As part of the government’s ongoing green initiative, only 850 trees h

Question

As part of the government’s ongoing green initiative, only 850 trees have been translocated, the latest conservation  method – less than those  translocated by private bodies.

A. method – less than those

B. method- fewer than have been

C. method, which is less than those

D. method, a number lower than the trees

E. method, fewer than the ones

Mahi2409 · Answer

The word 'Those' should be underlined.

Bunuel · Answer

_____________________
Done. Thank you.

SramanSanyal · Answer

Please explain the meaning of the correct option

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  SramanSanyal . I would be happy to offer my thoughts on this question in an effort to help you and the larger community.

With  countable  items, the comparison should be  fewer than . If there is some vague, uncountable amount of something instead, as in,  less than the amount of water in the Pacific Ocean  (since no one is actually measuring anything), then  less than  is appropriate. This is an easy choice to eliminate.

The comparison marker has been fixed, and the present perfect  have been  is perfectly parallel with the same usage earlier in the sentence. It cannot get any more parallel than to repeat  have been translocated . There are no issues here, so this is a fine answer.

You have to be careful with  which  clauses. The  which  clause typically refers back to the noun closest to it across the comma, which in the sentence at hand is  method . It would not make sense to read the sentence as,   the method  is less than   translocated by private bodies , but the grammar suggests it. Moreover,  less than  has reared its ugly head once again, so this one is definitely out.

Not only does  fewer  in (B) convey the same vital meaning in one word instead of three, but the correct answer also makes it clear that numbers are being compared to numbers, while this answer seems on the surface to be comparing  a number  to  trees , rather than to the  number  of trees. Finally, there is a noticeable lack of parallelism between  850 trees have been translocated  from earlier in the sentence and  the trees translocated  that the tail-end of the underlined portion here creates. Taken as a whole, there is too much working against this one for it to be an optimal choice.

Gosh, I want  the ones  to be  those  instead. Even then, though, I would look to maintain the parallel construct that  850 trees have been translocated  establishes. If  translocated  acts as a verb in the first instance but as a modifier in the second, then that skews the comparison somewhat. You have to go by what is on the screen to assess an answer choice, not by what you want to be there. This option loses out, plain and simple.

I hope that helps. If there are any lingering questions or concerns, I would be happy to carry on this dialogue. Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

VerbalBot · Answer

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As part of the government’s ongoing green initiative, only 850 trees h

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As part of the government’s ongoing green initiative, only 850 trees h

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