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Even though the direct costs of malpractice disputes amounts

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Re: sc- less than Vs lower than [#permalink] New post 10 Dec 2010, 12:42
concept tested here is : S-V agreement +lower/less
subject is the direct costs so verb has to be singular..-a,b out
uncountables use less/more not lower so option C
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Re: sc- less than Vs lower than [#permalink] New post 10 Dec 2010, 15:12
first of all the sentence is in past tense. So "amounted to" is right usage. this eliminates A and B.
"amounted to a lower sum" - redundant. eliminate E
"amounted to lower"- amounted is uncountable ,usage of "less" is correct.
Answer is C
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Re: sc- less than Vs lower than [#permalink] New post 11 Dec 2010, 23:26
C.

A and B are incorrect: use amounts (singular) for direct costs (plural)
Quote:
C : less is used for countable nouns. lower than should be used for non countable nouns


Well, after posting the answer I went through my notes and reference material.
I found the reasoning that I used in the quoted part to be wrong.
less than is used for non countable nouns and lower than for countable nouns
In this sentence 1% of xx billion $ = money. Money is uncountable ->
fewer than some money - worng (fewer is used for countable nouns)
lower than some money - wrong
less than some money - correct

The confusion is created as x $ is countable. But it is countable only if it refers to $ bills (actual paper notes). Looking at the sentence (and 99% of the time in GMAT) x $ is referring to money and not actual $ bills. hence it becomes uncountable.
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Re: sc- less than Vs lower than [#permalink] New post 13 Dec 2010, 19:02
Its C

Redundacy - Amount & SUM so A and E out
Parallelism lead 'amonted; with 'spent'

As its uncountable - so 'Less' not 'Lower'
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Re: sc- less than Vs lower than [#permalink] New post 13 Dec 2010, 19:17
Agreed with C. Amounted needs to be in the past tense to fit the setting of last year and money is uncountable so requires the descriptive less rather than lower.
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Re: sc- less than Vs lower than [#permalink] New post 22 Jan 2011, 02:20
USCTrojan2006 wrote:
Should be less than, with amount in the past tense form.


this is the simplest explanation why it's C
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Re: sc- less than Vs lower than [#permalink] New post 26 May 2011, 05:58
spriya wrote:
Even though the direct costs of malpractice disputes amounts to a sum lower than one percent of the $541 billion the nation spent on health care last year, doctors say fear of lawsuits plays major role in health-care inflation.

(A) amounts to a sum lower
(B) amounts to less
(C) amounted to less
(D) amounted to lower
(E) amounted to a lower sum


costs is plural so A and B are out E has redundant "sum so it is also out

Between Less and Lower ;
I will go for Less as it is for Costs
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Re: sc- less than Vs lower than [#permalink] New post 26 May 2011, 10:53
+1 C

"Lower" can be only an adjective.
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Re: sc- less than Vs lower than [#permalink] New post 26 May 2011, 11:01
Note the difference in lower vs. less

i scored lower than my sister
vs.
i scored 1% less than my sister
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Re: Even though the direct costs of malpractice disputes amounts [#permalink] New post 14 Dec 2012, 19:40
Percent is uncountable unless the clearly specified how much is the money it should be considered Countable but when percent is mentioned it requires uncountable usage i.e. less

B and C : B is eliminated since it is singular subject the costs is plural hene answer is C.
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Re: Even though the direct costs of malpractice disputes amounts [#permalink] New post 04 Jan 2013, 00:31
I got the OA but not sure if my method was corrrect. Basically I substituted in the ellipsis-ed (!) word into the second half of the sentence:
" but (whom) were eventually discovered" --> wrong because they (not them) were eventually discovered
"but (who) were eventually discovered" --> great! :)
Re: Even though the direct costs of malpractice disputes amounts   [#permalink] 04 Jan 2013, 00:31
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