Calif elementary school

[ssgmatter]

Recent studies have shown that there are now one teacher for every thirty-one students in California's elementary schools, not nearly as many than there were even five years ago.
(A) there are now one teacher for every thirty-one students in California's elementary schools, not nearly as many than there were
(B) there are now one teacher for every thirty-one students in California's elementary schools, not nearly as many as there were
(C) there is now one teacher for every thirty-one students in California's elementary schools, not nearly as many than there was
(D) there is now one teacher for every thirty-one students in California's elementary schools, but that ratio is much lower than
(E) there is now one teacher for every thirty-one students in California's elementary schools, not nearly as many as there were

[ssgmatter]

what is the problem with D here....i got this down to D and E.....i think D would be correct if it would have said like this...but that ratio is much lower than that even five years ago.....i mean that comparision part is missing...that is the comparison of the current and the past ratio....please correct me in my understanding of the options here..

Regards,
Phil

[rockeyb]

what is the problem with D here....i got this down to D and E.....i think D would be correct if it would have said like this...but that ratio is much lower than that even five years ago.....i mean that comparision part is missing...that is the comparison of the current and the past ratio....please correct me in my understanding of the options here..

Regards,
Phil

If you say but that ratio is much lower than that even five years ago in that case option d would have been correct .

A still better thing to do would be to remove THAT and use RATIO to make the meaning clearer .

Your understanding of Option D is correct .

Also since the sentence is checking for Idioms and idiom AS MANY AS would be always proffered to other sentence .

Hope this helps .

[thephoenix]

what is the problem with D here....i got this down to D and E.....i think D would be correct if it would have said like this...but that ratio is much lower than that even five years ago.....i mean that comparision part is missing...that is the comparison of the current and the past ratio....please correct me in my understanding of the options here..

in d the ratio is being compared to five years ago....illogical

to make it correct the ratio has to be compared with ratio only

[ssgmatter]

Thankyou guys!.....

You are the best...

Cheers!
Regards,
Phil