According to analysts, an alliance between three major personal comput

Hi experts,

I'm still confused about choice (E), and please shed some light. The question is why does the "are" exist.

In the part "receive Internet data over regular telephone lines at speeds much higher than are currently possible." what's the function of "are"?
even if we supplement the second noun, "receive Internet data over regular telephone lines at speeds much higher than speeds are currently possible.", how can "speeds" be parallel to "speeds are currently possible"?
the only explanation I can figure out is that "receive Internet data over regular telephone lines at speeds much higher than speeds that are currently possible", and in this case, we drop both the second speeds and the "that". But is it weird? Because we can drop the repeated subject or verb, but can we also drop "that"?

Many thanks！

This question is based on Idiomatic Usage and Comparison.

The appropriate expression is “receive at a speed”.

Option A contains the inappropriate idiomatic usage “with speeds”. Since the subject of the verb at the end of the option is “speeds”, the singular verb ‘is’ is incorrect. So, Option A can be eliminated.

Option B contains the same idiomatic error as Option A. It is also a wordy option. So, Option B can also be eliminated.

The comparative word ‘as’ is paired with ‘as’. The comparative word ‘higher’ is followed by the conjunction ‘than’. Since the combination of comparative words is incorrect, Option C can be eliminated.

In Option D, the demonstrative pronoun ‘that’ is incorrect as it is singular and therefore, cannot refer to ‘speeds’. So, Option D can be eliminated.

This option has the appropriate idiomatic usage and subject-verb agreement is maintained because of the verb ‘are’. The comparison is also appropriate as speeds in future are compared with the speeds currently possible. Therefore, E is the most appropriate option.

Jayanthi Kumar.

According to analysts, an alliance between three major personal computer companies and most of the nation’s largest local telephone companies would enable customers to receive Internet data over regular telephone lines with speeds much higher than is currently possible.

A. with speeds much higher than is use of with . Incorrect
B. with speeds that are much higher than are wrong use of with and that . Incorrect
C. at much higher speeds as are .. higher..as incorrect
D. at much higher speeds than that at must modify speeds. Not much higher speeds. Use of than that wrong. Incorrect
E. at speeds much higher than are correct. At… modifies speeds. Higher than correct


Answer E

Choice D:[/color] at much higher speeds than that: Incorrect. Singular “that” does not agree in number with plural “speeds”.

So, does it mean that entities such as "that, which" refer to only singular entity ?
thank You