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Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely

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Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely [#permalink] New post   Updated on: 04 Jun 2021, 02:49
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Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as the current one.


(A) equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as

(B) equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are

(C) equally likely that they will exceed the proposed speed limit as

(D) as likely that they will exceed the proposed speed limit as

(E) as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are


Show Spoiler
Traffic Safety Officials

(A) Comparison (equally likely)

(B) Comparison (equally likely)

(C) Comparison (equally likely that)

(D) Comparison (as likely that)

(E) CORRECT


First glance

The underline starts with either equally likely or as likely. The wording signals some kind of comparison.

Issues

(1) Comparison: equally likely (that); as likely that

Which is the proper form for this sentence, equally likely or as likely?

Equally likely can be used in this form: Priti and Ahmad are equally likely to succeed on the test. In this example, the two members of the comparison are grouped together: they are both equally likely to do something.

As likely is used in this form: Priti is as likely to perform well on the test as Ahmad is. In this form, the comparison is split into a more classic structure: X is as likely (to do something) as Y is.

All five answer choices use the second as, so the correct comparison idiom is as likely as. Eliminate choices (A), (B), and (C).

The answer choices also split between that and to:

equally likely (that / to)

as likely (that / to)

In both cases, the correct comparison idiom uses the word to, not the word that. Eliminate choices (C) and (D).

The Correct Answer

Correct answer (E) uses the proper comparison idiom as likely to X as Y.
ShowHide Answer
Official Answer
E

Originally posted by ritjn2003 on 06 Jul 2009, 22:50.
Last edited by Bunuel on 04 Jun 2021, 02:49, edited 2 times in total.
Renamed the topic and edited the question.
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Re: Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely [#permalink] New post   Updated on: 13 Dec 2017, 03:38
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BukrsGmat wrote:
Experts your comments on my approach:

equally likely.... as -> wrong
as likely......as -> correct

So a,b,c - out

d -> as likely that.... as current one-> from parallelism point need THAT
so wrong

correct option E:
Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are the current one.
as they are (to exceed) the current (speed limit).



Rule tested- Parallelism (ellipsis)

"to exceed" is implied in the second half of the sentence.

This is a case of ellipsis in comparison. In this some words omitted from the sentence to make it more concise. Both noun and verb can be omitted. The omitted words should be present in the first part of the sentence in the same form.

Jim's pen is brighter than Alex's (pen). - Correct! ("pen" is implies)
Jim is smarter than Alex (is). - Correct! ("is" is implied)

The omission of a noun for concision is straightforward. Just make sure that the 2 nouns in the sentence can be logically compared. But there are certain exceptions when you are deciding

whether to include a verb in the second half of the sentence.



Tense Shift

If the verb tense changes from the first to the second half of the sentence, then the verb must not be omitted in the second half.

· You look more beautiful think year than last year. - Incorrect

· You look more beautiful this year than you did last year.- Correct

Meaning Ambiguity-

Do not omit the verb if doing so will make the sentence’s meaning ambiguous.

I love my dog more than my friend. - Incorrect

Here, the intended meaning could be that I love my dog more than I love my friend, OR
that I love my dog more than my friend does. Since the omission of the verb in the second half of the sentence distorts the meaning, this sentence is incorrect on the GMAT.

·
I love my dog more than I love my friend.- Correct!

·
I love my dog more than my friend does.- Correct!



Coming to the option D and E

Option D makes a parallelism error. If we simplify, we get the following structures:


D. Drivers will be

as likely that they will exceed the proposed speed limit

as the current one (speed limit)

Comparing a clause with a noun phrase.



E. Drivers will be

as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit

as they are (to exceed ) the current one (speed limit)

Comparing two clauses.



As for the use of "that", both "likely that" and "likely to" are correct.

'Likely that' is correct.

It's likely that+ clause

Likely is often used with it as a subject

For example: It's likely that I'll be late.

The other usage is with infinitive

be likely to+ infinitive

For example: I'm likely to be late.

