Despite rising interest rates, real estate sales in the neighborhood : Sentence Correction (SC)

[quote="Bunuel"]Despite rising interest rates, real estate sales in the neighborhood this summer were 5 percent higher than they were last summer.


A. 5 percent higher than they were last summer

B. 5 percent higher than last summer

C. 5 percent more than last summer was

D. higher than 5 percent last summer

E. more than 5 percent higher last summer


how to be sure that 'they' refers back to 'real estate sales' and not 'interest rates' ?

"They" sounds quite ambiguous don't you think?

I think that A is the best answer choice but not necessarily the perfect one. I guess that one could deem it as ambiguous?

But even with the ambiguity it is still a better answer choice than the rest.

B. 5 percent higher than last summer - comparison with summer instead of sales

C. 5 percent more than last summer was - 'more' used for uncountable nouns

D. higher than 5 percent last summer - same as B

E. more than 5 percent higher last summer - same as C

Hope this can help a bit.

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