A study on couples' retirement transitions found that women who took new jobs after retiring from their primary careers reported high marital satisfaction, more so than those who retired completely.
A. more so than those who retired
B. which was more than if they had retired
C. more than when retiring
D. more than if they were to retire
E. which was more so than those retiring
OA is A.
I wonder whether "more so than" is also an idiom?
Thanks

Yes, it is. It is used in making a "more than" type of comparison where you also want to refer to a previously stated verb / action (that's where the "so" comes in). In this case, the "so" refers to "reported high marital satisfaction."

Notice here that you are comparing two groups of women: those who take new jobs, and those who retire completely. When making a comparison, you have to make sure you explicitly mention both groups.

B, C, and D don't do this. (In fact, B and D change the original meaning of the sentence to make the second part of the comparison a hypothetical - but the original meaning is that the ones who take new jobs are being compared to those who don't.)

Also remember that, for comparisons, they two things / groups / whatever compared should be parallel. "women who took" and "those who retired" are parallel. The other options aren't.

Can I say "more than did those who retired completely"? Does it retain the same meaning?
Thanks in advance.

Hi Stacey, I agree that when two different groups are compared, both groups have to be explicitly stated.
However, OG's explanation for OG10-187 says "those who is a wordy intrusion".
In order to avoid the copyright issue, I modify the sentence slightly.
In War X in 1800, four times as many Americans were killed as those who would later be killed during D-Day.
The explanation says that "those who" is a wordy intrusion; and the correct answer basically omits "those who".
Am I missing something? Or is it just another inconsistent explanation from GMAC?

You can say "more than did those" as long as you are properly referring to a verb with "did" and referring properly to a noun with "those."

But that's a little clunkier than the given option.

What needs to be repeated is what's strictly being compared. So, in this case, what is the strict comparison? Something numerical about two different wars / time frames. "four times as many were killed as would be killed. The word "Americans" is part of the comparison, answering the question what / who was "as many as" ("as many Americans as"). Know for future that there's often some word that's "part of" the comparison language and that word doesn't need to be repeated - it applies to both parts of the comparison already.

Thanks Stacey.

I have one more question about "more so than...".

You said that "more than did those who..." is clunkier than "more so than those who...".

Does it mean if two choices are exactly same except that one uses "more than did" and another uses "more so than", then "more so than" is always preferred?

Thanks in advance.

Hi Stacey,

"more so" is so puzzled to me.
Could you explain a little bit more about its usage?
I found an OG question using "more so" but the "so" doesn't refer to a verb as the prep question does.
Here is the sentence (without posting the full question ;-)
The use of chemical pesticides in this country is as extensive as it was ten years ago, if not more so.
"more so" in this sentence seems to replace "extensive than it was ten years ago".
Is there any rule that defines what "more so" can replace?
Thanks in advance.

the rule i like to use here is this: if it's not a specific NOUN that can be replaced by a PRONOUN (usually "it"), then use the all-purpose replacement "...so".
perhaps the most common usage in which you'll see this is "do it" vs. "do so":
wrong: i've always wanted to jump out of a plane, but i've never had the chance to do it. --> this is wrong because the only possible antecedent for "it" is plane, and it doesn't make any sense to talk about "doing" a plane.
correct: i've always wanted to jump out of a plane, but i've never had the chance to do so. --> "do so" = jump out of a plane.

you would extend this same type of extra freedom to "more so": if the comparison isn't quite parallel, and/or is ambiguous, without the "so", then go ahead and toss it in there; it doesn't have to have a single-word antecedent.