#Minority population : twice Vs two times

[jaymin]

#In the 1980’s the rate of increase of the minority population of the united states was nearly twice as fast as the 1970’s.
A.twice as fast as
B.twice as fast as it was in
C.twice what it was in
D.two times faster than that of
E.two times greater than

OA: C

Please explain.

Thnx.

[awesomeusername]

The rate of increase in the 80's was not "twice as fast" as that of the 70's. It was twice the rate of the 70's. To call a rate "fast" would be incorrect.

[apoorva.srivastva]

IMO C

parallelism "in the 1080's" and "in the 1970's"

B in comparison with C is wordy

A,D & E are not parallel

Also

A) twice as fast as
rate not compared, "as fast as" is redundant as we say "rate of increase"

(D) two times faster than that of
"faster" is redundant as we say "rate of increase"

E) two times greater than
rate not compared,"greater" is redundant as we say "rate of increase"


ALSO use DOUBLE,TRIPLE as verbs and TWICE ,THRICE for comparisons


I HOPE THIS MAY HELP YOU..

regards,
apoorva :)

[jaymin]

Thank you awsomeusername and apoorva.

I got your point that "twice as fast as" is incorrect because the rate cannot be "fast",but "twice". clear.

[spikeysam]

[quote="apoorva.srivastva"]IMO C



E) two times greater than
rate not compared,"greater" is redundant as we say "rate of increase"


apoorva [/quote]

But is the rate is compared implicitly? i.e. Two times great than the 1970's [rate of the minority population..]

Another example would be:
Yao Ming's height is two times greater than John's.

It seems like this is an issue of twice vs. two times.