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Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-
Bunuel
According to a recent study, retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as to receive it from them.


A. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as

B. retirees in the United States are four times as likely to give regular financial aid to their children as it is for them

C. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children than

D. it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than they are

E. it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they are



(SC00981)

Concepts tested here: Parallelism + Idioms

• "more A than B" is the correct, idiomatic comparison; A and B must be comparable and parallel.
• “as A as B” is a correct idiomatic comparison; A and B must be parallel.

A: This answer choice incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction “more A (“to give regular financial aid to their children”) as B (“to receive it from them”)”; please remember, "more A than B" is the correct, idiomatic comparison; A and B must be comparable and parallel.

B: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between A (“to give regular financial aid to their children”) and B (“it is for them to receive it from them”) in the idiomatic construction “as A as B”; please remember, “as A as B” is a correct idiomatic comparison; A and B must be parallel.

C: Correct. This answer choice correctly uses the idiomatic construction “more A (“to give regular financial aid to their”) than B (“to receive it from them”)”, maintaining parallelism between A and B.

D: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between A (“for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children”) and B (“they are to receive it from them”) in the idiomatic construction “more A than B); please remember, "more A than B" is the correct, idiomatic comparison; A and B must be comparable and parallel.

E: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between A (“that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid”) and B (“they are to receive it from them”) in the idiomatic construction “as A as B”; please remember, “as A as B” is a correct idiomatic comparison; A and B must be parallel.

Hence, C is the best answer choice.

All the best!
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Hello Everyone!

Let’s take a look at this question, one issue at a time, and figure out which option is correct.

According to a recent study, retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as to receive it from them.

A. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as
B. retirees in the United States are four times as likely to give regular financial aid to their children as it is for them
C. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children than
D. it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than they are
E. it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they are

After doing a quick scan over the options, there are a couple glaring differences between each option than we can focus on:

1. How they begin: “…retirees in the United States…” vs. “…it is four times more likely…”
2. How they end: “as” / “as it is” / “than” / “than they are” / “as they are”

Since #1 on our list will knock out 2-3 options immediately, let’s start by figuring out how the phrase should start. Right away, we notice that options D and E use vague pronouns:

D. it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than they are
E. it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they are

What is "it" referring to here? We don't know - and that is a MAJOR problem. All pronouns need clear antecedents! Options D and E can be tossed out as INCORRECT because they include pronouns without antecedents.

That leaves us with options A, B, and C. Let’s take a closer look at how each option ends. Each one needs to use parallel structure and follow idiomatic rules, so let’s focus on how well each accomplishes these tasks:

A. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as

This is INCORRECT because it doesn’t follow the proper idiomatic structure “more likely to X than Y.” It says "more likely to X as Y," which is wrong.

B. retirees in the United States are four times as likely to give regular financial aid to their children as it is for them

This is INCORRECT because of pronoun agreement issues. The singular pronoun “it” is referring back to the plural “retirees,” which doesn’t match up in number.

C. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children than

This is CORRECT because it uses the correct idiomatic structure “X is more likely to…than Y.” Also, all pronouns are in agreement!


There you go - option C is the right answer!


Don’t study for the GMAT. Train for it.

Thank you EMPOWERgmatVerbal , my question is : do we have an idiom "four times as likely" (not "four times MORE likely") , as in the answer B? Can we just leave B because of this wrong idiom?
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In Manhattan SC book Chapter 11, the author mentioned that " times should be followed by as ... as rather than more". The example it gives is " right: The man is 5 times as old as his grandson vs wrong: The man is 5 times older than his grandson". I am confused now because the correct sentence here combines times with more. Obviously, the OG answer is definitely correct. should I ignore the statement in Manhattan SC book or is there a better way to interpret that statement (times should go with "as.. as.. "and shouldn't go with "more"?)
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In Manhattan SC book Chapter 11, the author mentioned that " times should be followed by as ... as rather than more". The example it gives is " right: The man is 5 times as old as his grandson vs wrong: The man is 5 times older than his grandson". I am confused now because the correct sentence here combines times with more. Obviously, the OG answer is definitely correct. should I ignore the statement in Manhattan SC book or is there a better way to interpret that statement (times should go with "as.. as.. "and shouldn't go with "more"?)

