Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[puzzle]

Dear teachers,
Can you help me with the following questions?
1.In my opinion, life in the twenty-first century is much easier than ________.
A. that used to be B. it is used to C. it was used to D. it used to be

The answer given is D

2. The weather here is colder than ____ in Beijing.
A. that B. it

We choose "A" .

Can you tell me why?

Thank you very much!

[pugachevV]

1).used to means: existed in the past. D. is the right answer.

2).One of the uses of "that" is to refer to things already known or previously mentioned.

You could have written the weather here is colder than the weather in Beijing.

By using that you avoid repetition and the sentence becomes a little more elegant.