sunny91 wrote:
aceGMAT21 wrote:
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 lower1. PRONOUN NUMBER AGREEMENT ERROR. The subject "direct costs" is plural so it requires a plural verb and NOT the singular verb "amounts".
2. TENSE ERROR - Also, as per the context of the sentence, usage of the simple past tense will make more sense. As the usage of simple present tense sounds as if it is a general fact that the direct costs always in general amount to a sum lower than one percent of the $541 billion the nation spent on the health care.
That is not the intended meaning. Also, the time marker -- "last year" clearly specifies the use of past tense. INCORRECT
(B) amounts to lessSimilar errors as in choice A. INCORRECT(C) amounted to lessHere, the verb tense error is resolved. Also, the usage of LESS is correct here. CORRECT.
(D) amounted to lowerUsage of LOWER is incorrect here. INCORRECT.(E) amounted to a lower sumThis would be correct if we swap the position of sum with lower. That is,amounted to a sum lowerHi Varun,
Why lower than is wrong here.Less is used to refer to something that is not countable: John has less ice cream than Mary has. But we can't say John has a less amount of ice cream. Words such as amount, sum, and total require an -er word. We need to say: John has a smaller amount of ice cream than Mary has.
We have an official question - Here, lower than is correct
Although the government's expenditures on law suits involving tobacco companies amounts to a sum dramatically lower than that spent by tobacco companies, many believe that the government should allocate no more funds to a battle they perceive as pointless.
(A) expenditures on law suits involving tobacco companies amounts to a sum dramatically lower than
(B) expenditures on law suits involving tobacco companies amount to a sum dramatically less than
(C) expenditures on law suits involving tobacco companies amount to a sum dramatically lower than
(D) law suit expenditures regarding tobacco companies amount to a dramatically lower sum than
(E) law suit expenditures against tobacco companies amounts to a sum dramatically lower than
Hi
sunny91,
For the official question, following is the explanation,
"Less" compares amounts or extents: There is less wine in my glass than in yours.
I find smokers less attractive than non-smokers.
"Lower" compares two numbers or measurements:The level of wine in the bottle got steadily lower.
The number of smokers is lower than the number of non-smokers.
In this official question, we're comparing
sums(actually the numbers), so "lower" is appropriate.
Now, coming to the question in hand,
(C) amounted to lessThe usage of LESS is correct here as I have already mentioned LESS compares amounts or extents. ALSO, if you see the later non-underlined part of the sentence, that is --
less
than one percent of the $541 billion the nation spent on health care....
Here, "Less than X%" is idiomatic. This is the correct usage.
(D) amounted to lowerUsage of LOWER is incorrect here. Lower is used for COUNTABLEs. Also, amounted to sum lower than would have been a correct construction here. As LOWER compares two numbers or measurements.
ALSO, the construction "LOWER than X%" is unidiomatic.
ONE more important difference to note between the LESS and LOWER is,'less' can be both an adjective and an adverb whereas 'lower' is always an adjective.
Hope that clears your query.
Thanks.
-aceGMAT21