2

Young people's expenditure in Canada is more evenly split than in Poland.

or

Young people's expenditure in Canada is more evenly split than that in Poland.

I always have the challenge with this grammar; could you please tell me a point to clarify which I should use after "than".

Improve this question
8
  • 1
    I don't quite understand you question. Both phrases seem to be alright, except, I would use plural for expenditure: expenditures
    – Burglar
    Commented Aug 20, 2018 at 19:19
  • @Burglar expenditure is not usually used in the plural.
    – Weather Vane
    Commented Aug 20, 2018 at 20:56
  • @WeatherVane - What do you mean "expenditure is not usually used in the plural"? There are millions of examples of expenditures, unless I misunderstand you.
    – stangdon
    Commented Aug 20, 2018 at 21:49
  • @stangdon but are they correct examples? That is like pluralising "weather".
    – Weather Vane
    Commented Aug 20, 2018 at 21:51
  • 1
    Your first example reads better than the second. There is no need to pluralise expenditure. It's optional.
    – Ronald Sole
    Commented Aug 20, 2018 at 22:01

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

I believe in this case your second example would be correct; in the first, you are comparing the subject (expenditure) to a prepositional phrase, which is not the same part of speech. In the second example, "that" acts as a pronoun referencing expenditure.

As an aside, for better flow, I would recommend restructuring this sentence to

Young people's expenditure is more evenly split in Canada than in Poland.

This makes it clear that the subject is being compared to itself, with different modifiers, as opposed to another object, and places the interchangeable parts of speech (in canada/in poland) close to each other.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .