_________________
Being well-dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquillity [that] religion is powerless to bestow.
C.F. Forbes

DO NOT "BUMP".

IF YOU "BUMP" A THREAD, IT IS AUTOMATICALLY MOVED TO LAST IN THE QUEUE.

we always answer questions in reverse order (oldest first). when you "bump" a thread, it becomes the newest thread - meaning that we won't even see it until we get through ALL of the other threads.
on a folder like this one, that can sometimes mean that your "bump" will add an extra month to the response time.

_________________
Being well-dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquillity [that] religion is powerless to bestow.
C.F. Forbes

you're overgeneralizing the rule. that rule applies only to noun-modifiers that FOLLOW the noun.
modifiers that PRECEDE the noun are irrelevant.

see here:
post33237.html#p33237

_________________
Being well-dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquillity [that] religion is powerless to bestow.
C.F. Forbes

wow! a excellent post!
i should see it earlily; now i know the reason for the place of helping word.

_________________
stephen

I'm glad it helped

_________________
Being well-dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquillity [that] religion is powerless to bestow.
C.F. Forbes

Hi Ron ,

I had a question about the first two answer choices

(A) prevents blood clots just as well as a commonly used and more expensive blood-thinning drug does
(B) prevents blood clots just as well as does a commonly used and a more expensive blood-thinning drug

If the 'a' is removed from the second answer which one out of the two is a better answer ?

either would be fine.

for a very complete explanation of this, see here:
post33237.html#p33237

_________________
Being well-dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquillity [that] religion is powerless to bestow.
C.F. Forbes

en, Ron, I am concerned on the usage of as well as .

I know as well as is different from and.

and I know as well as can not link sentence.

i'm not sure i understand what you're asking here. (please work on the syntax of your posts! please write in complete sentences!) however, i will note that the usage of “as well as” in choice A is *NOT* the “as well as” that connects two parallel nouns. (i.e., it is NOT the same usage as i spiced up the chili with cayenne pepper as well as paprika.)

in that choice, "as well as" is just the common template “as ADVERB as” -- it just uses the adverb well, which is the adverb form of the adjective good.
e.g.
Rob played well today.
Jim played well, too; he played as well as Rob did.

_________________
Being well-dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquillity [that] religion is powerless to bestow.
C.F. Forbes

with all due respect:
Ron, you stated in many posts that the article is not the issue that GMAT tests in SC, if there is an article error, there will be some other error to help us to determine the correct answer,
but according to this official problem, GMAT eventually tests the article solely. except the article use there isn't any significant difference between choice A and B?