Learn proven strategies to get an MBA through GMAT in 2018! Join the free 4 part MBA Through GMAT Video Training Series.
https://gmat.crackverbal.com/mba-through-gmat-video-2018

Hope this helps!
CrackVerbal Academics Team

Originally posted by CrackverbalGMAT on 17 Jan 2014, 00:08.
Last edited by CrackverbalGMAT on 13 Dec 2017, 03:38, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely [#permalink] New post   Updated on: 06 Feb 2021, 15:16
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Stop with all the fancy explanations... Please !!!

First read these two sentences.

1) When it comes to calorie content, an apple is AS good AS a mango is.
2) For older patients a minor case of pneumonia can be as fatal as a heart attack(can be) |
"can be" is in ellipsis. It can be written or not written because the meaning is implied.

we need as-as comparison
Then we need a correct idiom --> "Likely to".

NOW LET US CHECK THE OPTIONS

A) equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as
B) equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are
C) equally likely that they will exceed the proposed speed limit as

Option A,B.C are out because of wrong comparison terms.

Option D and E remaining with correct comparison terms "as-as".

D. as likely that they will exceed the proposed speed limit as :

likely that is incorrect idiom .. likely to is the correct idiom which is absent in option D but present in option E

WRONG :- Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be as likely that they will exceed the proposed speed limit as the current one. ---> SEE HOW WRONG THE SENTENCE SOUNDS !!!
[/color]

E. as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are. Likely to is correct.

as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are .
Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are (ELLIPSIS :-likely to exceed ) the current one. PERFECT
E wins :- Correct Idiom "likely to"
Correct usage of "As" for comparing clause.
"They" have a proper reference in DRIVERS


E can be read as:- "as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are likely to exceed the current one."


LOOK FOR SIMPLICITY AND AVOID GETTING LOST IN UNNECESSARY RULES AND TERMINOLOGY WHILE MAKING A DECISION.
GMAT IS NOT LOOKING FOR YOU TO WRITE AN ESSAY ON SENTENCE CORRECTION EXAMPLES. ELIMINATE WRONG, SELECT RIGHT AND MOVE ON TO NEXT QUESTION.


ritjn2003 wrote:
Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as the current one.

A. equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as
B. equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are
C. equally likely that they will exceed the proposed speed limit as
D. as likely that they will exceed the proposed speed limit as
E. as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are.

Originally posted by LogicGuru1 on 30 Jun 2016, 01:59.
Last edited by LogicGuru1 on 06 Feb 2021, 15:16, edited 10 times in total.
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Re: Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely [#permalink] New post   01 Aug 2016, 04:42
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Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as the current one.

(A) equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as
(B) equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are
(C) equally likely that they will exceed the proposed speed limit as
(D) as likely that they will exceed the proposed speed limit as
(E) as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are


1. The intended sentence is-- Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are (likely to exceed) the current one. We may note the ellipsis here in full action for the sake of concision. Therefore, the Answer choice E is indeed complete.


2.The first step is to eliminate all the choices that miss the action verb in the second part, namely, ‘are’. Missing the verbal word will render the comparison wrong by treating the proposed speed itself as the current one. Then the essence of proposed loses relevance. Hence A, C and E can be dumped.
Now comes the idiom ‘as X as Y’ into play, wherein ‘as…. As’ is an essential ingredient. Hence, -will be equally likely to do x as they are Y -- is unidiomatic. As likely to do x as they are Y is the correct idiom. Therefore E.
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Re: Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely [#permalink] New post   06 Nov 2009, 11:31
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vaibhav87 wrote:
Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will
be ((equally likely to exceed the proposed speed
limit as )) the current one.
A. equally likely to exceed the proposed speed
limit as
B. equally likely to exceed the proposed speed
limit as they are
C. equally likely that they will exceed the proposed
speed limit as
D. as likely that they will exceed the proposed
speed limit as
E. as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit
as they are.


The only viable answer choices are choices A and E. D cannot be correct because of the comparison "drivers will be as likely that they will," which is unidiomatic and jumbled. The phrase "drivers will be as likely" must be followed by an infinitive form, such as "to exceed" in choice E.

The difference between A and E is that while both ellipse certain words:

A) Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as [they are to exceed] the current one.
E) Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are [to exceed] the current one.

Only choice E uses the appropriate "as...as" idiom.
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Re: Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely [#permalink] New post   Updated on: 07 May 2019, 13:25
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Hello Everyone!

