标题: og13 sc9解释 [打印本页] 作者: ShilohQ 时间: 2014-7-29 13:34 标题: og13 sc9解释 here, the core question is concerning the match between n. and adj.
first, what are the two parts of comparison?
we can compare production or the amount of production, both of them fine, although the latter one is a little wordy.
However, if we compare production, we should use less than because production itself is uncountable, although the unit noun-ton-of production is countable; I think in Manhattan SC textbook, the issue that unit noun vs. its according noun has been addressed; anyway, if we compare the amount of production, we should use fewer because ton is countable.
OK, now we check options.
A: less than those? those here must refer to tons, so we compare the amount of production, and then we should use fewer rather than less. ruled out.
B: compare production, and less, fine
C: the production/the amount of production vs. 1987? the two comparative parts are not parallel. ruled out
D: errors of D are the same as those of C. ruled out
E: fewer than that? that here must refer to production; accordingly, we should use less than, rather than fewer than.
In short, B is correct.
在曼哈顿论坛上看到的，觉得解释的很好。 作者: SKY-gaga 时间: 2014-8-1 15:46
特别好作者: tinmi 时间: 2014-8-2 09:36
thanks soo much LZ作者: 酩茗 时间: 2014-10-21 21:44
better than the explanation in OG.23333作者: zttttts 时间: 2014-10-31 13:56
那c选项为什么不能看作是年份后面省略了harvest呢 作者: Vivian_Zheng 时间: 2016-1-20 16:34
顶楼主！ 作者: Jez 时间: 2017-5-2 17:14 标题: OG17-679: unit nouns计量单位+fewer/less 原题 OG17-679
In 1979 lack of rain reduced India's rice production to about 41 million tons, nearly 25 percent less than those of the 1978 harvest.A. less than those of the 1978 harvest
B. less than the 1978 harvest
C. less than 1978
D. fewer than 1978
E. fewer than that of India's 1978 harvest
总结一下：补充一个manhanttan对于less/fewer在计量单位unit nouns的用法
No, size makes no difference. We always use "fewer" for countable and "less" for uncountable. Here, we use "less" rather than "fewer" because we are comparing the overall size of production, rather than the specific number of tons. This generally happens with weights and measures. For instance, I would say "I weigh less than 200 pounds," not fewer, because I am talking about a measurement, not a group of things. I'd also say "I want less than 3 ounces of coffee" or "I have less than 5 feet of rope left." Sure, we can count pounds, ounces, and feet, but we are using them to talk about an amount, not a number. 3 ounces of coffee is a way of saying how much coffee you have, but we're not counting individual coffee beans. Similarly, in the original problem, we're not counting individual grains of rice; rather, we're measuring overall rice production.
个人总结：
40 millions tons is a huge number.
50 dollars is enough.
类似这种句子是把50 dollars看作一个整体总量——“50刀这么多钱”来讲的，就是不可数名词（而不是强调50张bills——50张bills就是复数名词可数了，而且万一人家是两美元的bill呢？那就是25张啦！所以一般这种计量都是指的整体啦）。以上40m tons同理，是一个production的总量，所以是不可数用less。
