Proofreading course learners find that grammar can be complex

 

A learner on our proofreading course recently questioned the use of the word ‘does’ at the end of this sentence: ‘A webpage presents fewer words at a time than a book or a magazine does’.

The sentence is included in one of our online proofreading course lessons, and the learner wasn’t sure if it was grammatically correct.

In fact it was correct, but the grammar was complex.

The verb ‘presents’ applies to what the webpage is doing.

In this sentence, if no verb is attached to ‘book or a magazine’, it looks as if the nouns are part of what a webpage does, ie:

‘A webpage presents fewer words than it presents a book or magazine.’

This makes little sense, as a webpage cannot present a book or a magazine. So, to make absolute sense, the sentence should be written:

‘A webpage presents fewer words at a time than a book or a magazine presents.’

But to shorten it, and make the verb ‘presents’ work for all three nouns, you need the auxiliary:

‘A webpage presents fewer words at a time than does a book or a magazine.’

This is the formal way of expressing it, and the informal way is to add the auxiliary at the end:

‘A webpage presents fewer words at a time than a book or a magazine does.’

The learner also asked why we use the informal version.

We explained that don’t claim to use ‘academic’ grammar in our proofreading and editing course lessons. It is a vocational course, and the materials are written with our target audience in mind.

We aim to teach our online learning course learners in simple, unambiguous language, so it is easy to understand.

Going back to the original point, you can compare that ‘webpage’ sentence with a simpler one:

‘She works harder than he does.’

If you wrote it the same way as the incorrect sentence above, it can be understood, but is not correct:

‘She works harder than he.’

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