This is a great example of a GMAT question that has to do with comparisons! Before we dive in, here is the original question with any major differences between the options highlighted in orange:

Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as the current one.

(A) equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as
(B) equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are
(C) equally likely that they will exceed the proposed speed limit as
(D) as likely that they will exceed the proposed speed limit as
(E) as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are

After a quick glance over the options, 2 major differences jumped out:

1. equally likely vs. as likely
2. as vs. as they are

Let's start with #1 on our list: equally likely vs. as likely. The proper idiomatic structure for each of these options are:

equally likely X and Y will happen (suggests both events will happen at the same time)
as likely X will happen as Y will happen (suggests that both events happen at separate times, but could end up turning out the same)

Since ALL of the options use some version of the phrase "as Y will happen" at the end of each one, we know that the first half of the comparison MUST include the "as likely X will happen" for the idiom to be complete.

(A) equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as
(B) equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are
(C) equally likely that they will exceed the proposed speed limit as
(D) as likely that they will exceed the proposed speed limit as
(E) as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are

Therefore, we can eliminate options A, B, and C because they don't follow either idiom structure correctly.

Now, we're only left with options D and E! Let's now focus on #2: as vs. as they are. To make this a little easier to spot, I added in the non-underlined portion of the sentence to each option:

(D) Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be as likely that they will exceed the proposed speed limit as the current one.

This option is INCORRECT because the wording of this is confusing and awkward. The phrase "that they will exceed" is not only written poorly, but also it might confuse readers into thinking we're now talking about traffic safety officials exceeding the speed limit, rather than the drivers!

(E) Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are the current one.

This option is CORRECT! It uses the right idiom structure "as likely that X will happen as Y will happen." It's also absolutely clear that the pronoun "they" is referring only to the drivers!

There you go - option E is our correct choice!


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.

Originally posted by EMPOWERgmatVerbal on 17 Oct 2018, 15:05.
Last edited by EMPOWERgmatVerbal on 07 May 2019, 13:25, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely [#permalink] New post   25 Oct 2012, 06:32
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"as" is used to compare clauses not verbs.
A clause is a group of words that containg among them a subject and a verb.
In the question mentioned, the not underlined portion is a noun phrase. So if we have to use "as" then make this particular noun phrase a clause by adding a verb.
On the reasons mentioned above, ACD are eliminated.
In B, I don't think that a sole "as" can withstand the pressure of comparing.Henceforth, as likely as is preferrable.
Hope that helps.
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Re: Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely [#permalink] New post   19 Jan 2020, 08:32
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Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

ritjn2003 wrote:
Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as the current one.


(A) equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as

(B) equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are

(C) equally likely that they will exceed the proposed speed limit as

(D) as likely that they will exceed the proposed speed limit as

(E) as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are


Choice A: This answer choice incorrectly compares "the drivers" to "the current one"; This error is due to the omission of the verb in the second part of the comparison; when a comparison involves a tense shift, no verb can be omitted. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice B: This answer choice features the same error found in Option A. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice C: This answer choice utilizes the unidiomatic phrase "likely to"; furthermore, it is needlessly wordy and quite awkward due to the phrase "that they will". Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice D: This answer choice repeats the same idiom-related error found in Option C. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice E: This answer choice maintains correct idiom use and conveys the intended meaning of the sentence. Thus, this answer choice is correct.

Hence, E is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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Re: Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely [#permalink] New post   07 Jul 2009, 05:34
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Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as the current one.
'...as the current one.' would be right so we have A, C and D.
'...likely that they will...' is too wordy. A is precise '...likely to...'.
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Re: Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely [#permalink] New post   23 Feb 2013, 22:52
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Experts your comments on my approach:

equally likely.... as -> wrong
as likely......as -> correct

So a,b,c - out

d -> as likely that.... as current one-> from parallelism point need THAT
so wrong

correct option E:
Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are the current one.
as they are (to exceed) the current (speed limit).
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Re: Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely [#permalink] New post   Updated on: 06 Mar 2014, 17:31
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Allen760 wrote:
Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will
be equally likely to exceed the proposed speed
limit as the current one.
A. equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as
B. equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are
C. equally likely that they will exceed the proposed speed limit as
D. as likely that they will exceed the proposed speed limit as
E. as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are.


