How would you use "that," "that for," "those," "those for," etc. in comparisons?

Question

I came across this question in SAT prep.
"For both commercial and, arguably, creative reasons, then, no transition was more successful than those from the Golden Age to Silver Age."
A) NO CHANGE
B) these
C) that
D) DELETE the [bolded] portion
I chose D), but the correct answer is C), and I don't understand why. Why is "that" necessary? And how would I avoid missing these types of questions in the future?
Thank you!

Alan · Accepted Answer

It is because we are referring to the transition from A to B. "That" here is a short form for "the transition" or "the one". The implication is that we are comparing many transitions from an age to another age. In fact, you could also write the above by adding "transition" to the end. So, the following are all acceptable, but the one provided in C, is the one I would naturally choose to use:

"For both commercial and, arguably, creative reasons, then, no transition was more successful than the transition from the Golden Age to Silver Age."
"For both commercial and, arguably, creative reasons, then, no transition was more successful than the one from the Golden Age to Silver Age."
"For both commercial and, arguably, creative reasons, then, no transition was more successful than that from the Golden Age to Silver Age."
"For both commercial and, arguably, creative reasons, then, no transition was more successful than the Golden Age to Silver Age transition."

How would you use "that," "that for," "those," "those for," etc. in comparisons?

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