Sentence Correction

When drive-ins were at the height of their popularity in the late 1950's, some 4,000 existed in the
United States, but today there are less than one-quarter that many.
A. there are less than one-quarter that many
B. there are fewer than one-quarter as many
C. there are fewer than one-quarter of that amount
D. the number is less than one-quarter the amount
E. it is less than one-quarter of that amount

[spoiler]It's B vs A as 'amount' refers to an uncountable quantity. Is A wrong because it is referring to a countable quantity? But I have seen questions in OGs where less than X% is acceptable. Why is A wrong?[/spoiler]

This is actually more a singular/ plural thing.

You would say "the quantity is less than expected"

You would say that "there are fewer books than you thought.

So in this case we have the second, "there are fewer"

What is wrong with C and D

C is singular/ plural

You would not say "there are fewer than that amount" -- "are fewer" is plural "there are fewer cars on the road"
that amount is singular "his paycheck is less than that amount"

unless D is mistyped it is missing an "of" as in "the number is less than one-quarter OF the amount" Yet even if the "of" was there saying "but today the number is less than one-quarter the amount" is not rhetorically correct and it does not make the comparison that it intends to. It is not as precise as saying "but today there are fewer than one-quarter as many."

David@VeritasPrep wrote:C is singular/ plural

You would not say "there are fewer than that amount" -- "are fewer" is plural "there are fewer cars on the road"
that amount is singular "his paycheck is less than that amount"

unless D is mistyped it is missing an "of" as in "the number is less than one-quarter OF the amount" Yet even if the "of" was there saying "but today the number is less than one-quarter the amount" is not rhetorically correct and it does not make the comparison that it intends to. It is not as precise as saying "but today there are fewer than one-quarter as many."

Hi David,

Thanks for the reply

I am not a native speaker so I understand that my ear is not as tuned as yours but I rejected B becuase it sounded like an incomplete version of the idiom 'as many as'.
In D, ' less than one-quarter the amount' is obviously not complete but I believed that ellipses has a role to play here. I mean, even if the statement misses an 'of', the meaning is still clear

The question that I am trying to ask is that, when ever ellipses is involved, we will see that a few words are missing. So more often than not, it will not sound correct(using rhetorics). How do we know when we should ignore the missing words if the meaning is clear and assume that ellipses is into play and when should we consider it as an error

Regards,
Vishal