<p>The dachshund is perhaps a little more excitable than the spaniel, but either of these dogs would make excellent pets for a family with small children. </p>
<p>The correct answer is "excellent pets" and I can see why, but I was first thrown off by the first part: isn't it supposed to be "more excitable than the spaniel IS"?</p>
<p>like how "Sandy is stronger than John" is supposed to be "Sandy is stronger than John is"</p>
<p>Either is singular and should match with “pets” so the correct sentence is "The dachshund is perhaps a little more excitable than the spaniel, but either of these dogs would make an excellent pet for a family with small children. "</p>
<p>I do see your point with the parallelism in comparing and contrasting, but if this were on the actual test, the “excellent pets” answer is more wrong than the parallelism.</p>
<p>Thanks for the quick reply, but like I said I understood that part but not the IS question.</p>
<p>Sorry yes I edited my answer.</p>
<p>Ohhh I remembered one of the rules incorrectly. A test would to be add an “is” like </p>
<p>I’m much stronger than her (is)…and you’d see that it should be she.</p>
<p>Thought the “is” is mandatory, but now I see how its unnecessary/implied.</p>
<p>Thanks for the thorough quick explanation BMW</p>