Question: Directions: In each of the following sentences, a part of the sentence is underlined. Beneath each sentence, four different ways of phrasing the underlined part are indicated. Choose the best alternative among the four.
Many of these environmentalists proclaim to save nothing less than the planet itself.
(d) is the correct answer choice.
Therefore, (d) is correct, while (a) and (c) are incorrect.
The simple present tense ‘save’ is appropriate here to indicate a general sense. Furthermore, ‘less’ itself is a comparative (little → less → least) and need not be replaced by the double comparative ‘lesser,’ which is used only in certain standard idiomatic phrases, such as, ‘the lesser of the two evils.’