Sentence Correction

2009 had fewer new individual buyers of life insurance than any year since Limca, a market research firm, began tracking the data in 1988.

A. 2009 had fewer new individual buyers of life insurance than any year since Limca, a market research firm, began tracking the data in 1988.

B. 2009 had fewer new individual buyers of life insurance than any year since 1988 when Limca, a market research firm, began tracking this data.

C. 2009 had fewer new individual buyers of life insurance than in any year since 1988 when Limca, a market research firm, began tracking this data.

D. 2009 had lesser new buyers of individual life insurance than any year since Limca, a market research firm, began tracking the data in 1988.

E. 2009 had lesser new individual buyers of life insurance than any year since Limca, a market research firm, began tracking the data in 1988.

Source: Aristotle SC
OA: latter

{A} - INCORRECT; "this" pronoun is need to refer to data.. since 1988 is better
{B} - CORRECT;
{C} - INCORRECT; "in" is not needed
{D} - INCORRECT; we need "fewer" as quantity is countable.
{E} - INCORRECT; we need "fewer" as quantity is countable.

psm12se wrote:2009 had fewer new individual buyers of life insurance than any year since Limca, a market research firm, began tracking the data in 1988.

A. 2009 had fewer new individual buyers of life insurance than any year since Limca, a market research firm, began tracking the data in 1988.
B. 2009 had fewer new individual buyers of life insurance than any year since 1988 when Limca, a market research firm, began tracking this data.
C. 2009 had fewer new individual buyers of life insurance than in any year since 1988 when Limca, a market research firm, began tracking this data.
D. 2009 had lesser new buyers of individual life insurance than any year since Limca, a market research firm, began tracking the data in 1988.
E. 2009 had lesser new individual buyers of life insurance than any year since Limca, a market research firm, began tracking the data in 1988.

Source: Aristotle SC
OA: latter

Is the answer B?

In DE use of "lesser" is incorrect for countable noun "buyers"; we should use "fewer" instead
We are left with ABC

A: ...than any year since Limca - Incorrect comparison; a year should be compared to a year.
B: 2009 ... than any year since 1988 : Correct comparison between years. Let's keep this for now.
C: 2009 had fewer new individual buyers of life insurance than [buyers] in any year : Incorrect comparison between a year and buyer.

By POE: Answer B although the wording could have been much better!