I have the same question with yangfrank. Besides, it's not incorrect to say "it's likely that .." The Pronounce usage of "It" is correct, I think. If not, experts, please help to explain why.

Thanks
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Correct idiom is "more x than y" or "as likely as"

Must maintain parallelism throughout.

According to a recent study, retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as to receive it from them.
A. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as (should be than)

B. retirees in the United States are four times as likely to give regular financial aid to their children as it is for them (Correct idiom but this isn't parallel).

C. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children than (to receive it from them)

D. it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than they are (should be "than it is")

E. it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they (should be "as it is") are
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yangfrank
In Manhattan SC book Chapter 11, the author mentioned that " times should be followed by as ... as rather than more". The example it gives is " right: The man is 5 times as old as his grandson vs wrong: The man is 5 times older than his grandson". I am confused now because the correct sentence here combines times with more. Obviously, the OG answer is definitely correct. should I ignore the statement in Manhattan SC book or is there a better way to interpret that statement (times should go with "as.. as.. "and shouldn't go with "more"?)

I have the same question with yangfrank. Besides, it's not incorrect to say "it's likely that .." The Pronounce usage of "It" is correct, I think. If not, experts, please help to explain why.

Thanks

Think about it mathematically.
Say the grandson's age is 10 years old.

5 times as old means 5x10 years as old = 50 years old

5 times older than means (to me at least) = 10 + 5*10 = 60
Work backwards to verify:
(60-10)/10
= 50/10
= 5 ...

See the difference more clearly?

So I believe both are correct, but it depends on the context.
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septwibowo
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Hello Everyone!

Let’s take a look at this question, one issue at a time, and figure out which option is correct.

According to a recent study, retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as to receive it from them.

A. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as
B. retirees in the United States are four times as likely to give regular financial aid to their children as it is for them
C. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children than
D. it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than they are
E. it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they are

After doing a quick scan over the options, there are a couple glaring differences between each option than we can focus on:

1. How they begin: “…retirees in the United States…” vs. “…it is four times more likely…”
2. How they end: “as” / “as it is” / “than” / “than they are” / “as they are”

Since #1 on our list will knock out 2-3 options immediately, let’s start by figuring out how the phrase should start. Right away, we notice that options D and E use vague pronouns:

D. it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than they are
E. it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they are

What is "it" referring to here? We don't know - and that is a MAJOR problem. All pronouns need clear antecedents! Options D and E can be tossed out as INCORRECT because they include pronouns without antecedents.

That leaves us with options A, B, and C. Let’s take a closer look at how each option ends. Each one needs to use parallel structure and follow idiomatic rules, so let’s focus on how well each accomplishes these tasks:

A. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as

This is INCORRECT because it doesn’t follow the proper idiomatic structure “more likely to X than Y.” It says "more likely to X as Y," which is wrong.

B. retirees in the United States are four times as likely to give regular financial aid to their children as it is for them

This is INCORRECT because of pronoun agreement issues. The singular pronoun “it” is referring back to the plural “retirees,” which doesn’t match up in number.

C. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children than

This is CORRECT because it uses the correct idiomatic structure “X is more likely to…than Y.” Also, all pronouns are in agreement!


There you go - option C is the right answer!


Don’t study for the GMAT. Train for it.

Thank you EMPOWERgmatVerbal , my question is : do we have an idiom "four times as likely" (not "four times MORE likely") , as in the answer B? Can we just leave B because of this wrong idiom?

Hello septwibowo!

You could absolutely rule out option B because the phrase "4 times as likely" doesn't make sense here. Good catch! Often with the incorrect options, there are multiple problems you can easily spot, depending on which grammar rules you're most familiar with. I saw the pronoun-antecedent agreement problem first, but you saw the idiom problem - and that's okay! As long as you come to the correct choice, HOW you do it isn't an issue. :) :thumbup:

I hope that helps!
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One basic doubt!

vertitas sentence correction says that 'than' should always be followed with a noun for it to stand correct in the comparisons. It isn't the case here in the correct answer. Need your help how to tackle this!
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One basic doubt!

vertitas sentence correction says that 'than' should always be followed with a noun for it to stand correct in the comparisons. It isn't the case here in the correct answer. Need your help how to tackle this!
Hi Himanshu, that noun (after than) might be implied.

