confused about when to use greater than and when to use more

[Guest]

I am still confused about when to use greater than and when to use more than. please help
I am more confused wth the explanation given below and what was explained in the post"http://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/post6511.html"





Guest






Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:29 pm


Are there any standard rules for choosing between greater than and more than?




Stacey Koprince

MGMAT STAFF


Joined: 06 Mar 2007
Posts: 2180
Location: San Francisco

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 12:35 pm


I assume you're talking about grammar rules? I'll move this to the general verbal section - make sure to post in the appropriate section next time.

"greater than" is used for uncountable nouns. "more than" is typically used for countable nouns (though you can also say something like "She likes Sam more than Amy" - but that construction doesn't show up much on the test).

So: "The population density of calico cats in San Francisco is greater than three per square mile" (here, the word we're describing is "density," which is not a countable noun - you wouldn't say "1 density, 2 densities, 3 densities...")

vs: "I have more calico cats living in my home than you do." (here, we're describing "cats," which is a countable noun because you would say "1 cat, 2 cats, 3 cats...")




I

Guest






Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 5:05 pm


Stacey,
Then how come it is used differently on this question
http://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/post6511.html

Thanks for your help.

[RonPurewal]

here's a good way to tell:

if you can say "x is greater...", then you should be able to write a sensible alternate version of the sentence containing the phrase "greater x".
if you can say "x is more...", then you should be able to write a sensible alternate version of the sentence containing the phrase "more x".

so, in that gyrfalcon problem:

"their numbers are now five times greater" makes sense, because you can say that the gyrfalcon has greater numbers than before.
"their numbers are now five times more" doesn't make sense, because you can't say that the gyrfalcon has more numbers than before.

this is the best metric i've been able to concoct for resolving dilemmas such as this one.

-- ron