reduce Vs decrease

Yichen

Yichen

Senior Member
China
Chinese
Hello everybody,

In the past ten years, Government has ____ the price of certain drugs for some 11 times.
A. dropped
B. reduced
C. lowed
D. decreased

Key B

My first choice is C, but it is not "lowered".
I feel it very difficult to tell "reduce" and "decrease" apart here.

Thank you.
 
Last edited:
    • I would have said "reduced" just from experience. But this is a workbook to worry about – reduced, dropped and decreased are all quite similar. And the question is not grammatically correct. It should be "the price of certain drugs some 11 times." No "for."
     
    Most of the time, "reduce" is a transitive verb. But I also found sentences like

    The number of homeless cases has reduced slightly.

    But it seems rare, and I am not sure when to use it as an intransitive verb.
     
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