Sentence Correction

Last year Torville Toys sold 34,000 Quizmo Dolls, accounting for almost half of their total revenue, twice as much as 2005.

A.twice as much as 2005
B.twice as many as 2005
C.double what it was in 2005
D.double the figure for 2005
E.twice the number that was tallied in 2005

Please explain your selections. I have some doubt about the OA, and I will post the OA after some replies. Thanks.

A - as much as usage is wrong here. We are having countable nouns and many should be used
B - wrong comparison, we are comparing 34000 dolls with 2005
C - awkward, something is missing
E - too wordy though it seems fine.

IMO D.

thulsy wrote:Last year Torville Toys sold 34,000 Quizmo Dolls, accounting for almost half of their total revenue, twice as much as 2005.

A.twice as much as 2005
B.twice as many as 2005
C.double what it was in 2005
D.double the figure for 2005
E.twice the number that was tallied in 2005

Please explain your selections. I have some doubt about the OA, and I will post the OA after some replies. Thanks.

D - IMO "figure" could refer to either 34000 dolls or revenue"
C - IT does not have any referent than REVENUE

IMO C

thulsy wrote:Last year Torville Toys sold 34,000 Quizmo Dolls, accounting for almost half of their total revenue, twice as much as 2005.

A.twice as much as 2005
B.twice as many as 2005
C.double what it was in 2005
D.double the figure for 2005
E.twice the number that was tallied in 2005

Dolls are countable.
A- much is incorrect
B- as many as year[2005] is incorrect
C- it's antecedent is not clear.
D- Correct
E- wordy

+1 for C

patanjali.purpose wrote:

thulsy wrote:Last year Torville Toys sold 34,000 Quizmo Dolls, accounting for almost half of their total revenue, twice as much as 2005.

A.twice as much as 2005
B.twice as many as 2005
C.double what it was in 2005
D.double the figure for 2005
E.twice the number that was tallied in 2005

Please explain your selections. I have some doubt about the OA, and I will post the OA after some replies. Thanks.

D - IMO "figure" could refer to either 34000 dolls or revenue"
C - IT does not have any referent than REVENUE

IMO C

Thanks all for your reply. The OA is D, and here comes the official explanation:

If a quantity is countable, then the term "as many" should be used. "As much" is used when a quantity, such as an emotion or an attribute, cannot be counted. Since the Quizmo Dolls can be counted, "as many" is the proper term in this case.

Also, "as much as 2005" is improper. It should be "as many as in 2005" or "double the figure for 2005."

Last year Torville Toys sold 34,000 Quizmo Dolls, accounting for almost half of their total revenue, twice as much as 2005.

A. twice as much as 2005Choice A is not the correct answer. Since the number of dolls can be counted, the comparison should be "as many," rather than "as much." The prepositional phrase "as 2005" is also incorrect.

B.twice as many as 2005
Choice B is not the correct answer. "As many" is correct, but the prepositional phrase "as 2005" creates an illogical comparison.

C.double what it was in 2005
Choice C is not the correct answer. This sentence is wordy and awkward

D.double the figure for 2005
Choice D is the correct answer. The emphasis is placed on the number of dolls and "for 2005" is the correct structure of the comparison.

E.twice the number that was tallied in 2005
Choice E is not the correct answer. This is too wordy and awkward.


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My query:

I chose A because I was stuck with the original meaning of the sentence. There are two quantities:
1. 34000 Quizmo Dolls (this is countable)
2. half of their total revenue (the ratio - half - is uncountable)

From the original sentence (Choice A), I think the underlined part serves as an appositive noun modifier, which modifies the nearest quantity ("half"). Therefore, I construe the intended meaning as

Last year sold 34,000, accounting for almost 1/2 of their total revenue
in 2005, sold unknown #, accounting for almost 1/4 of their total revenue

Per my above understanding, "as much as" is justified, because the ratio "half" is uncountable.

For the OA-D, I doubt that "the figure" is ambiguous - it could refer to either 34,000 or "half". Also, if "double the figure for 2005" is a noun modifier modifying "34,000 Quizmo Dolls", I think it should be placed as close as possible to "34,000 Quizmo Dolls".

Can anyone shed light on this? Kindly correct me if I am wrong. Thanks.

thulsy wrote:Last year Torville Toys sold 34,000 Quizmo Dolls, accounting for almost half of their total revenue, twice as much as 2005.

A.twice as much as 2005
B.twice as many as 2005
C.double what it was in 2005
D.double the figure for 2005
E.twice the number that was tallied in 2005

Please explain your selections. I have some doubt about the OA, and I will post the OA after some replies. Thanks.