ravigupta2912 wrote:
(A) have half or less than half the chance of dying of a heart attack as those who are sedentary -- Frankly I cant figure out whats wrong in this. But E is just way better and concise. Eliminate.
(B) have half the chance, or less, of dying of a heart attack than those who are sedentary do -- "of less" placement is incorrect. It should modify "half" and not "chance". Further, "or less" is incomplete itself. The correct idiom is "less than"
(C) have half the chance that they will die of a heart attack, or less, than those who are sedentary do -- same as B.
(D) are at least fifty percent less likely to die of a heart attack as those who are sedentary -- "as those" is incorrect. Should be "than". "less... than" is the correct usage.
(E) are at least fifty percent less likely than those who are sedentary to die of a heart attack -- Correct.
Can someone please check my POE?
IanStewart AndrewN - I remember both of you had posted sometime back in a question, the crux of which I basically remember that "as... as" was in itself a complete idiom and hence "as as" was the correct usage (if at all we had to use "as"). I'm applying the same logic here while looking at "less", which is correctly used as "less....than"
I got the answer right but eventually I narrowed it down to E and A. I'm kinda worried that i'm the lone one who gets to A/E instead of D/E lol.
Helpful if you can comment on my POE. Thank you!
Hello,
ravigupta2912. I like your process of elimination, and there is nothing wrong with setting aside the best answer of the less likely lot—here, those answers beginning with
have half—while assessing which of the answers within the other pool is weaker or weakest and should be eliminated. In fact, I help my students see the merit of such an approach by pointing out that even ultimately incorrect answers can reveal better lines of thought to pursue than some other incorrect answers. Concerning (A), not only is
have half or less than half much less clear than
at least fifty percent less, but the overarching
have half the chance of dying is a less precise (and kind of juvenile) way to convey
are less likely to die. (A) is simply a less optimal way of expressing what (E) says in a streamlined fashion.
Good work on this one. Do not worry about a so-called correct way to attack a question. If you get the right answer, as long as you did not cheat, that is all that matters. You can always refine your reasoning afterwards by looking at what others have said about a question.
I hope that helps. Thank you for thinking to ask me about the question.
- Andrew