On the GMAT with comparisons you always use "greater than" instead of "more than". If you can afford it, buy Manhattan GMAT's Sentence Correction Guide. Its an invaluable resource for preparing for this section.

vivek1110 wrote:The Gyrfalcon, an Arctic bird of prey, has survived a close brush with extinction; its numbers are now five times greater than when the use of DDT was sharply restricted in the early 1970's

(A) extinction; its numbers are now five times greater than
(B) extinction; its numbers are five times more than
(C) extinction, their numbers now fivefold what they were
(D) extinction, now with five fold numbers they had
(E) extinction, now with numbers five times greater than

The answer is A; I chose B, and I cannot figure out why my choice is wrong or what the subtle difference between the two answers are. I hope somebody can show me the light. [/u]

Vivek,
As for why ur choice (B) is wrong :-

'greater' is better than 'more'. if you say that 'the numbers were more', that would somehow mean that the gyrfalcon 'had more numbers' than before which does not make sense. On the other hand, 'the numbers are greater' makes sense: the numbers have increased.

My pick is (A)

What is the source? I used this sentence as my sentence that I break down each grammatical part, but when I got to the comparison part, I am unsure if any of the choices are correct. Someone else can chime in, but shouldn't the comparison read "its numbers are five times greater than its numbers were when the use of DDT was sharply restricted in the early 1970's"

Or is this a situation where we can omit certain words?

What is the source?

This question is from the OG Verbal Review (11th Ed).

Someone else can chime in, but shouldn't the comparison read "its numbers are five times greater than its numbers were when the use of DDT was sharply restricted in the early 1970's"

I thought of this too; none of the options had an emphasis of numbers on the second fragment, which was ambiguous. I overlooked it, like a seasoned GMAT taker and stuck to what I needed to do, to eliminate answer choices. Yeah, any light on that would be appreciated too.

Manhattan takeaway,

1. If you want to relate the quantities by multiplication, use times and as....as together.

Right : The man is Five Times As old As his grandson.
Wrong: The man is Five Times OLDER THAN his grandson.

2. If you want to relate two quantities by addition and subtraction, use more than or less than

Right : I am TEN years OLDER THAN you.
Wrong : I am TEN years AS OLD AS you.

Manhattan has mentioned about this problem specifically and told to avoid this usage( as shown correct in A ).[/i]

Awesome. now what?

i think you are referring to the adv chapter on Comparisons.
Whereas this distinction is mentioned in the basic chapter( Chp 10 , Odds & Ends) with a similar example.
1. 'numbers of ' is correct when used in a sentence such as
The peacock's numbers are estimated to be two times greater than last year, easing the concern of
the forest officials worried about the population of the peacocks.

greater than needs to be used rather than more than.
more than -> numbers itself are 'more' rather than the actual number of peacocks

pls correct me in case i have messed up the example.
just trying to strengthen my concepts as well )

sumanr84 wrote:Manhattan takeaway,

1. If you want to relate the quantities by multiplication, use times and as....as together.

Right : The man is Five Times As old As his grandson.
Wrong: The man is Five Times OLDER THAN his grandson.

2. If you want to relate two quantities by addition and subtraction, use more than or less than

Right : I am TEN years OLDER THAN you.
Wrong : I am TEN years AS OLD AS you.

Manhattan has mentioned about this problem specifically and told to avoid this usage( as shown correct in A ).[/i]

Thank you very much. I have a follow-up query on this particular kind of comparison:

The comparison of more and greater triggers the following question in my mind:
Are the following sentences correct?

1) A pen costs more than a pencil.
2) The cost of a pen is greater than that of a pencil.
3) BirdA are more numerous than birdB in countryX.
4) BirdA are more in number than birdB in country.
5) BirdA are more than birdB in country.

Please explain your answer(s).
Thank you very much in advance.

komal wrote:

vivek1110 wrote:The Gyrfalcon, an Arctic bird of prey, has survived a close brush with extinction; its numbers are now five times greater than when the use of DDT was sharply restricted in the early 1970's

(A) extinction; its numbers are now five times greater than
(B) extinction; its numbers are five times more than
(C) extinction, their numbers now fivefold what they were
(D) extinction, now with five fold numbers they had
(E) extinction, now with numbers five times greater than

The answer is A; I chose B, and I cannot figure out why my choice is wrong or what the subtle difference between the two answers are. I hope somebody can show me the light. [/u]

Vivek,
As for why ur choice (B) is wrong :-

'greater' is better than 'more'. if you say that 'the numbers were more', that would somehow mean that the gyrfalcon 'had more numbers' than before which does not make sense. On the other hand, 'the numbers are greater' makes sense: the numbers have increased.

My pick is (A)