In the 1980’s the rate of increase

[NehaM981]

hi

Employment costs rose 2.8 percent in the 12 months that ended in September, slightly less than in the year that ended in the previous quarter.

If the above sentence is correct then why option E is incorrect here ??

Thanks
Neha

[RonPurewal]

hi

Employment costs rose 2.8 percent in the 12 months that ended in September, slightly less than in the year that ended in the previous quarter.

If the above sentence is correct then why option E is incorrect here ??

Thanks
Neha

choice E says that something is "greater than the 1970's". this is clearly nonsense (it's impossible for something to be "greater than" a TIME PERIOD).
the example you have posted here is irrelevant, since its structure is not like that of choice E.

[NehaM981]

hii

But 1970 's can mean = rate of increase of 1970 .

like in the example -->> The rules of basket ball are more complicated than the Hockey's (Rules of hockey ) .

Please explain the difference .

Thanks
Neha

[RonPurewal]

in this problem, "the 1970's" and "the 1980's" are entire decades. this should be clear on a first reading, unless you are ignoring the meaning of the sentence entirely.

[ashish-mohan]

in this case, you have a problem of redundancy:
a RATE can't be FAST.
* the rate can be high;
* the increase itself can be fast.

Hi Ron, while I understand that rate cannot be "fast/faster", but can rate be "greater"?

If yes, then why is E incorrect?

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Interesting question. I'd say that a rate being greater is a bit borderline, but that you're unlikely to be tested on so subtle an issue. Here, answer E is wrong because of the comparison: the rate is being compared to the 1970's.

[JustinCKN]

Hi ManhattanPrep Staff,

If I write in this way,

In the 1980’s the rate of increase of the minority population of the United States was nearly twice that of increase of the United Kingdom.
(namely, the rate of xxx is twice that of yyy.)

can the structure above be correct?

thanks in advance!
have a good one!

JustinCKN

[Whit Garner]

In the 1980’s the rate of increase of the minority population of the United States was nearly twice that of increase of the United Kingdom.
(namely, the rate of xxx is twice that of yyy.)

Comparisons can be tricky - you need to be clear with what individual pieces you're comparing. In this case, it sounds like you want to say the following:

"In the 1980s, the rate of increase of the minority population of the US was nearly twice the rate of increase of the minority population of the UK."

So how do you simplify this? Your example uses "that of" in a way that isn't clear - the "that of" should specifically replace a piece in the first part of the comparison (treat it like a pronoun for comparison). For example,

"The GDP of Latunia is double that of Moodletlon" / (The GDP of Latunia is double the GDP of Moodletlon"

Use your example; what replaces the "that of"?

"In the 1980’s the rate of increase of the minority population of the United States was nearly twice (THE RATE) of increase of the United Kingdom."

You've lost minority population - in your example it sounds like you're comparing the increase of "the minority population of the US" with "the United Kingdom." What would be better would be to replace the entire "the rate of increase of the minority population" with "that of."

"In the 1980s, the rate of increase of the minority population of the United States was nearly twice that of of the United Kingdom."

[JustinCKN]

Hi Whit Garner,

Thx for ur detailed explanation and effort !
Have a good one!