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"More than" Vs "Greater Than"

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"More than" Vs "Greater Than"

by f2001290 » Thu Jun 21, 2007 2:06 am
The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close brush with financial ruin; its assets are now almost three times greater than what they were before their problems commenced.

A. financial ruin; its assets are now almost three times greater than
B. financial ruin; its assets are now almost three times more than
C. financial ruin; their assets are now almost threefold
D. financial ruin; now with threefold the assets
E. financial ruin; now with assets three times greater than

What is the difference between "more than" and "greater than" in terms of usage?
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Countable vs Non-Countable

by morningjava » Thu Jun 21, 2007 3:45 am
The "more than" is used when the object is compared having its superiority regarding the related quantity, while "grater than", its quality. So the former one is applicable to countable noun and follows its agreement and the latter must not accompany the plural form. Therefore correct answer should be "B"


1) ; --> means ", and" D, E out
2) C --> agreement fallacy
3) "assets are" --> the clue for plural --> A out

Right answer : B
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by Bhandaripreeti » Thu Jun 21, 2007 6:22 am
hi

what's the OA
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by moneyman » Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:05 am
More than should be used for countable items and greater than should be used for uncountable items.
Maxx
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by drhomler » Fri Jun 22, 2007 5:41 am
Is that the clear definitive view of more than vs. greater than? Is there any other tricks out there with more than and greater than that they test. I am native english speaker and I picked B but I didnt have a "real"reason
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by arunjithp » Mon Jun 25, 2007 1:36 am
the watsons family... we cant say its.. it should be theirs.. so my vote goes for c
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by Sadowski » Wed Jun 27, 2007 12:08 pm
arunjithp wrote:the watsons family... we cant say its.. it should be theirs.. so my vote goes for c
Actually, if you look at the rest of the sentence, it says:

"The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close brush with..."

The original sentence treats "The Watsons" as a singular unit, so the answer has to be A or B.

What's the OA?
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by summer47 » Tue Jun 21, 2011 5:13 am
agreed- C gives correct pronoun antecedent agreement.
arunjithp wrote:the watsons family... we cant say its.. it should be theirs.. so my vote goes for c
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by summer47 » Wed Jun 22, 2011 11:50 am
correct answer C. People= theirs, things = its
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by galaxian » Wed Jun 22, 2011 2:29 pm
It has to be A.

Similar Qs & ussage of more/greater than explained here by the expert :
https://www.beatthegmat.com/og-10-qs-251-t10581.html

We are continuing a 4 years old thread btw !
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by ov25 » Wed Jun 22, 2011 3:42 pm
imo C

the agreement has to match plural subject as 'their problems' implies a plural subject. Plus more than 3 times is redundant.
Also C is concise.
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