Sentence Correction

Can anyone help me understand which idiom is correct? Tx

'Times as +... + as' vs 'Times more+ ... + than'

Check the below examples where both seem to be correct. But use of 'Times more likely than' seems to be wrong in second example

1. Some psychiatric studies indicate that among distinguished artists the rates of manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times as prevalent as in the population at large.
(A) the rates of manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times as prevalent as in
(B) the rates of manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times more prevalent than in
(C) the rates of manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times more prevalent when compared to
(D) manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times as prevalent when compared to
(E) manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times more prevalent than in

OA - E

2. According to a survey of graduating medical students conducted by the Association of American Medical Colleges, minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice in socioeconomically deprived areas.

(A) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice
(B) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than other graduates who plan on practicing
(C) minority graduates are nearly four times as likely as other graduates to plan on practicing
(D) it is nearly four times more likely that minority graduates rather than other graduates will plan to practice
(E) it is nearly four times as likely for minority graduates than other graduates to plan to practice

OA - C

crackgmat007 wrote:Can anyone help me understand which idiom is correct? Tx

'Times as +... + as' vs 'Times more+ ... + than'

Check the below examples where both seem to be correct. But use of 'Times more likely than' seems to be wrong in second example

1. Some psychiatric studies indicate that among distinguished artists the rates of manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times as prevalent as in the population at large.
(A) the rates of manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times as prevalent as in
(B) the rates of manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times more prevalent than in
(C) the rates of manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times more prevalent when compared to
(D) manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times as prevalent when compared to
(E) manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times more prevalent than in

OA - E

2. According to a survey of graduating medical students conducted by the Association of American Medical Colleges, minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice in socioeconomically deprived areas.

(A) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice
(B) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than other graduates who plan on practicing
(C) minority graduates are nearly four times as likely as other graduates to plan on practicing
(D) it is nearly four times more likely that minority graduates rather than other graduates will plan to practice
(E) it is nearly four times as likely for minority graduates than other graduates to plan to practice

Here is what I know:
If you want to relate the quantities by multiplication , use times and as … as .. Together

If you want to relate the quanties by addition or subtraction , use more than or less than


Now in this SC:
You can say " 10 times as prevalent as" and you can also say "10 times more prevalent than". All depends what you're trying to say:

Assume you have 100 items.
"10 times as great as.." means you have 1000 items.
"10 times greater than... " means you have 1100 items.

D) is wrong because of "when compared to", which violates the idiom here and the parallel structure of the sentence.

Replacing "when compared to" with "as" would make D) correct but you cannot have two correct answers, can you?


Some of the content is taken from:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/psychiatric- ... 37443.html

Credit goes to OP.

2. According to a survey of graduating medical students conducted by the Association of American Medical Colleges, minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice in socioeconomically deprived areas.

(A) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice
graduates are compared, so second "are" is incorrect
A is four times more likely than B to do something...

(B) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than other graduates who plan on practicing
"who" here makes the comparison incomplete. What is minority graduates more likely to do compared to other graduates?

(C) minority graduates are nearly four times as likely as other graduates to plan on practicing
A are...as...as B to do something. No Problem

(D) it is nearly four times more likely that minority graduates rather than other graduates will plan to practice
"A is more likely that... rather than" is not idiomatic. A is more likely than B should be used.

(E) it is nearly four times as likely for minority graduates than other graduates to plan to practice
"as...than..." is always wrong