6. The mayor prefers a small staff over a large one, because the small staff, containing fewer people, is easier to manage.

1. over a large one, because the small staff, containing fewer people
   
   
2. over a large one, because the small staff, containing less people
   
   
3. over a large one, because, containing fewer people, the small staff
   
   
4. to a large one, because the small staff, containing less people
   
   
5. to a large one, because the small staff, containing fewer people

The mayor prefers a small staff over a large one, because the small staff, containing fewer people, is easier to manage.

Grammar issue presented: idiom

-          One prefers:

x TO y NOT x OVER y

-          Fewer answers the question ‘how many?'

-          Less answers the question ‘how much?'

The mayor prefers a small staff over a large one is incorrect, because the proper idiom is prefers... to.

the small staff, containing fewer people is correct, because we are dealing with numbers of people; a staff can be counted.

1. over a large one, because the small staff, containing fewer people
   Idiom: over
   Correct: NO
   Idiom: fewer
   Correct: YES 

2. over a large one, because the small staff, containing less people
   Idiom: over
   Correct: NO
   Idiom: less
   Correct: NO 

3. over a large one, because, containing fewer people, the small staff
   Idiom: over
   Correct: NO
   Idiom: fewer
   Correct: YES 

4. to a large one, because the small staff, containing less people
   Idiom: to
   Correct: YES
   Idiom: less
   Correct: NO

5. to a large one, because the small staff, containing fewer people
   Idiom: to
   Correct: YES
   Idiom: fewer
   Correct: YES

(E) retains fewer from the original sentence, but changes over to to. It is the only choice that contains both proper idioms.

Q.5 Hard

Q.7 Hard