Recent surveys indicate that, contrary to popular belief,

Definitely "D".

"A" and "E" are out as the word "does" is required in this sentence. Moderately and strongly do not need to be parrallel as you only need to make words parrallel that are parrallel in meaning, "C" is out because of this.

This leaves "B" and "D". In "B" like is used to compare something similar, "as" is used to give an example. "as" is the correct word leaving "B" as the correct answer choice.

D.. for correct comparison...
What is the OA???

**

My choice is D.
Is OA really A? Seems a little strange in terms of logic, no?

A seems to be saying: total abstinence from alcohol does not correlate strongly with good health; total abstinence from alcohol correlates strongly with moderate drinking. (Correlation of abstinence of alcohol with good health vs correlation of total abstinence from alcohol with moderate drinking)

D says moderate drinking correlates strongly with good health. Comparatively, total abstinence from alcohol correlates less strongly with good health. (Correlation of abstinence of alcohol with good health vs correlation of moderate drinking with good health).

I had a tie b/w A and D- picked D. It's a tough one. Can OE be posted.

Strange OA. Correlation of total abstinence/moderate drinking with good health compares here. So we need does, no?

I'll go with A.
"correlate strongly with good health" || "correlate with moderate drinking"

the logic says, total abstinence from alcohol does not correlates as good health as strongly as moderate drinking does.
now going against the logic, total abstinence from alcohol does not correlate with good health as with moderate drinking...means abstinence relates well with moderate drinking...IRRELEVANT

IMO D

It might be a fluke or great luck that I thought that A is best (I looked at it with perspective of ||ism) and it is the OA, against everyone else's response! Rare A!

For the OP, could you share the source of this question? It's tagged as a MGMAT question, but we can't find it in our strategy guides, CATs, or question banks.

OA looks strange....
option A is parallel but changes the meaning of the sentence comparing good health with modrate drinking... correct option should compare abstinence with modarate drinking... IMO with D

between A and D.

the correlation is between total abstinence| moderate drinking and good health.
D correctly puts the meaning,whereas A changes the relation making it between total abstinence and moderate drinking.The later is wrong,hence.

D it is.

A would have been first guess too..Because you are correlating one thing 'with' another..

I am in the D club.

D does seem like the right answer, Don't fall for A

Meaning of the sentence is of Extreme Importance on this sentence.

Correlation : Abstinence with Gud health

Moderate drinking with gud health


Correlation is not between : Abstinence & moderate drinking.

So A,C & E are out beacuse of the above logic.

B is out : "like" is used incorrectly here.

D correctly shows the correlation.

OA is D

I doubt that it's ours, and it's a little awkward, but it's not a bad question. No way the answer is A, though.

Notice the comparison signal, as strongly...as. Eliminate answers in which the two clauses joined by this signal are not logically comparable and structurally similar.

In A, the two elements joined are the prepositional phrases with good health and with moderate drinking. This suggests that abstinence correlates with good health less strongly than abstinence correlates with moderate drinking. But that meaning is nonsensical. Abstinence and moderate drinking are mutually exclusive: they don't correlate at all. ELIMINATE.

Though the comparison made in B is more sensible, B uses like to compare two clauses and is wrong for that reason (like can join only nouns). ELIMINATE

In C, the two elements joined are correlate with good health and does, with does standing in for the earlier verb. That is, C says that moderately drinking and good health correlate more strongly than do abstinence and good health. This is sensible. Leave for now.

In D, the two elements joined are correlate with good health and does, with does standing in for the earlier verb. That is, D says that moderate drinking and good health correlate more strongly than do abstinence and good health. This is sensible. Leave for now.

E is ambiguous between the sensible comparison made in C and D, and the nonsensical comparison made in A. ELIMINATE.

That leaves C and D. The only difference between C and D is moderately versus moderate. I expect that most people who pick D here do so because it "sounds" better. Fair enough, but there is another reason to prefer D over C, though that reason doesn't get much play on the GMAT. If you want to modify a gerund (such as drinking) with an adverb (such as the moderately in C), the adverb should go after the gerund. If you want to modify a gerund with an adjective (such as the moderate in D) the adjective should go before the gerund. So D.

This approach assumes that you recognize AS adverb AS as a comparison signal. I haven't counted instances, but I suspect that you're even more likely to see As adjective AS. You should recognize that each of these is a comparison signal/parallel marker.

Here are some examples of AS adverb AS:

No other sprinter holds his top speed as well as Usain Bolt does.
This could also be written,
No other sprinter holds his top speed as well as does Usain Bolt.
But will usually be elided,
No other sprinter holds his top speed as well as Usain Bolt.

No other sprinter runs as quickly as Usain Bolt does.
This could also be written,
No other sprinter runs as quickly as does Usain Bolt.
But will usually be elided
No other sprinter runs as quickly as Usain Bolt.

Here are some example of AS adjective AS:

No other sprinter is as successful as Usian Bolt.
No other sprinter is as tall as Usain Bolt.

D over C for the simple fact that:

total abstinence (adj + noun) is parellel to moderate drinking (adj + noun)... while moderately drinking (adv + verb) would not be parallel.