Brian,
   Technically, the finite auxiliary stands in for the entire predicate 
and not just the verb phrase, though that gets obscured here because the 
predicate is rather bare.
   "I didn't know how to talk to girls, but my brother did." "Did", 
here, doesn't just replace "knew", but the whole predicate it heads.
    It's interesting that "She looked better than she looked" or "She 
looked better than she did" would seem confusing, but "she looked better 
than she had" would not.
   "Did" by itself would imply things are happening at the same time, 
though we can vary that with adverbial modification. It can even 
designate an action that hasn't happened yet, as in "She looked better 
than she did two days later." Here, we would have the option of "would". 
"She looked better than she would two days later." "would", like "had" 
would have the benefit of working in harmony with the time relations 
expressed adverbially.

Craig

O'Sullivan, Brian P wrote:
> I still think both "did" and "had" are appropriate. "Did" substitutes for the simple past verb "looked," whereas "had" is short for the past perfect "had looked." And both past and past perfect are possible here, for the reasons Bruce explained.
>
> Brian
> ________________________________________
> From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Brad Johnston [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 7:59 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Taking Allie to breakfast
>
> WE TOOK ALLIE TO BREAKFAST in the cook tent. With her dress washed and her hair combed, she looked a little better than she ___  when we dragged her out of the Barbary Coast Cafe'.
>
> Which word should fill the blank in the quote above, had or did?
>
> ~~~~~
> Incoming message: Both "had" and "did" are okay.
>
> ~~~~~
>
> she looked a little better than she did <look> when we dragged her out
>
> she looked a little better than she had <looked> when we dragged her out
>
> Now what do you say?
>
> .rsvp.brad.10nov09.
>
> (she looked a little better than she looked when we dragged her out, is the one Parker did not use)
>
>
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