Sentence Correction

84. Although it was expected that workers under forty would show hostility to the plan, the research report indicates that both younger and the older people approve of governmental appropriations for Social Security.
(A) younger and the older people
(B) younger people and the older
(C) the younger and the older people
(D) younger and older people
(E) people who are younger and those who are older

OA is D

Whats wrong with C? Pls tell the difference between C and D

the difference lies with the usage of "the" here.

A definite article (English the) is used before singular and plural nouns that refer to a particular member of a group.
Eg. The cat is on the black mat.

here the author is not refering to a particular group of young people or a particular group of old people. the author is commenting about the preference, in general, of younger & older people.

hence IMO D.


Thanks!

Not sure if I understood.. In the first example: "the cat" belongs to which particular group?

As stated earlier, "the" is a definite article... The red car there is beautiful... points to that red (a unique) car...

An undefinite article is "a"/"an"... A red car is beautiful.. Now the sentence means all red cars look beautiful...

In choice C, the younger and the older people is redundant construction and more imp means some particular young person and some particular older person... Hence C is wrong...

oh ok.. i get it now.. thanks so much!