Lots of BB Grammar Questions!

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>I've been doing a bunch of the tests lately, and I have a few questions...</p>

<p>414 / 11
With billions of tons yet to be mined, some argue that coal conservation measures are unnecessary.
(a) With billions of tons
(b) Because billions of tons of coal are
(c) Because of coal in billions of tons
(d) By considering that there are billions of tons
(e) Aware of the coal in billions of tons
The answer is B, I put A....whats the rationale for B?</p>

<p>417 / 29
Contrasting with most other fifteenth-century rulers, Portuguese kings could count on the support of the aristocracy in any overseas ventures.
The answer is A, and I see the change to "In contrast to," but isn't it possible for the kings to contrast with other rulers? Like in terms of a verb?</p>

<p>428 / 2
As patients, the medical directors of the clinic believe that you are entitled to know the reason for the increase in fees.
(a) As patients, the medical directors of the clinic believe that you
(b) The belief of the clinic's medical directors about patients is that you
(c) You, as patients, are believed by the clinical medical directors, and you
(d) The medical directors of the clinic, who believe that you, as patients,
(e) The medical directors of the clinic believe that as patients, you
The answer is E, and while this is an "easy" question, I wonder why it is correct, since "as patients" and "you" do not agree. You are not a patients. I chose B, because it avoided some of this confusion...</p>

<p>477 / 1
In a recent year, more tourists from the US visited museums in Great Britain than Canada.
(a) Canada
(b) Canada did
(c) compared to Canada's
(d) Canadian ones
(e) in Canada
The answer is E. I understand that "in Canada" will maintain parallelism around the "than," but my question here is wouldnt true parallelism be "than visited museums in Canada"? It just seems like CB's correct answer is vague or something.</p>

<p>724 / 18
The survey showed that most shoppers who drive prefer the mall more than downtown stores simply because finding parking is less difficult at the mall.
The answer is B. Is this because you don't idiomatically prefer something "more than" --- instead it should be "over" or "rather than"?</p>

<p>Thanks in advance for all input!</p>

2

<ol>
<li>Billions of tons of what..? Coal. With A, the introductory clause is probably dangling. Only B clearly states that it is billions of tons of COAL that have yet to be mined.</li>
</ol>

<p>2.Contrasting with is unidiomatic. In contrast to is the correct idiom.</p>

<ol>
<li>'You' can be taken in plural form, as in 'hey you guys' or 'come here, you all'. Again, the sentence as is (A) is a dangling modifier. The medical directors are not patients. E corrects the dangling modifier.</li>
</ol>

<p>4.'than visited museums in canada' is not a possible answer choice given. E is correct because of parallel structure. If you read the sentence aloud with or without the 'in', it shoudl sound better with the 'in'.</p>

<ol>
<li>Prefer the mall "TO" is probably the most idiomatic structure. Prefer the mall "RATHER THAN" is unidiomatic.</li>
</ol>

3

<p>1.With billions.... just sounds weird. Because is more of a cause/effect idiom. They argue BECAUSE there are so much coal left. </p>

<ol>
<li><p>Contrasting with is present i believe. Could count on isnt.</p></li>
<li><p>E is the only suitable answer because patients is next to you. You = patients. Other choices, such as A, has you far away from patients. Thus, who you refers to is unclear. it's AS PATIENTS, not patients. If it was only patients, you would not agree. But as can refer to a single patient.</p></li>
<li><p>E is the only one that sounds right compared to the other choices. I dont think you need "than visited in canada" because that's unnecessary, you already know they're talking about visiting meuseums.</p></li>
<li><p>I think it's suppose to be over</p></li>
</ol>

4

<p>Just to clarify a bit:</p>

<p>Kevinscool,
[quote]
2. Contrasting with is present i believe. Could count on isnt.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Contrasting with is tense-less, it's not a present tense phrase. However, it's also fundamentally incorrect, because it is an improper idiom.</p>

<p>Like 'contrasting with' (Even though it's incorrect), 'in contrast to' is tense-less. You can say (in contrast to my cake, her's was better) or (in contrast to my cake, her's is better), and both are fine.</p>

5

<h1>2 of the thread (p 417 # 29) ::</h1>

<p>"417 / 29
Contrasting with most other fifteenth-century rulers, Portuguese kings could count on the support of the aristocracy in any overseas ventures."</p>

<p>What about choice D, 'in any'? since 'ventures' is plural, I believe 'any' is incorrect, isn't it?</p>

6

<p>"Any" is an adjective that modifies "ventures." It's fine as is.</p>

7

<p>Thank you, begoner, but 'any' has to modify a singular noun only, right? I'm confused now @.@</p>

8

<p>No, it can modify plural nouns, too. For example, "Are there any dodos left, or have they become extinct"?</p>

9

<p>724 / 18
The survey showed that most shoppers who drive prefer the mall more than downtown stores simply because finding parking is less difficult at the mall.
The answer is B. Is this because you don't idiomatically prefer something "more than" --- instead it should be "over" or "rather than"?</p>

<p>I still don't understand why more than is incorrect. I prefer bread more than cereal. Why is it not possible to prefer something more than something else?</p>

10

<p>"Prefer" implies a binary comparison between two objects. However, you cannot "prefer" one object in itself, since "prefer" is a relative term. You can like one thing, but you cannot prefer one thing. You cannot prefer bread, nor can you prefer cereal; consequently, you cannot prefer bread more than you prefer cereal. You can only prefer bread to cereal.</p>

11

<p>@kevinscool:

[quote]
5. I think it's suppose to be over

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I have checked The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. It seems that 'prefer over' does not exist.</p>

<p>Basically, the structure is: 'prefer X to Y', just like 'between X and Y', 'from X to Y', etc..</p>

12

<p>I'll try my best:</p>

<p>Why did they argue that coal conservation was necessary? Because there were billions of coal. A also sounds weird, so compare the two.</p>

<p>The correct idiom is contrast "from"</p>

<p>B is very wordy...you can just say clinic's medical doctors belief</p>

<p>Parallelism issue, In Great Britain, In Canada</p>

<p>I think its cause you prefer something over something else</p>

13

<p>^, no. the answers are self-explanatory in the previous post.
contrast from is NOT idiomatic, in fact,i think it's worse than "contrast with".
Prefer -> To
i.e. I prefer reading a book to fighting a man.</p>

<p>it's just colloquial and unidiomatic to say Prefer ..than</p>

14

<p>Just to put my two cents in on the prefer issue-</p>

<p>While I agree that you could just memorize that prefer goes with to, I think it is better to just think about the meaning of the word. Preferring more than something else is redundant. To prefer something is to like it more than (In fact by definition "to like better or best"). Prefer means that you like one thing more than the other so you don't have to state the more than.
Furthermore, if you look at the opposite of more than, you realize how wrong it is. You can't possibly prefer less than something. </p>

<p>That's how I would've thought about it if it was on the test.</p>