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Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Meaning of "that of"

what is the differece between this two sentences?

The reason that the number of accidents this year is greater than last year is that Americans are uninterested in safety techniques.

and

The reason that the number of accidents this year is greater than that of last year is that Americans are uninterested in safety techniques.

thanks
  

Top answer

' There is nothing wrong with either; both are right. '

— Ed_shaw

  • ' There is nothing wrong with either; both are right.
  • '
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3 Answers
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For some reason, the writer of the second sentence felt readers needed to be reminded that 'greater than' applied to 'number.' There is nothing wrong with either; both are right.

An alternative wording might have set the writer's mind at ease:
'The reason the number of accidents is greater this year than last year is that Americans are not interested in safety techniques.'
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The book says sentence 1 is incorrect because
"it compares number of accidents with last year"

I didn't understand what it meant. That is why I wanted to know the meaning of "that of".

Thanks
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Your book is being extremely picky and in all but the most formal (or carefully edited) writing, the first version is quite normal.

The book says that two things are being compared in the original sentence. I'm marked those two things in bold:

The reason that the number of accidents this year is greater than last year is that Americans are uninterested in safety techniques.
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