PP70

qiuhua01234567

Q8: PP70.

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
答案是A。不敢苟同。
个人思路。这题考2个：（1）修饰percent，（2）助动词的补充
看A：less than they did，少于他们某年的rose，这样的话，是不是用lower修饰比较好呢？低于XX年上升的数值。
相比较个人觉得C比较好。less than they were。少于在某年的数值（注意：不是上升的数值，因为这里是were）。整句的意思就是E cost上升了2.8，上升到某个数值，这个数值less 他们在XX年的数值。
个人思路：求讨论。

DUKB24

nope

they were is not a complete sentence


they were what???


it seems that you need a progressiveness here, but u cannot find the corresponding  verb in the preceding sentence