The speculative fever of the Roaring Twenties infected rich and poor a

IMHO (C) with this one , for the following errors in other options -

(A) quantities of people
(B) amounts of people
(D) amounts of people
(E) quantities of people

(A) rich and poor alike; vast quantities of people were dangerously overextended
(B) both rich and poor alike; large amounts of people dangerously overextended themselves
(D) both rich and poor alike; vast amounts of people dangerously overextended themselves
(E) both rich and poor; great quantities of people were dangerously overextended

the usage of the idiom "quantities of people"/"amounts of people" is absolutely wrong!!!!
people are countable-- therefore we say the number of people
we can only say "the number of people"

therefore only option C is correct!!

The speculative fever of the Roaring Twenties infected rich and poor alike; vast quantities of people were dangerously overextended, credit was absurdly easy to obtain, and most brokerage houses required only ten percent cash for stocks bought on “margin.”

(A) rich and poor alike; vast quantities of people were dangerously overextended
(B) both rich and poor alike; large amounts of people dangerously overextended themselves
(C) rich and poor alike; great numbers of people were dangerously overextended
(D) both rich and poor alike; vast amounts of people dangerously overextended themselves
(E) both rich and poor; great quantities of people were dangerously overextended

"Quantities" only refers to things, not people. In addition, vast is usually used to represent varieties. Therefore, A and E wrong.
"Both" and "alike" are redundant. In addition, "amount" only refers to uncountable things. B and D wrong.

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

The error in this question relates to the use of the wrong ‘quantity’ word. The underlined portion covers two main clauses in which the respective subjects and predicates are (fever; infected) and (quantities; were overextended). There are no mismatches in them between the subject and the predicate.

Since the period referred to is the ‘Roaring Twenties’ (meaning the years 1920 to 1929), the use of the past tense in both these clauses is also correct.

There is no error in the phrase ‘rich and poor alike’. What is wrong in the given sentence is the phrase ‘vast quantities of people’, because the word ‘quantities’ can be used only with reference to inanimate (or lifeless) objects, and not while referring to people. The correct phrase to describe people is ‘vast numbers of people’.

So, the given sentence is wrong, and (A) is not the answer,

In (B), the phrase ‘vast quantities’ has been replaced by ‘great amounts’. But since the word ‘amounts’ also can be used only for referring to inanimate objects, (B) is equally wrong; and can be eliminated for that reason alone.

Scanning the other choices quickly, we find that both (D) and (E) use ‘amounts’ and ‘quantities’ respectively. Both of them can be eliminated for that reason alone.

What is left is (C) which can be chosen as the answer. You can easily verify that, by substituting (C) for the underlined portion, we get a cogent, grammatical and clear sentence.

(B) and (D) have an additional error. The phrase ‘rich and poor alike’ includes rich and the poor. The additional word ‘both’ preceding this phrase in these two choices is therefore redundant.

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