NDA (II) 2016 GAT Q10: As I prefer coffee than tea my friends always take the

Q: What is the answer to NDA (II) 2016 GAT Q10?

A. Correct — A, 'As I prefer coffee than tea'. 'Prefer' is completed by 'to' and never by 'than' — one prefers coffee to tea, tea to coffee, walking to driving. The segment must read 'As I prefer coffee to tea…'.

NDA (II) 2016 General Ability Test · Question 10 of 150

Question text verified against the official NDA question paper.

As I prefer coffee than tea my friends always take the trouble to get me a cup of coffee whenever I visit them. No error.

(a)As I prefer coffee than tea
(b)my friends always take the trouble
(c)to get me a cup of coffee whenever I visit them.
(d)No error.

Answer

Why

Correct — A, 'As I prefer coffee than tea'. 'Prefer' is completed by 'to' and never by 'than' — one prefers coffee to tea, tea to coffee, walking to driving. The segment must read 'As I prefer coffee to tea…'.

Why the others are wrong

(b)my friends always take the trouble — Error-free — 'take the trouble' is a fixed phrase and it is correctly formed, with the adverb 'always' in its usual place.
(c)to get me a cup of coffee whenever I visit them. — Error-free — 'take the trouble' is completed by a to-infinitive, and 'whenever I visit them' is a well-formed clause of time.
(d)No error. — 'Prefer … than' cannot stand, so the sentence carries a mistake.

Concept

'Prefer' takes 'to' when two things are compared. 'Than' belongs after ordinary comparatives and in the fixed phrase 'would rather … than'.

The pull towards 'than' is strong because the sentence is plainly a comparison, and every ordinary comparative in English does take 'than' — bigger than, sooner than. 'Prefer' is one of the words that keeps the construction it brought from Latin, and so do 'superior', 'inferior', 'senior' and 'junior', all of which are followed by 'to'. Where two activities are compared, 'prefer walking to driving' is the safe form; with to-infinitives English switches to 'prefer to walk rather than drive'.

Key facts

Prefer X to Y — 'I prefer tea to coffee'.
'Superior', 'inferior', 'senior' and 'junior' are also followed by 'to', never by 'than'.
With infinitives the pattern becomes 'prefer to do one thing rather than another'.

Study next

'Prefer' and the Latin comparatives that take 'to''Would rather … than'Comparative adjectives with 'than'Gerund and infinitive after 'prefer'

Common traps

Using 'than' because the sentence compares two things.
Writing 'superior than' or 'junior than'.

Asked as an error-spotting item — name the segment that carries the mistake, or mark 'No error.'

Related PYQs

NDA_GAT_2017_I_Q222017Open & attempt →

He preferred death rather than imprisonment.

(a) for
(b) to
(c) than
(d) No improvement

Answer(b) to

The same rule the following year, put as a sentence-improvement item — 'preferred death rather than imprisonment' is repaired by 'to', exactly as 'prefer coffee than tea' is. NDA has tested this one preposition from both directions.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
Fill the blank — She prefers classical music ________ film songs.
- (a)than
- (b)to
- (c)over
- (d)from
Answer(b) to — 'prefer' is completed by 'to'.
practice — not a real PYQ
Which segment carries the error — (a) This model is / (b) superior than / (c) the older one. / (d) No error
- (a)This model is
- (b)superior than
- (c)the older one.
- (d)No error
Answer(b) superior than — 'superior' is followed by 'to'.