Friday, December 21, 2012

Can I use an explicit verb in a comparison clause?




It seems that I often write something like this:




The sizes of these datasets seem to grow faster than the processing power of computers does.




Now, a longish text I'd written was proofread (by a non-professional) and in every case the suggested correction was as follows:




The sizes of these datasets seem to grow faster than the processing power of computers.





(Yes – only the last word was deleted by the proofreader.)



Being a non-native user, I'd like to ask if the way of writing that I've adopted from who-knows-where is always wrong. (Personally, I feel that in some cases – too long sentences maybe – it clarifies my intention slightly.)


Answer



It's not wrong. It's just a stylistic thing, in that "does" doesn't add anything to the sentence, so it might as well be removed.


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