Help, xdf-s4-11, a structure

isuffering

11. Several studies have found that the coronary patients who exercise most actively have half or less than half the chance of dying of a heart attack as those who are sedentary.
(A) have half or less than half the chance of dying of a heart attack as those who are sedentary
(B) have half the chance, or less, of dying of a heart attack than those who are sedentary do
(C) have half the chance that they will die of a heart attack, or less, than those who are sedentary do
(D) are at least fifty percent less likely to die of a heart attack as those who are sedentary
(E) are at least fifty percent less likely than those who are sedentary to die of a heart attack

I know the answer should be E.

But I want to know whether both the following sturctures are ok in Gmat.

sb1 be less likely to do sth than sb2  (Structure1)

sb1 be less likely than sb2 to do sth  (Structure2)

Someone said that Gmat is inclined to use the structure2.

But what about structure1? Definitely ok? Or defnitely wrong?Or it depends?  

Can anybody help?

Thanks in advance.

[此贴子已经被作者于2003-7-4 17:51:19编辑过]

braveMBA

In my mind, they are both correct in GMAT. At the same time, the most important thing is that you should make a judgement in a real sentence, and often there are more than one error in a wrong sentence. A better choice should rely on the meaning of the whole sentence, and I think this is the top priority. Remeber, what we do in SC is to choose the better sentence, not to choose a perfect syntax. I suggest you to read the explaination of KAPLAN's SC, and you will make sense. Good luck.

isuffering

Thank you, braveMBA, I got it.

joywzy

BraveMBA,

but in the question, C and E have no obvious difference except the structure. So I think sb1 be less likely than sb2 to do sth  (Structure2) is far better than sb1 be less likely to do sth than sb2  (Structure1), because structure 2 is more compact.

open to discussion.

braveMBA

(C) have half the chance that they will die of a heart attack, or less, than those who are sedentary do
这个句子有问题，因为如果先不看OR LESS，则句子变成have half the chance ... than those who are sedentary do。这个结构是有问题的，THAN之前没有任何比较的词汇，所以是不对的。