In the United States, more than half of all arrests for serious crimes

In the United State, more than half of all the arrests for serious crimes against property are of 20 year olds or younger.

(a) of 20 year olds or younger -> Talking about arrests not person
(b) 20 years old or younger SAme as a
(c) of persons 20 years old or younger
(d) persons 20 years old or less
(e) 20 years old or less

(a) of 20 year ((olds)) or younger - use of olds seems awkward and incorrect.

(b) 20 years old or younger - changes the meaning of the sentence. It seems as if arrests are 20 years old... illogical.

(c) /of persons/ 20 years /old/ or younger
- correct. Keep.
(d) persons 20 years old or less - change in meaning. Incorrect.

(e) 20 years old or less - same as B.

Hence, IMO C.

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A. arrests are of 20 years olds or younger.

B. arrests are 20 years old or younger.

C. arrests are of persons 20 years old or younger.

D. arrests are persons 20 years old or less.

E. arrests are 20 years old or less.

arrests can't be xyz old :D ...eliminate B and E. D says arrests are person. A says 20 years OLDS. What is Olds...Eliminate A.

Answer is C.

I was very reluctant to choose C because I don't think that persons is a correct word. I checked out a couple of links (can't post since I've not been a member for more than 5 days through this account) & they happen to tell the same thing. While there is no referent in option A, wouldn't it be the safest option considering that a word like persons doesn't exist?

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[quote="eybrj2"]In the United States, more than half of all arrests for serious crimes against property are of 20 years olds or younger.


A. of 20 years olds or younger.
B. 20 years old or younger.
C. of persons 20 years old or younger.
D. persons 20 years old or less.
E. 20 years old or less.

Can someone help me understand after or should it be less or lesser. if in option D we had "of persons 20 years old or lesser" would it be correct?

C. of persons 20 years old or younger.

if we do not have younger , it is better use fewer or lesser in this case ,instead ???

It has to be C. SOme may argue that the old and younger doesnt go together well and older would be better.

HOwever, the sentence's meaning will change entirely if one uses older in place of old. 20 years old or younger = less than or equal to 20 years. 20 years older or younger may mean >20 years or <20 years.

In the United States, more than half of all arrests for serious crimes against property are of 20 years olds or younger.

Meaning Analysis: In the United States, more than half of the arrests that are for serious crimes against property are of people who are 20 years or younger.

Sentence Structure:
In the United States, (Prepositional phrase modifying "more than half of all arrests")
more than half of all arrests (subject) (the subject is plural since we are talking about "arrests")
for serious crimes (prepositional phrase modifying "arrests")
against property (modifier modifying "crimes")
are (plural verb)
of 20 years olds or younger. (prepositional phrase modifying "arrests")

A. of 20 years olds or younger. - Incorrect - we say "of 20 year olds" not 20 years olds. Also the usage of younger is incorrect. Younger than who? we can say of the "20 year olds" but the comparison out here is not very clear.

B. 20 years old or younger. - Incorrect - The sentence is now telling us that the arrests are 20 years old or younger. That is illogical

C. of persons 20 years old or younger. - Correct - Now we know that the arrests are of people. What kind of people? people who are 20 years old or younger that 20 years.

I believe if the sentence was "of 20 years old or younger" it would still be correct. Though (C) is much more clear in its comparison.

D. persons 20 years old or less. - Incorrect - if we remove all the modifiers we get "more than half of all arrests for serious crimes against property are persons..." wait... what?! arrests are people? that is certainly illogical.

Moreover the comparison marker is "more... than" and not "more...less"

E. 20 years old or less. - Incorrect - This choice repeats the meaning error of (B) and comparison error of (D)

Correct Choice: (C)

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