preventable deaths

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New2grammar

#514010 Thu, 15 May 08 01:34 PM

With all the other causes of preventable deaths, alcohol, illegal drugs, AIDS, suicide, transportation accidents, fires, and guns, cigarettes still account for more preventable deaths than those do combined,

3 questions
1. What's the meaning of 'with' in the beginning of the sentence?

2. What's the meaning of "cigarettes still account for more preventable deaths"?

3. "those do combined", Is do mandatory?
Thanks in advance!

New2grammar

Joined on Tue, Nov 21 2006

Forum Guru (5,578)

Marius Hancu

#514012 Thu, 15 May 08 01:43 PM

With all ... : taking into consideration/account all ...

cigarettes still lead to/produce more preventable deaths than the others

Yes, you have "more" thus a comparison, you need the reference term for comparison.

Marius Hancu

Joined on Wed, Apr 26 2006

Montreal, Canada

Forum Guru (11,236)

New2grammar

#514018 Thu, 15 May 08 01:52 PM

Regarding #3, why in some contexts, 'do' is not needed? An example from a google search

YouTube's market share was 50% greater than those 64 sites combined

New2grammar

Marius Hancu

#514105 Thu, 15 May 08 05:50 PM

combined is passive

do combine is active, as it contains an active verb

cigarettes still account for more preventable deaths than those do combined

is better in terms of parallel construction. I won't explain that, sorry.

Marius Hancu

Verbs, Constructions

New2grammar

#514136 Thu, 15 May 08 06:43 PM

Thanks MH. I think I understand what you're saying.

In parallel construction, strictly speaking, a verb at the end is needed.
For example

He can run faster than I [can].

Similarly, in the example of cigarettes, you recommend to include the verb 'do' right?

New2grammar

Verbs, Constructions