Prep-T1-Q24

[dibert8]

24.

Employment costs rose 2.8 percent in the 12 months that ended in September, slightly less than they did in the year that ended in the previous quarter.

(A) less than they did
(B) less than it did
(C) less than they were
(D) lower than
(E) lower than they were




Ans: A

lower 形容位置,所以要選 less
employment --> it
cost --> did
得到 (B)

請問 (A) 裡的 they 指誰?

[dibert8]

一時眼花,把 costs 看成動詞.
they = costs
這樣就對了.

[dibert8]

還是有疑問:為什麼時態一樣還要用助動詞咧?
如果有一個選項是 (F) less than 可以選嗎?
September, previous quarter 哪一個時間比較早? i.e.句意不是很清楚,有人可以分析一下嗎?

[pimi]

通常less不是用在不可數名詞嗎?
cost是可數名詞吧?? 那就不該用less是嗎???

而且在講成本上, 可以用 lower或higher來形容高低吧??
實在不太懂前面大大解釋的 "lower 形容位置,所以要選 less"的觀念說

快救救我ㄚ ><

BTW, 從常春藤英文文法中查來的（Ｐ237）
自行做比較時, 句中的時態若不同, 即主要子句為現在式, than子句為過去式, 則than後的主詞以及其後之過去式be-V, 助動詞, 或一般動詞變成的did不可省略

這樣應該就表示後面的they did不可省略了, 所以如果有F選項, 也應該不能選了

[la-vie]

did不能省略，不然就會在比較上面有歧義
會變成the costs rose 2.8 percent和the year that ended in the previous比較

下面都是我自己覺得~
less和lower我們真的很難去定義哪裡不一樣吧?!
硬要說的話
less是副詞
lower是形容詞

用less來形容rose
lower就變成形容costs

依整句話的句意
是上升的幅度在做比較
選less吧!!

[Kal-El]

1. Employment costs rose 2.8 percent in the 12 months that ended in September, slightly less than they did in the year that ended in the previous quarter.
they did 不能省, 因為前面有多組 v--adv: (rose--in the 12 months), (ended--in September)
若省略會有修飾歧異

[Huang Hsin-Yi]

和你有同樣疑問所以查了:

通常less不是用在不可數名詞嗎?
cost是可數名詞吧?? 那就不該用less是嗎???

less 有好幾個用法:
1. less than (片語)preposition amount
You use less than before a number or amount to say that the actual number or amount is smaller than this.

ex:Motonways actually cover less than 0.1 percent of the countryside.

此選項的number is 2.8%

2. less (determiner +n-count)
a determiner is a word that is used at the beginning of a noun group.
ex:less fat, less attention etc


而且在講成本上, 可以用 lower或higher來形容高低吧??實在不太懂前面大大解釋的 "lower 形容位置,所以要選 less"的觀念說
此為中式英文,你可查英英字典會發現
lower is used to express position
eg: the lower deck of the bus, the lower part of a tower block


快救救我ㄚ ><

[Kal-El]

Employment costs rose 2.8 percent in the 12 months that ended in September, slightly less than they did in the year that ended in the previous quarter.

請問slightly前面為什麼有"逗號"呢?...Orz

[ad264]

因為表示開始一個adv. modifier，修飾主句的動詞。
如果沒有逗號，會變成很像修飾sep.

[Kal-El]

Employment costs rose 2.8 percent in the 12 months that ended in September, slightly less than they did in the year that ended in the previous quarter.
放後面,是後發生的事.
說明ended in September在前, ended in the previous quarter在後.

[ad264]

GMAT愛用 more than開頭。

[horngirlfan]

我有個疑問:
為什麼正確選項
(A) less than they did
要用they而不是用those呢?

Employment costs 跟後面用 "they" 所代替的employment cost 是相同一個嗎?
(主要是因為參考了prep T2 Q95 的解釋, it/ they 要指完全同一個, that/ those只性質相同)
比較要同類+代名詞 這個有時候似乎沒有辦法100%釐清

希望有人可以協助我解決這點疑問 (上一篇回文已經是兩年前了~ )

[Kal-El]

用that/those要帶修飾語.
句中employee costs用they代...表同一.

[horngirlfan]

用that/those要帶修飾語.
句中employee costs用they代...表同一.

謝謝你的幫忙
懂了, 我會去找了題看, 果真是that of~~~ or those of~~
thanks again