Few or Fewer?

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aman88: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 142; Joined: Sat Oct 20, 2012 3:31 amFollowed by: 3 members; Location: New Delhi; Thanked: 20 times

by aman88 » Mon Dec 17, 2012 4:49 am

There is, under the current system of legislation, few recourses for those who feel that their career opportunities have been unfairly curtailed due to inequities in early educational systems.

A: There is, under the current system of legislation, few recourses
B: There is, under the current system of legislation, fewer recourses
C: There are, under the current system of legislation, few recourses
D: There are, under the current system of legislation, fewer recourses
E: There are, under the current system of legislation, few recourse

'Few recourses' or 'fewer recourses'? Which one is preferred and why?

OA C

Thanks.

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Mon Dec 17, 2012 4:49 am

The Iceman: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 194; Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2012 7:14 pmFollowed by: 6 members; Location: India; Thanked: 47 times

by The Iceman » Mon Dec 17, 2012 7:53 am

"few" is preferred because the comparative on the GMAT almost always requires "than", as in "fewer than". Also, to use fewer you must have a comparison but there is none here.

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Sapana: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 72; Joined: Sat May 19, 2012 2:27 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 2 times

by Sapana » Fri Dec 21, 2012 8:50 pm

Agree! Fewer is a comparative term. I dun think anything is compared in this question. therefore, few is a better option.

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Chitturi: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 28; Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2012 7:01 amFollowed by: 1 member; Location: Bangalore; Thanked: 1 times

by Chitturi » Sat Dec 22, 2012 6:37 am

The Iceman wrote:"few" is preferred because the comparative on the GMAT almost always requires "than", as in "fewer than". Also, to use fewer you must have a comparison but there is none here.

Iceman

Could you elaborate.

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The Iceman: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 194; Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2012 7:14 pmFollowed by: 6 members; Location: India; Thanked: 47 times

by The Iceman » Sat Dec 22, 2012 8:58 pm

Chitturi wrote:
The Iceman wrote:"few" is preferred because the comparative on the GMAT almost always requires "than", as in "fewer than". Also, to use fewer you must have a comparison but there is none here.
Iceman

Could you elaborate.

There are fewer Xs than Ys is the correct usage. But the Ys element is missing in our ans option.

Also, whenever you use the comparative form almost always use 'than' - shorter than, taller than, fewer than, wealthier than, etc. This also happens to be a major usage of 'than'. You should also use 'than' for constructions such as 'less than', 'more than', 'greater than' etc.

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