The answer makes the sentence awkward to read. Kindly help with an explanation or any theory material behind it.

Please elaborate your query in future. Is it the use of two "fewer"s in succession that makes you feel that the sentence is awkward? If so, then consider the two parallel items separately - the simplified structure of the sentence is as follows:

With X and Y, the growth is at an all-time low.

The prepositional phrase modifier "with X and Y" has been shifted to the end of the main clause*.
Here X = total employment at fewer than 68,000 people
Y = fewer companies in the field....
Parallelism is maintained because X and Y are both noun phrases (with "employment" and "companies" as head nouns respectively).

(*Note: this usage is allowed for present participle modifiers and prepositional phrase modifiers.)

You cannot eliminate B with any solid reason.

Fewer : Countable Things ( People & Companies , in this case )
Lesser : Uncountable things..

Please refer this article for help : http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/educat ... rsus-fewer
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Growth in the industry is at an all-time low, with total employment at less than 68,000 people and fewer companies in the field than there have been during any of the past ten years.

A. at less than 68,000 people and fewer -number of people are countable; less--wrong
B. at fewer than 68,000 people and fewer -correct
C. lesser than 68,000 people and fewer -wrong
D. fewer than 68,000 people and less -number of companies are countable; less--wrong
E. at less than 68,000 people and there are less -wrong

This question is about countable vs uncountable nouns and redundancy error.
One can straightaway rule out option C and D as both of the options have redundancy error. "Lesser" and "Than" both imply comparison so the use of "lesser than" or "fewer than" is wrong.
Among the rest of the options B is the right answer as both "people" and "companies" are countable nouns and so the use of fewer is perfect.
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Growth in the industry is at an all-time low, with total employment at less than 68,000 people and fewer companies in the field than there have been during any of the past ten years.

A. at less than 68,000 people and fewer - people countable ~ should be fewer
B. at fewer than 68,000 people and fewer - correct
C. lesser than 68,000 people and fewer - people countable ~ should be fewer; lesser?
D. fewer than 68,000 people and less - companies countable ~ should be fewer
E. at less than 68,000 people and there are less - people countable ~ should be fewer

Hi sayantanc2k,
Can you please explain to me why when we are comparing "employment" -uncountable- with "people" -countable- the "less/fewer" is referring to the next noun entity ,hence "people", and not to the preceding entity ,hence "employment", of the comparison?
To me it makes more sense that "less/fewer" should refer to the preceding noun entity since is the one we compare at.
"employment at less than 68,000 people"
Thank you in advance.

it is testing collective noun in this sentence Giorgosaek

That is not correct. B has 'fewer than'. Also, fewer than is perfectly legit.

Unit of 'employment' is number of people / percentage / something else but it always compares to 'people'/'number of people'.

The employment, hence, is countable.

KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Step 1: Read the Original Sentence Carefully, Looking for Errors
Notice that underlined portion of the sentence contains the words “less” and “fewer.” These words
are often tested on the GMAT because they are often used incorrectly, so be sure to pay attention
to them. Doing so will save you valuable time. “Less” can only refer to non-countable items, such
as soup or confidence. “Fewer” must refer to countable items, such as chairs or peanuts. In this
sentence, since “people” and “companies” can both be counted, “fewer” is appropriate.

Step 2: Scan and Group the Answer Choices
Even if that didn’t occur to you as the issue in the sentence, you should note that some of the choices
use “less” (or “lesser”) and others use “fewer” and group accordingly into a 3-2 split.

Step 3: Eliminate Choices Until Only One Remains
You would eliminate choice (A) because the original sentence uses the non-countable adjective “less”
to describe the countable noun “people.” Choices (C) and (E) make the similar errors (and choice
(C)’s “lesser than” is thoroughly unidiomatic), so eliminate them as well. Choice (D) uses “less” to
describe the countable noun “companies,” so it is incorrect. Only in choice (B) are both countable
nouns modified by the countable adjective “fewer,” making it the correct answer.

Growth in the industry is at an all-time low, with total employment at less than 68,000 people and fewer companies in the field than there have been during any of the past ten years.

fewer = countable
less = uncountable

A. at less than 68,000 people and fewer

B. at fewer than 68,000 people and fewer

C. lesser than 68,000 people and fewer

D. fewer than 68,000 people and less

E. at less than 68,000 people and there are less

Answer is B.
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I see where he is coming from. I too had to take a second and pause to think.

When we have ONE number, such as “total employment”, the noun does not seem countable.

Isn’t “total employment at fewer than 68,000 people” a bit redundant?

We already know that the total employment figure refers to people.

If we were to say “with total employment at less than 50%”, would this seem valid to everyone?


However, because the sentence has “fewer” modifying the noun “people”, a countable noun, we need to use “fewer” and not “less.”


If we were just talking about the “total employment FIGURE”, would it not be correct to use “less/greater/uncountable modifier?”


I believe the Manhattan Prep SC Guide has a section that discusses this.



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