UserMaple5 wrote:
chetan2u wrote:
Hi,
the initial phrase -Like the Dreyfus affair at the turn of the century and the Sacco-Vanzetti trial in 1921- correctly modifies 'teh hiss'.. also it is part of non-underlined portion..
So our Q mainly is - the Hiss case became the political cause of an era, the more so because it was the first time a congressional hearing was shown on television.
lets see each statement
Like the Dreyfus affair at the turn of the century and the Sacco-Vanzetti trial in 1921, the Hiss case became the political cause of an era, the more so because it was the first time a congressional hearing was shown on television.
1. the more so because it was..
here 'more so', a kind of an IDIOM, is correctly used to refer to entire preceding clause...
MORE requires 'so' here to make sense
2. more for its being
requirement of So...
its being is not a better construction then A
3. more for the reason that it was
Same SO is missing..
SO is must to connect to previous clause
4. the more so for the reason because it was
more so is correctly used, but BOTH reason and because are redundant
5. the reason of it being more so is that it was
Clearly awkward construction
A
Thanks for your explanation here
chetan2u I picked A and eliminated the others for the reasons you've mentioned above. But in Option A, I'm unable to comprehend the need for "the" before "more so". Why is "the" added here ? Would the sentence still be correct if we did not have "the"?
Thanks in advance!
Hi
UserMaple5, I am not he to whom you directed the question, but I'll be happy to help

The reason why we need a "
the" here before "more so" is that without a "the", "more so" would still take on the role of a comparative, and would, therefore have to be followed by a "
than". And there is only one reason provided for why the Hiss case became the political cause of an era. On the other hand, if there were another reason to justify why the Hiss case became the political cause, then we could say "more for this reason
than for another reason", as the following sentence, by way of example, illustrates:
The Hiss case became the political cause of an era, more so because it was the first time a congressional hearing was shown on television
than because it was backed by a powerful politician.
Here, we are providing two reasons as to why the Hiss case became a political cause, and one reason is given greater weightage than the other. Here, "
the more so" is closer to
all the more so in terms of meaning, emphasizing the primary reason why the Hiss case became the political cause.
Hope this helps. Please let me know in case of any queries.
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