For these questions, choose the option that best complete the gap(s) ......lawyers enrolled at the Nigerian Bar last year....this year.

Analyze the question

The sentence has two gaps: "......lawyers enrolled at the Nigerian Bar last year .... this year." We need a pair of words that fits both gaps and makes a grammatically correct comparison.

Explain the concept

The sentence compares two time periods (last year and this year). In English, comparisons are built with fixed pairs:

• more ... than (comparative of difference)
• as many ... as (equality)
• the same ... as

Since "lawyers" is a countable noun, we use "many" or "more", not "much".

Test each option

• A. Very many / than: "Very many lawyers enrolled last year than this year." "Than" needs a comparative word like "more" before it. "Very many" is not comparative, so this is wrong.
• B. Same / as: "Same lawyers enrolled last year as this year." It is missing "the" and makes no sense, since the number of lawyers is being compared, not the identity of the lawyers. Wrong.
• C. More / than: "More lawyers enrolled at the Nigerian Bar last year than this year." This is a correct comparative structure: more + noun + than. Correct.
• D. As / much: "As lawyers enrolled last year much this year." This is ungrammatical. Also, "much" is used with uncountable nouns. Wrong.

Answer

The correct option is C. More / than.

Full sentence: "More lawyers enrolled at the Nigerian Bar last year than this year."

Tip

When you see "than" in a gap, look for a comparative word (more, less, fewer, bigger, better) to pair with it. "Than" always signals a comparison, and it never pairs with "very" or "same". Also remember: many/more goes with countable nouns, much/less goes with uncountable nouns.