Sentence Correction

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HannahFurr wrote:A long-term study of some 1,000 physicians indicates that the more coffee these doctors drank, the more they had a likelihood of coronary disease.

A. more they had a likelihood of coronary disease
B. more was their likelihood of having coronary disease
C. more they would have a likelihood to have coronary disease
D. greater was their likelihood of having coronary disease
E. greater was coronary disease likely


OA: D

CAN ANYBODY EXPLAIN? THANKS!

This is a very good question that tests the distinction between 'more' and 'greater'. The distinction between 'more' and 'greater' is not the same as that between 'less' (non-countable) and 'few(er)' (countable) OR 'much' (non-countable) and 'many' (countable). The distinction lies in whether the entity being compared is numerical or non-numerical. If we are comparing "numerical" entities - say, 'sum', 'difference', 'area', 'volume', 'probability', 'number', etc. - we always use 'greater'; for everything else, we need to use 'more'. An easy way to remember this is we always say that "5 is greater than 4", and not "5 is more than 4". Let us look at a couple of examples to illustrate this important distinction -

The number of apples in India is greater than that in Melbourne - since "the number" is definitely a numerical entity
BUT
There are more apples in India than in Melbourne - since "apples" is not really a numerical entity

The cost of opera X is greater than that of Opera Y - since "the price" is definitely a numerical entity
BUT
Opera X costs more Opera Y - since "Opera X" is just a thing

Similarly, as we can see in the sentence above, in the non-underlined portion, we have "more coffee.." (since "coffee" is not really a numerical entity). However, in the underlined portion, we are talking about "likelihood" - or probability - which will always yield a numerical value (say 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, etc.). Therefore, we need to use "greater" to indicate a numerical comparison. Eliminate A, B, and C

Between D and E, we need to preserve the idea given in the original prompt that we are concerned with the likelihood of the doctors contracting coronary disease - obviously if the doctors drink more coffee, then they would be the ones running a greater risk of getting coronary disease. Hence, we need the plural pronoun 'their' in front of the likelihood to make it clear that we are referring to these doctors' likelihood of getting coronary disease. Option E makes it look like that we are talking of a "generic likelihood" - perhaps likelihood of the general public(?)contracting this deadly disease - which is illogical and distorts the logical meaning of the sentence. Eliminate E

Hence, D is the correct answer.

Please let me know if anything doesn't make sense.