Sentence Correction

Soaring television costs accounted for more than half the spending in the presidential campaign of 1992, a greater proportion than it was in any previous election.

A. a greater proportion than it was
B. a greater proportion than
C. a greater proportion than they have been
D. which is greater than was so
E. which is greater than it has been

IMO B

Soaring television costs accounted for more than half the spending in the presidential campaign of 1992, a greater proportion than it was in any previous election.
A. a greater proportion than it was (ambigous)
B. a greater proportion than
C. a greater proportion than they have been
D. which is greater than was so (Incorrectly modifies 1992)
E. which is greater than it has been(Incorrectly modifies 1992)

My Answer is B

Soaring television costs is plural so any use of 'it' would be incorrect.
A and E out.

C uses they have been in any previous election....why 'have' and why not 'had' instead.

'Greater than was so' in choice D is unidiomatic.

reachac wrote:Soaring television costs accounted for more than half the spending in the presidential campaign of 1992, a greater proportion than it was in any previous election.

A. a greater proportion than it was
B. a greater proportion than
C. a greater proportion than they have been
D. which is greater than was so
E. which is greater than it has been

IMO B
In D & E, which refers to 1992
In C, they is ambiguous...theres only 1 proportion to compare
A is wordy...

B - "a greater proportion than in any previous election" - the words on either of side of "than" r not parallel in terms of structure & meaning.
hence B is incorrect.

D n E r out bcoz which is ambiguous.

C - usage of "have been" (present perfect tense) is incorrect as we r referring to a past event (any previous election).

A - usage of "it" for "costs" seems incorrect.
but consider the following example -
there r 3 categories of TV sets - small medium n large.
if the cost for TV sets involved in all the 3 categories increases then can we say that the sum of the costs of all the 3 categories has increased as compared to that in the previous year.
here costs (plural) can be used in "sum of the costs" to represent total cost (singular).

hence IMO A.


Thanks!

reachac wrote:Soaring television costs accounted for more than half the spending in the presidential campaign of 1992, a greater proportion than it was in any previous election.

A. a greater proportion than it was
B. a greater proportion than
C. a greater proportion than they have been
D. which is greater than was so
E. which is greater than it has been

IMO B
In D & E, which refers to 1992
In C, they is ambiguous...theres only 1 proportion to compare
A is wordy...

whats the answer....Ian pls tell us

IMO B

I am not sure why every one thinks have been is wrong here.

My pick is C here

they clearly refers to the plural Soaring costs

also, there are a numerous number of times elections have happened before 1992 and this is a continuing event.

present continuous makes sense to me.

had been would have been definitely wrong, because there is no need for past perfect as there is only one event

What is the OA?

OA C

@ chidcguy can you please elaborate some more, I mean why C over B?

2 reasons as I said

(1)
they after than compares greater proportion to proportion in the past elections

With out they it sounds like greater proportion is compared to previous elections

(2)

I feel that presidential elections are a continuous event that happen every 4 years and have been makes more sense. Its not comparing to one last election but all elections held so far.

But for me reason 1 took B out and I was left with C

@chidcguy
Isn't 'proportion' singular? Shouldn't 'it' be used rather than 'they'?

Sulabh,

Excellent catch.

If you put it in there, what will it refer to? To me, its soaring television costs, which is plural.

@chidcguy

Soaring television costs accounted for more than half the spending in the presidential campaign of 1992, a greater proportion than they(Soaring television costs ) have been in any previous election.

Does 'Soaring television costs have been in any previous election' makes sense?

This is a strange question to me.. C choice actually refers to Soaring Costs. In this case then the sentence loses the logical parallelism, comparing proportion with Costs..to me it doesn't make sense...
My best bet would be B