For the last five years the Dutch economy

[LinqingJ930]

For the last five years the Dutch economy has grown faster than Britain, France, or Germany, with the unemployment rate having remained well below that of the other three countries.

A. Britain, France, or Germany, with the unemployment rate having remained
B. have those of Britain, France, or Germany, and the unemployment rate remaining
C. have Britain, France, and Germany, and the unemployment rate has remained
D. the economy of Britain, France, and Germany, with the unemployment rate that has remained
E. the economies of Britain, France, and Germany, and the unemployment rate has remained

The answer is E. However, I'm confused about D since the later of both D and E with the rest sentence are "the unemployment rate has remained well below that of the other three countries", here it use "that" and unemployment rate rather than "unemployment rates". So why we should use economies rather than economy?

In addition, there is another question with similar confusion. The sentence with the correct answer is:

A mixture of poems and short fiction, Jean Toomer's Cane has been called one of the three best novels ever written by a Black American"”the others being Richard Wright's Native Son and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.

why here we use "a Black American" rather than "Black American"?

Thank you.

[divineacclivity]

The answer is E. However, I'm confused about D since the later of both D and E with the rest sentence are "the unemployment rate has remained well below that of the other three countries", here it use "that" and unemployment rate rather than "unemployment rates". So why we should use economies rather than economy?

rates --> sounds more like prices
rate --> I've never heard of "rate" being used in plural (rates) in the context it is used here (rate of change of something)

In addition, there is another question with similar confusion. The sentence with the correct answer is:

A mixture of poems and short fiction, Jean Toomer's Cane has been called one of the three best novels ever written by a Black American"”the others being Richard Wright's Native Son and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.

why here we use "a Black American" rather than "Black American"?

Thank you.

A simplified version of the sentence would be:
The three poems are written by an American, an African, and an Asian.
Just "American" doesn't make sense e.g. I ate an apple. I read a book.
You wouldn't say: I ate apple. I read book.

I hope it helps.

[RonPurewal]

For the last five years the Dutch economy has grown faster than Britain, France, or Germany, with the unemployment rate having remained well below that of the other three countries.

A. Britain, France, or Germany, with the unemployment rate having remained
B. have those of Britain, France, or Germany, and the unemployment rate remaining
C. have Britain, France, and Germany, and the unemployment rate has remained
D. the economy of Britain, France, and Germany, with the unemployment rate that has remained
E. the economies of Britain, France, and Germany, and the unemployment rate has remained

The answer is E. However, I'm confused about D since the later of both D and E with the rest sentence are "the unemployment rate has remained well below that of the other three countries", here it use "that" and unemployment rate rather than "unemployment rates". So why we should use economies rather than economy?

It's not unreasonable for the other three countries to have identical rates of unemployment, in which case "rate" would be appropriate.

Regarding the singular/plural choice"”"”
This choice is often dictated by what is both most accurate and least ambiguous.

For instance, one would write Dolphins have a four-chambered heart, rather than "...four-chambered hearts".
There is zero potential for ambiguity, because it is obvious that dolphins don't all share one collective heart. By contrast, if you knew nothing about dolphins, "...four-chambered hearts" would have the potential for ambiguity. (Some animals have multiple hearts or heart-like organs.)
Similarly, "...by a Black American" should not make anyone think that all 3 books must have been written by the same person.

[RonPurewal]

Finally, note that parallelism (the #1 topic in SC!) is a quick-and-dirty route to an instant solution of the "Cane" problem.

There's only one answer choice that expresses all three book titles in the same way (____'s _____). So... done.

[thanghnvn]

at the end of the sentence, "that of" meaning "rate of the three" show that

noun of nounS,

is correct.

the mouth of the tigerS
is correct

so
"the economy of the three countries"

is correct.

if this pattern is correct, D is better than E
and D is correct., not E
this situation is called "distributive" in grammar book.

pls, check the oa.