<p>5) The programmers always talked of having too much to do, but in truth (they had a lesser amount of work to do than their colleagues.)</p>
<p>the part in parenthesis is obviously wrong, but the book said the right answer is e (they had less work to do than). </p>
<p>Apparently this is correct since the verb had is implied here...
The programmers always talked of having too much to do, but in truth they had less work to do than their colleagues {had}. </p>
<p>So my question is how do you know when a verb can be seen as implied and when it is an illogical comparison?</p>
<p>Okay. In SAT Writing, the Collegeboard tests your ability to find the BEST answer choice. In the question, </p>
<p>“The programmers always talked of having too much to do, but in truth (they had a lesser amount of work to do than their colleagues.)” </p>
<p>It is apparent that they are trying to test our ability to compare two items/actions, and our job is to find the answer choice that best compares two items/actions. Although the original sentence is correct as is, there is a better way to state it – namely, one can be more direct in their wording. Therefore, the answer is </p>
<p>"The programmers always talked of having too much to do, but in truth they had less work to do than their colleagues {had}. "</p>
<p>Now, the “had” is implied because it is one of the properties of comparisons with than. In this case, we are comparing two things – an independent clause and a dependent noun clause. A clause has to have a subject and a verb, but doesn’t convey a complete thought. Therefore, the had has to be implied because “Than their colleagues” is definitely a noun clause.</p>
<p>REMEMBER, on the SAT, not only are you trying to find the correct answer but also the best one with concise, direct wording (Avoid long, drawn out phrases and passive voice).</p>
<p>So noun clauses always have implied verbs that can make them correct when used in comparisons?</p>
<p>I always see other questions where the right answer includes things like " than that of…"
so why is the noun that comes after the … in these types of questions not considered to have an implied verb?</p>
<p>First in the original sentence the phrase “lesser amount of work” is problematic and incorrect usage. “less” already implies “amount” of something. Indeed a typical definition of “less” is “a smaller amount of”. So “lesser amount” is repetitive.</p>
<p>For your primary question: “Is the presumed correct answer flawed because it contains an illogical comparison?” I think that it is. In spoken English the sentence as written is acceptable, but in formal written English I think that it is unacceptable. I would write instead:</p>
<p>The programmers always spoke of having too much to do, but in truth they had less work to do than did their colleagues.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t tack the “had” at the end of the sentence. That leads to an awkward phrasing.</p>
<p>But that isn’t one of the options.</p>
<p>In short this is a poor writing question. Hopefully it won’t appear on a future SAT.</p>