<p>This was from CB’s Practice 2008 PSAT Test. I took out writing a, b, and c because those were obviously full of errors.</p>
<li>One of the services whose cost has increased greatly in recent years is [that of hospital care, which is more expensive than formerly.]</li>
</ol>
<p>d) that of hospital care
e) hospital care</p>
<p>I read the explanation CB gave but it’s not clear … I mean there are instances when you need “that of …” in a sentence like “Chopin’s compositions were significantly better than that of Handelberg [made up person].” Right? Not sure if this last sentence I made up is even correct, lol.</p>
<p>It's E because "hospital care" is the "service."</p>
<p>You would say "that of hospital care" if the beginning of the sentence was talking about something else... for example, the staff.
(The pharmacy staff is better than that of hospital care.)</p>
<p>As for your Chopin sentence (I love Chopin btw :D), "that of" is used because the beginning of the sentence is referring to compositions, not the composers. If the sentence were to compare the composers instead of the compositions, it would read, "Chopin was significantly better than Handel." In this case, you wouldn't need "that of."</p>
<p>But I thought the sentence was trying to compare the cost of hospital care to the cost of other services that weren't mentioned. :/ I have trouble with these writing questions because I can't filter out all the excess that CB loves to throw in!</p>