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According to a recent study, retirees in the United States are four ti 05 Sep 2021, 00:43
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dear AndrewN, and GMATNinja,GMATNinjaTwo,

I haven't gotten the solid cross off reasoning. most say "it" in D and E are wrong, but however, I am afraid I disagree with them. "it" in D and E like a "it" in "it is raining". why I crossed off D and E just because of indirect expression, compared with C. but I don't think it is a solid reasoning.

would you please clarify the solid reasoning to cross off D and E?

thanks in advance.
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According to a recent study, retirees in the United States are four ti 10 Sep 2021, 16:02
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zoezhuyan
dear AndrewN, and GMATNinja,GMATNinjaTwo,

I haven't gotten the solid cross off reasoning. most say "it" in D and E are wrong, but however, I am afraid I disagree with them. "it" in D and E like a "it" in "it is raining". why I crossed off D and E just because of indirect expression, compared with C. but I don't think it is a solid reasoning.

would you please clarify the solid reasoning to cross off D and E?

thanks in advance.
Show more
Yeah, you've got a point. The "it" might be unnecessary, but can you make an argument that it's a dummy pronoun that works just fine? For example, if I say "it is likely that Tim will set the house aflame tonight", the "it" just indicates a general state of affairs. In the current question, it's probably fair game to argue that the "it" isn't a definitive error by itself.

But both (D) and (E) have this awful construction in the second part of the comparison: "they are likely to receive it from them." If you read each option several times, you can eventually figure out that "they" is the retirees and "them" is the children, but it's hard to imagine a more confusing way of conveying this information.

Also, the comparisons in (D) and (E) are odd. In each case, we're comparing the infinitive action, "to give" with the clunky full clause "they are likely to receive." Why not just go for the simpler, more logical comparison of actions?

This is exactly what we get in (C) in which it's clearly the retirees who are more likely "to give... than to receive."

Between the unnecessary "it," the confusing "they... them" clause, and the illogical comparison, there's no reason to agonize about whether the goofiness in (D) and (E) qualify as definitive grammatical errors. (C) is obviously better and more logical. That's good enough.

I hope that helps!
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According to a recent study, retirees in the United States are four ti 16 Mar 2022, 08:42
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EMPOWERgmatVerbal
Hello Everyone!

Let’s take a look at this question, one issue at a time, and figure out which option is correct.

According to a recent study, retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as to receive it from them.

A. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as
B. retirees in the United States are four times as likely to give regular financial aid to their children as it is for them
C. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children than
D. it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than they are
E. it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they are

After doing a quick scan over the options, there are a couple glaring differences between each option than we can focus on:

1. How they begin: “…retirees in the United States…” vs. “…it is four times more likely…”
2. How they end: “as” / “as it is” / “than” / “than they are” / “as they are”

Since #1 on our list will knock out 2-3 options immediately, let’s start by figuring out how the phrase should start. Right away, we notice that options D and E use vague pronouns:

D. it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than they are
E. it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they are

What is "it" referring to here? We don't know - and that is a MAJOR problem. All pronouns need clear antecedents! Options D and E can be tossed out as INCORRECT because they include pronouns without antecedents.

That leaves us with options A, B, and C. Let’s take a closer look at how each option ends. Each one needs to use parallel structure and follow idiomatic rules, so let’s focus on how well each accomplishes these tasks:

A. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as

This is INCORRECT because it doesn’t follow the proper idiomatic structure “more likely to X than Y.” It says "more likely to X as Y," which is wrong.

B. retirees in the United States are four times as likely to give regular financial aid to their children as it is for them

This is INCORRECT because of pronoun agreement issues. The singular pronoun “it” is referring back to the plural “retirees,” which doesn’t match up in number.

C. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children than

This is CORRECT because it uses the correct idiomatic structure “X is more likely to…than Y.” Also, all pronouns are in agreement!


There you go - option C is the right answer!


Don’t study for the GMAT. Train for it.
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Hi EMPOWERgmatVerbal,

Thanks for the wonderful explanation as always. A couple of clarifications:
1. In Option (B), I don't think "it" refers to the plural "retirees". Instead, I think "it" is functioning as a placeholder pronoun. Let me know your thoughts?

2. I want to know whether there is also a slight meaning shift if I were to say "more X than Y" vs "As X as Y".

I realise that this question is perhaps as simple as an SC question can get; however, these subtlities trip you over while solving higher order questions. So, do share your thoughts.

Tagging other Verbal experts for their inputs as well: GMATNinja, mikemcgarry, egmat
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According to a recent study, retirees in the United States are four ti 16 Mar 2022, 10:55
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Rahul2022
EMPOWERgmatVerbal
Hello Everyone!

Let’s take a look at this question, one issue at a time, and figure out which option is correct.

According to a recent study, retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as to receive it from them.

A. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as
B. retirees in the United States are four times as likely to give regular financial aid to their children as it is for them
C. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children than
D. it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than they are
E. it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they are

After doing a quick scan over the options, there are a couple glaring differences between each option than we can focus on:

1. How they begin: “…retirees in the United States…” vs. “…it is four times more likely…”
2. How they end: “as” / “as it is” / “than” / “than they are” / “as they are”

Since #1 on our list will knock out 2-3 options immediately, let’s start by figuring out how the phrase should start. Right away, we notice that options D and E use vague pronouns:

D. it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than they are
E. it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they are

What is "it" referring to here? We don't know - and that is a MAJOR problem. All pronouns need clear antecedents! Options D and E can be tossed out as INCORRECT because they include pronouns without antecedents.

That leaves us with options A, B, and C. Let’s take a closer look at how each option ends. Each one needs to use parallel structure and follow idiomatic rules, so let’s focus on how well each accomplishes these tasks:

A. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as

This is INCORRECT because it doesn’t follow the proper idiomatic structure “more likely to X than Y.” It says "more likely to X as Y," which is wrong.

B. retirees in the United States are four times as likely to give regular financial aid to their children as it is for them

This is INCORRECT because of pronoun agreement issues. The singular pronoun “it” is referring back to the plural “retirees,” which doesn’t match up in number.

C. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children than

This is CORRECT because it uses the correct idiomatic structure “X is more likely to…than Y.” Also, all pronouns are in agreement!


There you go - option C is the right answer!


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

Hi EMPOWERgmatVerbal,

Thanks for the wonderful explanation as always. A couple of clarifications:
1. In Option (B), I don't think "it" refers to the plural "retirees". Instead, I think "it" is functioning as a placeholder pronoun. Let me know your thoughts?

2. I want to know whether there is also a slight meaning shift if I were to say "more X than Y" vs "As X as Y".

I realise that this question is perhaps as simple as an SC question can get; however, these subtlities trip you over while solving higher order questions. So, do share your thoughts.

Tagging other Verbal experts for their inputs as well: GMATNinja, mikemcgarry, egmat
Show more

Hi Rahul2022, yes you're correct. In this case, it is (see what I did there :-)) quite clear that the pronoun 'it' does not refer to retirees, but rather acts as a placeholder (or empty) "it". Do note though that the placeholder "it" isn't always/automatically incorrect, and there are at least 5 official questions (from my memory) in which the correct answer uses an empty "it" as part of its construction.

Of course, in this particular question, either the parallelism doesn't work, as in options (B), (D), and (E), or the comparison structure is violated.

Hope this helps.
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EMPOWERgmatVerbal
Hello Everyone!

Let’s take a look at this question, one issue at a time, and figure out which option is correct.

According to a recent study, retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as to receive it from them.

A. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as
B. retirees in the United States are four times as likely to give regular financial aid to their children as it is for them
C. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children than
D. it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than they are
E. it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they are

After doing a quick scan over the options, there are a couple glaring differences between each option than we can focus on:

1. How they begin: “…retirees in the United States…” vs. “…it is four times more likely…”
2. How they end: “as” / “as it is” / “than” / “than they are” / “as they are”

Since #1 on our list will knock out 2-3 options immediately, let’s start by figuring out how the phrase should start. Right away, we notice that options D and E use vague pronouns:

D. it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than they are
E. it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they are

What is "it" referring to here? We don't know - and that is a MAJOR problem. All pronouns need clear antecedents! Options D and E can be tossed out as INCORRECT because they include pronouns without antecedents.

That leaves us with options A, B, and C. Let’s take a closer look at how each option ends. Each one needs to use parallel structure and follow idiomatic rules, so let’s focus on how well each accomplishes these tasks:

A. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as

This is INCORRECT because it doesn’t follow the proper idiomatic structure “more likely to X than Y.” It says "more likely to X as Y," which is wrong.

B. retirees in the United States are four times as likely to give regular financial aid to their children as it is for them

This is INCORRECT because of pronoun agreement issues. The singular pronoun “it” is referring back to the plural “retirees,” which doesn’t match up in number.

C. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children than

This is CORRECT because it uses the correct idiomatic structure “X is more likely to…than Y.” Also, all pronouns are in agreement!


There you go - option C is the right answer!


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

Hi EMPOWERgmatVerbal,

Thanks for the wonderful explanation as always. A couple of clarifications:
1. In Option (B), I don't think "it" refers to the plural "retirees". Instead, I think "it" is functioning as a placeholder pronoun. Let me know your thoughts?

2. I want to know whether there is also a slight meaning shift if I were to say "more X than Y" vs "As X as Y".

I realise that this question is perhaps as simple as an SC question can get; however, these subtlities trip you over while solving higher order questions. So, do share your thoughts.

Tagging other Verbal experts for their inputs as well: GMATNinja, mikemcgarry, egmat
Show more

Hello Rahul2022,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, you are correct; in Option B, "it" is, indeed, acting as a placeholder pronoun, rather than referring to "retirees".

