comparsion

Hi there,

1. Asian parents have higher expectation to their children than do Western parents. OR ...than Western parents do.???
(Which one is correct?

2. John works harder than Mary does OR ... than Mary.
(Is the first sentence more common than the later one?)


Thanks
pete

[David L.]

Asian parents have higher/greater expectations of their children than

do Western parents. OR ...than Western parents do.???
Either is correct grammatically. The first way is more formal, the second, used more in casual speech.

2. John works harder than Mary does OR ... than Mary.
(Is the first sentence more common than the later one?)
No - the other way round. The listener understands that 'does' would come after Mary so no need to actually say it. In casual speech and in writing, we would say/write "John works harder than Mary." But there is nothing grammatically wrong with including "does', and it wouldn't sound odd to a listener's ear - it's just that it's unnecessary to add it to the sentence.