will E be the right answer and is my reasoning correct?
According to surveys by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, about 20 percent of young adults used cocaine in 1979, doubling those reported in the 1977 survey.
(A) doubling those reported in the 1977 survey-wrong because doubling conveys the wrong meaning
(B) to double the number the 1977 survey reported- to double conveys the wrong meaning
(C) twice those the 1977 survey reported-those is wrongly used here
(D) twice as much as those reported in the 1977 survey- as much as those is idiomatically wrong
(E) twice the number reported in the 1977 survey- Right anwer
Please always provide the OA so the other responders can compare. Asking people to solve a question blindly won’t help in participation 🙂
A, C, D -> “those” is incorrect. Are we talking about the same 20% here? Even so – it is not plural as it is a number.
B -> “to double” talks about intent. Did they use cocaine to double the number?
E correctly uses the concept of “Absolute phrases”. Read more about it here: http://englishsentences.com/absolute-phrase/
Arun
Hi Arun,
I have a list of 1000 SC questions, but dont have answers for them. Henceforth i am discussing them in the group. Thank you.