Sentence improvement — Correlative comparison: choose the correct ‘‘the more..., the more...’’ structure to improve ‘‘The more they earn, more they spend.’’ for precise comparative balance in English grammar.

Given sentenceThe more they earn, more they spend.

Concept/ApproachCorrelative comparatives require the definite article in both clauses: ‘‘The more..., the more...’’ This balances the structure and is the standard idiom.

Option analysisA: More they earn, more they spend — Missing ‘‘the’’ in both parts.B: More they earn, the more they spend — Half-correct; the first half still lacks ‘‘the’’.C: The more they earn, the more they spend — Fully correct correlative form; concise and idiomatic.D: No improvement — Original is unbalanced.

Common pitfallsDropping the article in one clause makes the construction sound incomplete or colloquial rather than standard.

Final AnswerThe more they earn, the more they spend