EXERCISE 46: Sentences – Comparatives

EXERCISE 46: Sentences – Comparatives

In some sentences in the Structure Section on the Paper-Based TOEFL, you will be asked to identify the correct comparative. A comparative can be a word or phrase that expresses similarity or difference. A comparative can also be a word ending like -er or -est that expresses a degree of comparison with adjectives and adverbs. Choose the correct answer in the incomplete sentences. Choose the incorrect word or phrase in the underlined choices.

1.       Tuition at an American university runs _________ twenty thousand dollars a semester.

A.             so high as

B.             as high to

C.             as high as

D.            so high than

2.      Alligators are about (A) the same color than (B) crocodiles, although the adults may be (C) slightly darker with broader heads and blunter (D) noses.

3.    Laser discs provide (A) images of best quality (B) than those (C) of either (D) television signals or video tapes.

4.      The cost of a thirty – second commercial on a network television station is _________ for most businesses.

A.             so much

B.             much

C.             very much

D.            much too much

5.    The New York City subway system (A) is the most longest (B) underground railroad (C) operating (D) in the world.

6.      School children in the same grade (A) in American schools are (B) usually (C) the same old (D) as their classmates.

7.    The seed heads of teasel plants raise the nap on coarse tweed cloth _________ than do the machine tools invented to replace them.

A.             more efficiently

B.             efficiently

C.             more efficient

D.            most efficient

8.   Benjamin Franklin was (A) the editor of the larger (B) newspaper in the colonies, a diplomatic representative to France and later to England, and the inventor (C) of many (D) useful devices.

9.    The standard for cleanliness in the area where (A) a microchip (B) is manufactured (C) is same (D) that of an operating room in a hospital.

10.    The North American robin is only _________ the European and African robins.

A.             half big

B.             as big half

C.             half as big as

D.            big by half

11.    Mountain bikes differ (A) ordinary bicycles in that they (B) have ten or more gears, a more rugged (C) frame, and wider (D) treads on the tires.

12.    As a rule (A), the more (B) rapid the heart rate (C), faster (D) the pulse.

13.    In U.S. law, a misdemeanour is a crime that is _________ a felony, and usually carries a term of imprisonment of less than one year for most offenses.

A.             lesser than

B.             less severe than

C.             less than severe

D.            severely lesser

14.  Although both are mammals, the early stages of development on the part of placentals differ from _________.

A.             marsupials

B.             that of marsupials

C.             those of marsupials

D.            those marsupials

15.  Eli Whitney’s cotton gin enabled the cotton producers of the early nineteenth century to increase their production by _________ times the amount produced prior to the invention.

A.             more fifty

B.             more as fifty

C.             more than fifty

D.            most than fifty

16.    _________ 250,000 species of fossils in both organized, scientific searches and by sheer accident.

A.             As much as

B.             As many as

C.             As many

D.            Many as

17.  The North’s abundance of industry and commercial wealth proved to be a greater advantage _________ in determining the outcome of the Civil War.

A.             than originally thought

B.             that originally thought

C.             as originally thought

D.            originally thought

18. The Woodstock Music and Art Fair of 1969 captured the essence of the counterculture movement of the 1960s _________.

A.             most than any of other events

B.             best that any other events

C.             than any other events

D.            better than any other events

19.    Alike (A) her friend and fellow impressionist artist (B), Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt used (C) brush strokes and colors in new and different ways (D).

20.  A dancer, while always graceful and precise in her movements, trains _________ any other athlete.

A.             as strenuously

B.             more strenuously as

C.             as strenuously as

D.            as strenuously that

Answer key

1.     (C) As high as is used before the amount of money six thousand dollars to establish a limit. None of the words after high in Choices (A), (B), and (D) is idiomatic.

2.      (B) The same is used with a quality noun such as color followed by as in comparisons. Than should be as.

3.   (B) The comparative adjective better is used for separate comparisons of two, including images ... and ... signals, and images ... and tapes. Best should be better.

4.      (D) Much too much is a phrase that is used to express excess. Choice (A) introduces a clause with that, not a phrase with for. Choice (B) is incomplete. In Choice (C), very does not express excess. ''The cost is too much for most businesses" would also be correct.

5.   (B) The most longest should be the longest. Because long is a one-syllable adjective, the superlative is formed by adding -est. Most is used with two-syllable adjectives that do not end in -y.

6.     (D) The same is used with a quality noun such as age followed by as in comparisons. Old is an adjective Old should be age.

7.     (A) The comparative of a three-syllable adverb is formed by using more before the adverb and than after the adverb. Choice (B) is an adverb, but it is not a comparative with more. Choices (C) and (D) are an adjective comparative and superlative, not adverbs.

8.    (B) The larger should be the largest. Because it is logical that there were more than two newspapers in the colonies, a superlative form with -est should be used to compare three or more.

9.      (D) Same should be the same as between two comparable nouns, the area where a microchip is manufactured and that [the area] of an operating room.

10.  (C) Multiple comparatives like half are expressed by the multiple number followed by the phrases as ... as. Choice (A) is a multiple with an incomplete phrase. In Choices (B) and (D), the multiples are not first. And the phrases that follow are incomplete.

11.   (A) The verb differ is used with from to express general difference. Differ should be differ from.

12.  (D) When the degree of one quality, the pulse, is dependent upon the degree of another quality, the heart rate, two comparatives are required, each of which must be preceded by the. Faster should be the faster.

13.    (B) A two-syllable adjective like severe forms the comparative by using more or less before the adjective form followed by than. ln Choice (C), the adjective is after, not before, than. Choices (A) and (D) use the incorrect form lesser.

14.    (C) Comparisons must be made with logically comparable nouns. That of is used instead of repeating a singular noun, and those of is used instead of repeating a plural noun. Choice (A) illogically compares two stages of development with marsupials. Choice (B) would be correct for a singular, not a plural, noun like stages. ln Choice (D), of is not used after those.

15.    (C) More than is used before a specific number like fifty to express an estimate that exceeds the number. Choice (A) is incomplete without than. Choice (B) uses as, not than, with more. Choice (D) uses most, not more, with than.

16.    (B) As many as is used before a count noun to express an estimate that does not exceed the number. Much in Choice (A) would be correct with a noncount noun, not a count noun with a number. Choices (C) and (D) are incomplete because as is used only once, before or after many.

17.    (A) Comparatives require than. Choices (B) and (C) use that and as instead of than. Choice (D) is incomplete without than.

18.    (D) Better is the comparative form of the irregular adjective good, used to compare two activities, the fair and any other event. Choices (A) and (B) are superlatives that would be used to compare more than two. Choice (C) does not have a comparative adjective before than.

19.    (A) Like is a preposition. Alike should be like.

20.    (C) Comparatives with adverbs like strenuously require as before and as after the adverb. In Choice (A), as appears before, but not after, the adverb. Choice (B) uses more, not as, before the adverb. Choice (D) uses that, not as, after the adverb.