Question

Choose the option that best corrects the underlined words:
Making the journey to France by train is longer than a plane.

• A. NO CHANGE
• B. that by plane
• C. that of a plane
• D. flying by plane

Answer 1

The correct option is B that by plane

When two phrases are being compared, they ought to be of the same grammatical form. A comparison is made between making "the journey to France by train" and "the journey to France by plane" The underlined phrase "a plane" is compared with the phrase "journey to France by train". The underlined phrase does not follow the structure of the former phrase in the sentence. It needs to be changed, hence option A is incorrect. Option B is correct because it's parallel to the grammatical form of the former phrase, where 'that' modifies the noun "journey", and it's not necessary to repeat the noun 'France' as it's evident that the comparison is between the journey by train and plane to France. Option C is incorrect because it contains the wrong preposition 'of' which denotes possession whereas the required preposition is 'by' that means 'by means of'. Option D is not consistent to the structure of the former phrase "journey to France by train", hence it's incorrect.