Thanks VerbalBot for digging up the topic. My take on this question is

The original sentence is unidiomatic, the correct idiom is equally likely to X or Y
not equally likely to X as Y, so this eliminates A, B and C

Options D and E use elliptical construct so we can expand the sentences as
D. drivers will be as likely that they will exceed the proposed speed limit as [they will exceed] the current one.

In this sentence incorrect idiom as likely that X as Y is used. Also "they will", which is introduced because of the word "that", is redundant and makes the comparison awkward, as we are already talking about the drivers and the pronoun they is not required here.

E. drivers will be as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are [to exceed] the current one.
This sentence uses the correct idiom as likely to X as to Y and correctly compares the likelihood of the drivers to exceed proposed speed limit as they exceed the current one.

So the correct answer is E.

Originally posted by prasun9 on 14 Nov 2013, 13:22.
Last edited by prasun9 on 06 Mar 2014, 17:31, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely [#permalink] New post   18 Nov 2015, 13:13
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Text from MGMT SC Guide

The structure as...as... creates a comparison. The first as is followed by an adjective or adverb. The
second as is followed by a noun, a phrase, or even a whole clause.
Right: They are AS hungry AS you.
Right: They are AS hungry AS you are.
Right: They are AS hungry AS they were last night.
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Re: Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely [#permalink] New post   26 Jul 2017, 04:33
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Anazeer wrote:
I chose D why is it wrong. it is parallel right ? Can someone explain to me



Hello Anazeer,

I will be glad to help you resolve your doubt. :-)

Choice D is incorrect because it has a pronoun redundancy error, which makes the sentence quite awkward. To understand the same, let’s consider the following portion of the choice:

◦that drivers will be as likely
◦ that they will exceed the proposed speed limit…


In the above construction, the pronoun they refers to drivers. So, we end up with something like this: …that drivers will be as likely that drivers will exceed the proposed speed limit… Clearly, the above portion is not written well; it does not make sense to have the pronoun they, which stands for the noun drivers. Let’s understand this error a bit more with the help of an example. Consider the following sentence:

a.Teachers predict that students are as likely that they will not obey the new guidelines as they are the current ones.

There is no need to have a that construction after likely in the above sentence since it forces the use of a noun/pronoun later. Instead, whatever the students are likely to do, can be written in the following way:

b.Teachers predict that students are as likely to not obey the new guidelines as they are the current ones.

Hope this helps. :-)
Thanks.
Shraddha
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Re: Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely [#permalink] New post   11 Sep 2017, 23:27
hildi wrote:
Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as the current one.

(A) equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as
(B) equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are
(C) equally likely that they will exceed the proposed speed limit as
(D) as likely that they will exceed the proposed speed limit as
(E) as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are




How can THEY not be ambiguous in E

please explain
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Re: Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely [#permalink] New post   11 Sep 2017, 23:37
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rocko911 wrote:

How can THEY not be ambiguous in E

please explain


Because pronoun ambiguity is the last thing you should look for. And, even if you look for, there must be splits between :
1. a pronoun and a noun
2. a singular pronoun and a plural pronoun
3. the presence and absence of pronoun - this is bit more complicated, because this can signal other requirements [ for example, here its comparison]

So, don't rely on pronoun ambiguity, unless you have a sentence such as : Jim and Jack went to the market and he....

Now, directly coming to your question, "they" is not ambiguous because of parallelism.

... that drivers will be as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are [likely to exceed] the current one.

Cheers !!
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Re: Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely [#permalink] New post   11 Sep 2017, 23:45
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rocko911 wrote:
How can THEY not be ambiguous in E

Hi rocko911, yes, you could view this as pronoun ambiguity, but a couple of things:

i) Pronoun ambiguity is acceptable on GMAT. So, don't use this as a criterion to eliminate answer choices.

ii) Structurally, they is referring to drivers (since both are subjects of their respective clauses).

For test takers, it's important to understand the difference between an orphan pronoun (pronoun with no antecedent) and ambiguous pronoun (pronoun with multiple antecedents).

Orphan pronoun is always incorrect, while ambiguous pronoun is acceptable.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses Orphan and Ambiguous Pronouns, their applications and examples in significant detail. If someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.
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Re: Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely [#permalink] New post   28 Jul 2018, 03:39
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In A, B and C, equally...as is unidiomatic.