For example:

Peter is more likely to go to drive than to walk.

This is equivalent to:

Peter is more likely to go to drive than (Peter is likely) to walk.
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Hi experts, MartyTargetTestPrep AjiteshArun GMATNinja

As it is in option D and E, can we never have an expletive "it" after an opening modifier? D and E are clearly incorrect for other reasons, but I'm not crystal clear on this part.

Another example where I wasn't entirely sure:
"On first encountering leaf-cutting ants in South America, it seemed to some Europeans that the insects were...."
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Hi experts, MartyTargetTestPrep AjiteshArun GMATNinja

As it is in option D and E, can we never have an expletive "it" after an opening modifier? D and E are clearly incorrect for other reasons, but I'm not crystal clear on this part.

Another example where I wasn't entirely sure:
"On first encountering leaf-cutting ants in South America, it seemed to some Europeans that the insects were...."
As soon as we say, "never," GMAC will punk us with an example that goes against our made-up rule :).

    "According to Al, it is raining outside." - Is this wrong? I don't think so. Would we ever see something like this in a correct answer choice? Probably not.

As explained in this post, such non-referential pronouns are rare on the GMAT. But you always want to look for more concrete errors before relying on something like this as a decision point.

I hope that helps a bit!
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EMPOWERgmatVerbal
Hello Everyone!

Let’s take a look at this question, one issue at a time, and figure out which option is correct.

According to a recent study, retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as to receive it from them.

A. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as
B. retirees in the United States are four times as likely to give regular financial aid to their children as it is for them
C. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children than
D. it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than they are
E. it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they are

After doing a quick scan over the options, there are a couple glaring differences between each option than we can focus on:

1. How they begin: “…retirees in the United States…” vs. “…it is four times more likely…”
2. How they end: “as” / “as it is” / “than” / “than they are” / “as they are”


Since #1 on our list will knock out 2-3 options immediately, let’s start by figuring out how the phrase should start. Right away, we notice that options D and E use vague pronouns:

D. it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than they are
E. it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they are

What is "it" referring to here? We don't know - and that is a MAJOR problem. All pronouns need clear antecedents! Options D and E can be tossed out as INCORRECT because they include pronouns without antecedents.

That leaves us with options A, B, and C. Let’s take a closer look at how each option ends. Each one needs to use parallel structure and follow idiomatic rules, so let’s focus on how well each accomplishes these tasks:

A. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as

This is INCORRECT because it doesn’t follow the proper idiomatic structure “more likely to X than Y.” It says "more likely to X as Y," which is wrong.

B. retirees in the United States are four times as likely to give regular financial aid to their children as it is for them

This is INCORRECT because of pronoun agreement issues. The singular pronoun “it” is referring back to the plural “retirees,” which doesn’t match up in number.

C. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children than

This is CORRECT because it uses the correct idiomatic structure “X is more likely to…than Y.” Also, all pronouns are in agreement!


There you go - option C is the right answer!


Don’t study for the GMAT. Train for it.

Hello EMPOWERgmatVerbal GMATNinja,
Thanks for the explanation.
Can we eliminate options D and E solely based on pronoun ambiguity? Because THEY can refer to both retirees and children.
Please suggest.
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NischalSR
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Hello Everyone!

Let’s take a look at this question, one issue at a time, and figure out which option is correct.

According to a recent study, retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as to receive it from them.

A. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as
B. retirees in the United States are four times as likely to give regular financial aid to their children as it is for them
C. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children than
D. it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than they are
E. it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they are

After doing a quick scan over the options, there are a couple glaring differences between each option than we can focus on:

1. How they begin: “…retirees in the United States…” vs. “…it is four times more likely…”
2. How they end: “as” / “as it is” / “than” / “than they are” / “as they are”


Since #1 on our list will knock out 2-3 options immediately, let’s start by figuring out how the phrase should start. Right away, we notice that options D and E use vague pronouns:

D. it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than they are
E. it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they are

What is "it" referring to here? We don't know - and that is a MAJOR problem. All pronouns need clear antecedents! Options D and E can be tossed out as INCORRECT because they include pronouns without antecedents.

