manasi_sh wrote:No less an authority than Walter Cronkite has reported that half of all Americans never read a book.
(A) No less an authority than
(B) Nonetheless an authority
(C) Nevertheless authoritarian
(D) Not less an authority than
(E) An authority not less than
The OA is A..plz explain

E...Wrong. Read the sentence again and again till you get a feel that question refers to a person, whose authority is no less than that of Walter. Now read E option. You will get a feeing that "authority" is incorrectly used in comparision with Walter. Moreover, how can an authority report something? Its a person with an authority report.

D: same as E...how can authority, whether more or less, report something.
C...changes the meaning completely. Ignore it.
B: same as C.

Hence A is correct.

Stacey Koprince has posted that she will not continue to answer questions from the 1000 SC source, citing that the questions are terrible examples. I've only been on this site for three weeks, and from what I can see, I agree wholeheartedly.

Although A is the correct answer choice, this sentence makes me cringe, and it's not the first.... It's awkwardly constructed and NOTHING like the English language as it is currently being spoken. Basically, God help you if you write like this in business school or your career! Sheesh!

NO LESS THAN.
Option A.
The preposition that follows "no less' is 'than' this is just a simple English Language rule.
This make Option A the correct answer.

Option B.
"Nonetheless an authorithy' this is an incorrect use of idioms.This option is wrong.

Option C.
Nevertheless authoritarian' this follows not follow a regular pattern suit. An definitely a wrong answer.

Option D.
'No less' not 'Not Less' this option is wrong!

Option E.
Wrong option