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highestblue
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2008 2:48 am
Hey guys, I wanna ask the following question to the forum.
Although people in France consume fatty foods at a rate comparable to the United States, their death rates from heart disease are far lower in France.
A. people in France consume fatty foods at a rate comparable to the United States
B. people in France and the United States consume fatty foods at about the same rate, the
C. fatty foods are consumed by people in France at a comparable rate to the United State's, their
D. the rate of fatty foods consumed in France and the United States is about the same, the
E. the rate of people consuming fatty foods is about the same in France and the United States, the
* The answer is B.
When my friend asked me this question, intuitively, I knew the answer is B, but couldn't resolve her bemusement over answer choices B and D.
Best I could do was to give her following possible explanations.
First, parallelism. "The rate of fatty foods..." is not parallel to "death rates," because former is singular and later plural. (this seems most plausible)
Second, rhetorical construction. D sounds very awkward and unclear whereas B is concise and simple.
Can someone confirm the validity of these explanations? And if deemed invalid, render me the correct reason?
One more question. The "rate" used in the context, is it correct to interpret it as certain amount, so that "about the same rate" means proportionally equal in amount?
Thanks for your attention.
Although people in France consume fatty foods at a rate comparable to the United States, their death rates from heart disease are far lower in France.
A. people in France consume fatty foods at a rate comparable to the United States
B. people in France and the United States consume fatty foods at about the same rate, the
C. fatty foods are consumed by people in France at a comparable rate to the United State's, their
D. the rate of fatty foods consumed in France and the United States is about the same, the
E. the rate of people consuming fatty foods is about the same in France and the United States, the
* The answer is B.
When my friend asked me this question, intuitively, I knew the answer is B, but couldn't resolve her bemusement over answer choices B and D.
Best I could do was to give her following possible explanations.
First, parallelism. "The rate of fatty foods..." is not parallel to "death rates," because former is singular and later plural. (this seems most plausible)
Second, rhetorical construction. D sounds very awkward and unclear whereas B is concise and simple.
Can someone confirm the validity of these explanations? And if deemed invalid, render me the correct reason?
One more question. The "rate" used in the context, is it correct to interpret it as certain amount, so that "about the same rate" means proportionally equal in amount?
Thanks for your attention.