That leaves us with options A, B, and C. Let’s take a closer look at how each option ends. Each one needs to use parallel structure and follow idiomatic rules, so let’s focus on how well each accomplishes these tasks:

A. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as

This is INCORRECT because it doesn’t follow the proper idiomatic structure “more likely to X than Y.” It says "more likely to X as Y," which is wrong.

B. retirees in the United States are four times as likely to give regular financial aid to their children as it is for them

This is INCORRECT because of pronoun agreement issues. The singular pronoun “it” is referring back to the plural “retirees,” which doesn’t match up in number.

C. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children than

This is CORRECT because it uses the correct idiomatic structure “X is more likely to…than Y.” Also, all pronouns are in agreement!


There you go - option C is the right answer!


Don’t study for the GMAT. Train for it.

Hello EMPOWERgmatVerbal GMATNinja,
Thanks for the explanation.
Can we eliminate options D and E solely based on pronoun ambiguity? Because THEY can refer to both retirees and children.
Please suggest.

Thanks for your question NischalSR.

Yes, you can eliminate options D and E solely for pronoun ambiguity. The pronoun "it" doesn't refer to anything specific - in fact, "it" doesn't really refer to anything. If you're looking for other problems with D and E, there are other issues that are less obvious than the glaring pronoun problem:

D. it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than they are to receive it from them.

We could also eliminate option D because the idiom "more likely to X than Y" doesn't sound parallel here. It would sound nicer to rewrite it to look more like this:

...it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than for retirees to receive it from their children.

Also, stacking up two pronouns at the end (they...them) can be confusing for readers if they're not paying close attention to the meaning. In the hypothetical rewrite above, we also got rid of the vague pronouns for the sake of clarity.

E. it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they are

This is also incorrect because the phrase "four times as likely as" doesn't make logical sense. You cannot say that X is four times Y, and then say those two things are the same. One is clearly "more" than the other. This is an idiom problem, so we could rule option E out for this reason too.

We hope this helps! Keep tagging us at EMPOWERgmatVerbal if you have any more questions!
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EMPOWERgmatVerbal
Hello Everyone!

Let’s take a look at this question, one issue at a time, and figure out which option is correct.

According to a recent study, retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as to receive it from them.

A. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as
B. retirees in the United States are four times as likely to give regular financial aid to their children as it is for them
C. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children than
D. it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than they are
E. it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they are

After doing a quick scan over the options, there are a couple glaring differences between each option than we can focus on:

1. How they begin: “…retirees in the United States…” vs. “…it is four times more likely…”
2. How they end: “as” / “as it is” / “than” / “than they are” / “as they are”


Since #1 on our list will knock out 2-3 options immediately, let’s start by figuring out how the phrase should start. Right away, we notice that options D and E use vague pronouns:

D. it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than they are
E. it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they are

What is "it" referring to here? We don't know - and that is a MAJOR problem. All pronouns need clear antecedents! Options D and E can be tossed out as INCORRECT because they include pronouns without antecedents.

That leaves us with options A, B, and C. Let’s take a closer look at how each option ends. Each one needs to use parallel structure and follow idiomatic rules, so let’s focus on how well each accomplishes these tasks:

A. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as

This is INCORRECT because it doesn’t follow the proper idiomatic structure “more likely to X than Y.” It says "more likely to X as Y," which is wrong.

B. retirees in the United States are four times as likely to give regular financial aid to their children as it is for them

This is INCORRECT because of pronoun agreement issues. The singular pronoun “it” is referring back to the plural “retirees,” which doesn’t match up in number.

C. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children than

This is CORRECT because it uses the correct idiomatic structure “X is more likely to…than Y.” Also, all pronouns are in agreement!


There you go - option C is the right answer!


