Citing historical evidence that large gatherings cause a higher risk of infection than they were earlier believed to, virologists in China report that the total number of new cases recorded monthly near the Woohan Station is twice as much as that which is being recorded monthly in the entire greater China area.

Citing historical evidence that large gatherings cause a higher risk of infection than they were earlier believed to, virologists in China report that the total number of new cases recorded monthly near the Woohan Station is twice as much as that which is being recorded monthly in the entire greater China area.

A – as much as that which is being recorded monthly in the entire

B – as much annually as is emitted by the

C – as much compared to what is monthly recorded in the entire

D – that recorded monthly in the entire

E – that recorded monthly compared to the

Right Answer: D

Error Identification: 

Identifier	Fix
Underlined comparison words “as much as”	Comparison
Incorrect usage of “twice” and “as much as” together	Comparison

Difficulty Level: Medium

Explanation:

In the sentence, ‘twice’ and ‘as much as’ are both used for the same comparison. This is incorrect, since ‘as much as’ would not be suitable for countable ‘number of cases’. Simply ‘twice that recorded’ would be correct.

A – Incorrectly uses ‘twice as much as’ to compare countable ‘number of cases’. Hence, eliminated.

B – Incorrectly uses ‘twice as much as’ to compare countable ‘number of cases’. Hence, eliminated.

C – Incorrectly uses ‘twice as much as’ to compare countable ‘number of cases’. Use of ‘as much compared to’ is redundant. Hence, eliminated.

D – Correctly uses ‘twice that recorded’ and rectifies the error. This is the correct answer.

E – Use of both ‘twice’ and ‘compared to’ is redundant. Hence, eliminated.