Multiple choice

Directions: This question presents a sentence, all or part of which is underlined. Beneath the sentence you will find five ways of phrasing the underlined part. The first of these repeats the original; the other four are different. If you think the original is best, choose the first answer; otherwise choose one of the others.

These days, job opportunities are not as good as it used to be in the early sixties.

  1. These days, job opportunities are not as good as it used to be in the early sixties.

  2. These days, job opportunities are not so good as they used to be in the early sixties.

  3. These days, job opportunities are not as good as they used to be in the early sixties.

  4. These days, job opportunities are not so good as they were in the early sixties.

  5. These days, job opportunities are not good, as it used to be in the early sixties.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Explanation for (1): Job opportunities are plural and should be followed by plural pronoun 'they', in place of 'it'.

Explanation for (2): This option corrects the error of pronoun usage but incorrectly replaces 'as good as' with 'so good as'.

Justification for (3): Job opportunities are plural and should be followed by plural pronoun 'they', in place of 'it'.
Explanation for (4): This option corrects the error of pronoun usage but incorrectly replaces 'as good as' with 'so good as'. Explanation for (5): This option fails to correct the error of pronoun usage and also makes the sentence awkward.

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