sriamlan wrote:
Can any expert reply on this ? Not sure how C is the right answer
The European Economic Community exported just under $400 billion in goods in 1988, sixty percent more than the United States did and nearly twice as much as Japan's exports.
A) the United States did and nearly twice as much as Japan's exports
B) the United States and nearly double what the Japanese exports were
C) the United States exported and nearly twice as much as the Japanese did
D) what the United States did and nearly twice as much as Japan's exports
E) what the United States exported and nearly double the Japanese exports
The comparison structure here is "X
60%more than/
twice as much as Y " - Y in turn is comprised of a parrallel structure "P and Q"
Hence the overall structure is " X 60% more than P and twice as much as Q"
X = European Economy exported
P = United States exported
Q = the Japaneses did (exported).
Moreover,
The comparison between X and P is: 60% more than
The comparison between X and Q is:nearly twice as much as (= 200% of = 100% more than)
In the correct option C, the above parallelism is maintained properly:
The European Economic Community exported just under $400 billion in goods in 1988,
sixty percent more than the United States exported and
nearly twice as much as the Japanese did.
Option A: The element Q (Japan's exports) is not parallel to X and P.
Option B: P (United States) is not parallel to X. Q is also wrong since it uses "were" rather than "exported" or "did".
Option D: The element Q (Japan's exports) is not parallel to X and P.
Option E: The element Q (Japanese exports) is not parallel to X and P.