Further, in this context, "more X than Y" and "as X as Y" convey the same meaning.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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According to a recent study, retirees in the United States are four ti 19 Oct 2022, 08:35
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avigutman GMATNinja what is the difference between four times as likely as x vs 4 times more likely than X?
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According to a recent study, retirees in the United States are four ti 19 Oct 2022, 11:03
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avigutman GMATNinja what is the difference between four times as likely as x vs 4 times more likely than X?
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Unfortunately, Elite097, the answer is not as simple as it ought to be. Here's a good analysis of this inconsistency/ambiguity in the English language:
https://mindyourdecisions.com/blog/2016 ... k-problem/
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According to a recent study, retirees in the United States are four ti 21 Nov 2022, 22:34
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egmat , Here how is there a parallelism issue in option E ? aren't both X and Y clauses in the structure as likely X as Y in option E?
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egmat , Here how is there a parallelism issue in option E ? aren't both X and Y clauses in the structure as likely X as Y in option E?
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Hey Taulark1

Happy to help.

Choice E is more a test of meaning analysis than of parallelism. Let's take a closer look at E.

E: According to a recent study, it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they are to receive it from them.

Now, I'm sure you're familiar with the placeholder pronoun 'it'. The Placeholder or Dummy Pronoun "it" either does not refer to any tangible noun:

    For example: It is raining.

...or it refers to noun placed later in the sentence in the form of a Dependent Clause, a to-verb phrase, etc.

    For example: It is known to all of us that Tony failed his test.

Now, let's apply this second example above to our official question choice E.

The pronoun "it" is a placeholder that refers to the idea conveyed by the that-clause. In other words, "that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid" is four times as likely as something else.


Now, ask yourself, what is the intended meaning? The author wishes to discuss the likelihood of what exactly?

    Is the fact that "retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid" likely or probably true?

    Or, are retirees more likely to give their children regular financial aid?

Clearly, it is the latter. This why choice E is illogical and a distortion of the intended meaning.


I hope this improves your understanding.

Happy Learning!

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egmat , thank you for the clarification!
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Hello Everyone!

Let’s take a look at this question, one issue at a time, and figure out which option is correct.

According to a recent study, retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as to receive it from them.

A. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as
B. retirees in the United States are four times as likely to give regular financial aid to their children as it is for them
C. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children than
D. it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than they are
E. it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they are

After doing a quick scan over the options, there are a couple glaring differences between each option than we can focus on:

1. How they begin: “…retirees in the United States…” vs. “…it is four times more likely…”
2. How they end: “as” / “as it is” / “than” / “than they are” / “as they are”

Since #1 on our list will knock out 2-3 options immediately, let’s start by figuring out how the phrase should start. Right away, we notice that options D and E use vague pronouns:

D. it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than they are
E. it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they are

What is "it" referring to here? We don't know - and that is a MAJOR problem. All pronouns need clear antecedents! Options D and E can be tossed out as INCORRECT because they include pronouns without antecedents.

That leaves us with options A, B, and C. Let’s take a closer look at how each option ends. Each one needs to use parallel structure and follow idiomatic rules, so let’s focus on how well each accomplishes these tasks:

A. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as

This is INCORRECT because it doesn’t follow the proper idiomatic structure “more likely to X than Y.” It says "more likely to X as Y," which is wrong.

B. retirees in the United States are four times as likely to give regular financial aid to their children as it is for them

This is INCORRECT because of pronoun agreement issues. The singular pronoun “it” is referring back to the plural “retirees,” which doesn’t match up in number.

C. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children than

This is CORRECT because it uses the correct idiomatic structure “X is more likely to…than Y.” Also, all pronouns are in agreement!


There you go - option C is the right answer!


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

Hello EMPOWERgmatVerbal GMATNinja,
Thanks for the explanation.
Can we eliminate options D and E solely based on pronoun ambiguity? Because THEY can refer to both retirees and children.
Please suggest.

Thanks for your question NischalSR.

Yes, you can eliminate options D and E solely for pronoun ambiguity. The pronoun "it" doesn't refer to anything specific - in fact, "it" doesn't really refer to anything. If you're looking for other problems with D and E, there are other issues that are less obvious than the glaring pronoun problem:

D. it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than they are to receive it from them.

We could also eliminate option D because the idiom "more likely to X than Y" doesn't sound parallel here. It would sound nicer to rewrite it to look more like this:

...it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than for retirees to receive it from their children.

Also, stacking up two pronouns at the end (they...them) can be confusing for readers if they're not paying close attention to the meaning. In the hypothetical rewrite above, we also got rid of the vague pronouns for the sake of clarity.

E. it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they are

This is also incorrect because the phrase "four times as likely as" doesn't make logical sense. You cannot say that X is four times Y, and then say those two things are the same. One is clearly "more" than the other. This is an idiom problem, so we could rule option E out for this reason too.

We hope this helps! Keep tagging us at EMPOWERgmatVerbal if you have any more questions!
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Hi, expert. I'm still confused about option E. Why "4 times as likely as' is wrong? I have 4 times as many books as you. This sentence is correct,right? Why this one isn't correct then? Thank you !
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