Don’t study for the GMAT. Train for it.

How do we know it is not a dummy pronoun here? Like in "It is raining". Help.

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Nevergiveup69
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Hello Everyone!

Let’s take a look at this question, one issue at a time, and figure out which option is correct.

According to a recent study, retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as to receive it from them.

A. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as
B. retirees in the United States are four times as likely to give regular financial aid to their children as it is for them
C. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children than
D. it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than they are
E. it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they are

After doing a quick scan over the options, there are a couple glaring differences between each option than we can focus on:

1. How they begin: “…retirees in the United States…” vs. “…it is four times more likely…”
2. How they end: “as” / “as it is” / “than” / “than they are” / “as they are”


Since #1 on our list will knock out 2-3 options immediately, let’s start by figuring out how the phrase should start. Right away, we notice that options D and E use vague pronouns:

D. it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than they are
E. it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they are

What is "it" referring to here? We don't know - and that is a MAJOR problem. All pronouns need clear antecedents! Options D and E can be tossed out as INCORRECT because they include pronouns without antecedents.

That leaves us with options A, B, and C. Let’s take a closer look at how each option ends. Each one needs to use parallel structure and follow idiomatic rules, so let’s focus on how well each accomplishes these tasks:

A. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as

This is INCORRECT because it doesn’t follow the proper idiomatic structure “more likely to X than Y.” It says "more likely to X as Y," which is wrong.

B. retirees in the United States are four times as likely to give regular financial aid to their children as it is for them

This is INCORRECT because of pronoun agreement issues. The singular pronoun “it” is referring back to the plural “retirees,” which doesn’t match up in number.

C. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children than

This is CORRECT because it uses the correct idiomatic structure “X is more likely to…than Y.” Also, all pronouns are in agreement!


There you go - option C is the right answer!


Don’t study for the GMAT. Train for it.

How do we know it is not a dummy pronoun here? Like in "It is raining". Help.

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Great question Nevergiveup69!

The main reason we know this isn't a "dummy pronoun" is that it seems to be tied to something very specific - a statistic. Whenever you see a pronoun tied to anything like a percentage, ratio, or other number, it will most likely have an antecedent. In most other cases, you'll be able to clearly "tie" the pronoun to something else in the sentence. If you can tie it to more than one thing, it's probably more likely a vague pronoun than a dummy pronoun. And vague pronouns are a no-no!

If the pronoun is tied to a more casual topic of conversation, such as the weather (it is sunny), time (it is 8:30pm), or travel (it will be another 3 miles), then it's fine to use a dummy pronoun. In those cases, we have agreed that we don't need to SAY the thing "it" is referring to (the weather is sunny...the time is 8:30pm...the distance will be another 3 miles).

Most sentences outside of those basic topics won't use dummy pronouns - especially on the GMAT exam. :)

We hope that helps! As always, tag us at EMPOWERgmatVerbal if you have any more questions.
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Here, isn't the correct usage of the idiom: AS likely AS
Further, we use 'more' for UNCOUNTABLE nouns which don't portray amount/quantity, right? If so, do we consider LIKELY as UNCOUNTABLE, since LIKELY hints towards the PROBABILITY in this context?
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hritvikpatel
Here, isn't the correct usage of the idiom: AS likely AS
Further, we use 'more' for UNCOUNTABLE nouns which don't portray amount/quantity, right? If so, do we consider LIKELY as UNCOUNTABLE, since LIKELY hints towards the PROBABILITY in this context?
English is complicated. :)

I could write "Tim is as likely as Mike to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro," but I could also write, "Tim is more likely than Mike to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro." (And this is good, since the two sentences have different meanings!)

And "more" can be used in lots of ways! One could eat more cake. One could have more problems, or more burritos. :-P One could be more likely to fail. Or more likely to climb a mountain. So there are no countable vs non-countable restrictions here.

Rather than think about "more" in terms of rules, think about "more" as a modifier, and simply ask yourself if the way it's used seems logical. If it does, assume that it's okay. (And it seems perfectly fine to write that something is "more likely" than something else, right?)

I hope that clears things up!
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