As a result of the Black Death, the plague that afflicted Europe in 13

Population and workforce are non-countable nouns, so the answer is D. Workforce and Population fall in the category of non-countable nouns even while conveying the idea of more than one person. Another few examples that I can think of are "bevy, class, team" etc.

can't i say fewer american navy forces? or fewer than half the forces of the police?

No, the construction is awkward and wrong.
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how come team is not countable?

Actually, it's all about context. These contexts are based on the subtle nuances of English.

I have a great news : our team has won the match - Singular noun (apparently non-countable)
A team of students went for the expedition (Singular noun with of students)
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Please look for some grammar lesson in:
Collective Nouns.

I personally like this grammar book:
gmat-grammar-ultimate-by-gmat-club-102387.html#p795521

from wikitinary:

force (countable and uncountable; plural forces)

Wikipedia has an article on:
Force
1.(countable) Anything that is able to make a big change in a person or thing.
2.(countable, physics) A physical quantity that denotes ability to push, pull, twist or accelerate a body which is measured in a unit dimensioned in mass × distance/time² (ML/T²): SI: newton (N); CGS: dyne (dyn)
3.(countable) A group that aims to attack, control, or constrain.
police force4.(uncountable) The ability to attack, control, or constrain.
show of force
5.(countable) A magic trick in which the outcome is known to the magician beforehand, especially one involving the apparent free choice of a card by another person.
6.A fictional semi-sentient phenomenon that certain individuals can call upon for assistance as in in the Star Wars stories. See also Force.  [quotations ▼]
May the force be with you.
7.(law) Legal validity.  [quotations ▼]
The law will come into force in January.
8.(law) Either unlawful violence, as in a "forced entry", or lawful compulsion.
[edit] Usage notes

Mate, I think you're mixing up force with workforce , or maybe I'm wrong. Workforce is a group of individuals (like a team), merely containing the word "force" as a part of itself does not introduce any resemblance to "force" per Se .
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i marked sections 3-4
ut says:police force-countable

dimri10

Please make the underlined part clear.

As a result of the Black Death, the plague that afflicted
Europe in 1348-49, as many as half the population died
and less than half the work force remained in certain
cities

Though the answers are above, I explain you again.

"Many" is used for countable nouns and "much" is used for uncountable nouns.

"Population" and "workforce" are uncountable nouns or you can say they are collective nouns.

So the answer is D.

Hope it's clear.
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Meaning: The sentence highlights the result of the black death - death of many people and the reduction of the workforce.

Population - Uncountable (so "much")

Work Force - Uncountable (so "less")

Hope it helps.

population - uncountable; workforce - uncountable.
much/less is needed.
only D gives the correct combination.

Though both the population and workforce sound "countable", there is other clue.
The comparisons are not parallel except D.

A - many , less
B - much, fewer
C - many, less
D - much ,less
E- many, less

a- as many as half the population died and less than half the work force remained We use MUCH for population because 1 population, 2 population is illogical.

b- as much as half the population died and fewer than half the work force remained Similarly we use LESS for workforce.

c- as many as half the people died and less than that remained in the work force THAT is also changing the meaning.

d- as much as half the population died and less than half the work force remained

e- as many as half the population and less than half the work force died or remained changing the meaning as well

KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

First of all, population is not a quantity than can be counted so as many as needs to be changed to as much as. Eliminate (A) and (E). Answer choice (C) survives this particular comparison because it changes the subject from population to the countable people and therefore uses as many as correctly. As for the second quantity in the underlined portion, work force is, like population, not countable and therefore less than rather than fewer than is correct. Eliminate (В). (C) is wrong because less than that remained distorts the meaning of the sentence and is unclear in its own right. What exactly is that? Half of those who died? Who survived? (D) remains.

An 800 test taker reads the entire answer choice before eliminating it; an error in one choice might not be an error in another if changes in the rest of the choice have redeemed it.
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Hi generis

Please remove the highlighted part from underlined region in the SC.

Thanks!

Edited. Thanks.
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As a result of the Black Death, the plague that afflicted Europe in 1348-49, as many as half the population died and less than half the workforce remained in certain cities.


A. as many as half the population died and less than half the work force remained

B. as much as half the population died and fewer than half the work force remained

C. as many as half the people died and less than that remained in the work force

D. as much as half the population died and less than half the work force remained --> correct

E. as many as half the population and less than half the work force died or remained

how is population uncountable ? ya'll ain't got census?

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