Correct: X and Y are equally qualified.
Correct: X is as qualified as Y.
Incorrect: X is equally qualified as Y.

Eliminate A, B and C.

In D, drivers will be AS likely THAT is unidiomatic.
The required idiom in D is drivers will be AS likely TO.
Eliminate D.

Show Spoiler
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Re: Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely [#permalink] New post   28 Jul 2018, 03:53
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CrackVerbalGMAT wrote:
[Tense Shift

If the verb tense changes from the first to the second half of the sentence, then the verb must not be omitted in the second half.


There is an exception to this rule.

Forms of to be include the following:
infinitive = to be.
simple past singular = was.
simple past plural = were.

OAs in the OGs:
Its numbers are now five times greater than when the use of DDT was sharply restricted.
Heating-oil prices are expected to be higher this year than last.

Implied comparisons:
Its numbers are now five times greater than [its numbers were] when the use of DDT was sharply restricted.
Heating-oil prices are expected to be higher this year than [heating-oil prices were] last [year].
In each case, the words in brackets are omitted, but their presence is implied.

As indicated by the verbs in red:
Both the antecedent verb in the first clause and the omitted verb in brackets are forms of to be.
The omitted verb in brackets is in the simple past tense.

As indicated by the modifiers in blue:
In each sentence, both clauses conclude with an adverb that refers to time.

The OAs above indicate that an omitted verb in the second clause may be in a different tense from the antecedent verb in the first clause if:
Both verbs are forms of to be.
The omitted verb is in the simple past tense.
Both clauses conclude with an adverb that refers to time.
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Re: Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely [#permalink] New post   17 Nov 2018, 21:25
Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as THEY ARE the current one.

Can someone explain "THEY ARE" refers to what? the drivers or speed limits?

"Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will most likely exceed the proposed speed limit as with the (or just like) current speed limit." <--- is this sentence written right?

Thank You!
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Re: Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely [#permalink] New post   17 Nov 2018, 23:38
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Quote:
Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as the current one.

(A) equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as
(B) equally likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are
(C) equally likely that they will exceed the proposed speed limit as
(D) as likely that they will exceed the proposed speed limit as
(E) as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are

Jaytan1 wrote:
Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as THEY ARE the current one.

Can someone explain "THEY ARE" refers to what? the drivers or speed limits?

Jaytan1 , sometimes it helps to simplify (shorten) the sentence and then "put back in" the words that have been omitted
Please note that speed limit is singular.

• Simplify and replace
Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as THEY ARE the current one.

Now we have
Drivers will be as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are the current one.

Find the verb or verb phrase that follows the first AS: likely to exceed

Place that phrase back into the sentence. Such placement may be enough to find the correct answer.
Drivers will be as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are likely to exceed the current one.

• Still not clear? Then find the antecedent for "one."
-- One is a pronoun that indicates a single, definite part of a group of a collection.
-- Nikolai wanted to test drive the Ferrari. He had never driven one.

One is singular. In form, "one" can refer only to "speed limit."

Drivers will be as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are likely to exceed the current speed limit.

So . . . who or what is likely to be exceeding any speed limits?
The drivers?
Or the speed limit? :-D

• Pronoun ambiguity allowed if the antecedent is obvious.

On the GMAT, if more than one noun can be the antecedent of the pronoun,
but context and logic make it clear which noun the pronoun SHOULD refer to, GMAC allows it.
Quote:
"Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will most likely exceed the proposed speed limit as with the (or just like) current speed limit." <--- is this sentence written right?

Thank You!

No, the sentence is not written correctly.
You are close, though. You could write:

• Correct: Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will BE AS likely TO exceed the proposed speed limit as [drivers are likely to exceed] the current speed limit.
• Correct: Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will BE AS likely TO exceed the proposed speed limit as the current speed limit.
The comparison must maintain the AS ________ AS words — literally, we have to repeat AS.

• Correct: Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will most likely exceed the proposed speed limit, just AS they do the current speed limit.
This time we have omitted "exceed" and replaced it with "do."

(Yes, I have purposely avoided the word "with.")

Hope that helps.
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Re: Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be equally likely [#permalink]
17 Nov 2018, 23:38
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