According to a study by a prominent think tank, the defense budget of

Question

According to a study by a prominent think tank, the defense budget of Country X might, in five years time, fund more than 70 billion dollars annually for research and development,  equivalent to private grants .

A. equivalent to private grants
B. equivalent to that which is provided by private grants
C. equal to what private grants provide
D. as much as private grants
E. as many as private grants provide

Can someone help me understand the logic behind the correct answer to this question according to Kaplan? Much appreciated!

mikemcgarry · Accepted Answer

Dear darn , I'm happy to respond.

To be honest, I don't have the highest opinion of this question. Here's the text again: According to a study by a prominent think tank, the defense budget of Country X might, in five years time, fund more than 70 billion dollars annually for research and development, equivalent to private grants . A. equivalent to private grants B. equivalent to that which is provided by private grants C. equal to what private grants provide D. as much as private grants E. as many as private grants provide I would say that (B) is grammatically correct, although admitted a bit long and awkward. I think (C) is fine as is, and arguably (D) is OK, though a bit casual. I think (E) is embarrassingly wrong. Was this question written by a native speaker? I agree with you about (E). Yes, we use " many " for countable items, but for units (dollar, hours, miles . . ) it's implicitly understood that we are talking about the thing measured (how much money, how much time, how much distance . . .) so we would use " much " and not " many " for comparison. What would be perfect is: (E') as much as private grants provide but that's not even an option in this question. This is a very poorly written question, not approximating the level of the GMAT SC at all. Your best option for preparation is to steer clear of low quality questions. Here's a high quality question: Comparing tensile strength Does all this make sense? Mike

TheLostBear · Answer

OA from Kaplan is below. Interesting, I guess I learn about GMAC's preference.

"Read the Original Sentence Carefully, Looking for Errors:

Official GMAC review materials have stated, "To establish numerical comparability between groups with countable members, the phrase 'as many as' is preferable" to phrases such as "equivalent to" and "equal to." What this means is that for countable nouns such as dollars, flowers, and socks, you should use "as many as." For example, "There are as many weeds as flowers in this garden" is preferable to "The flowers are equivalent to the weeds." For uncountable nouns such water, force, and soup, it's correct to say either "as much" or "equal to." For example, it's correct to say "an amount of water equal to Lake Ontario" or "an equivalent amount of force."

In this question, the goal is to say that the "70 billion dollars" is the same as what the private grants are donating. Dollars are countable nouns, so it's not accurate by GMAT standards to use a phrase like "equivalent to."

The other issue you may have spotted in this sentence is that it makes a faulty comparison between the "70 billion dollars" and "private grants." Comparisons on the GMAT must be fair and parallel, and it isn't accurate to compare money to grants – the idea is to compare the money to the money the grants provide.

Scan and Group the Answer Choices:

Choices (A) and (B) begin "equivalent to," choice (C) begins "equal to," (D) begins with "as much as," and (E) begins with "as many as." Another useful split is between choices (A) and (D) which end "private grants" and choices (B), C), and (E) which introduce the verb "provide."

Eliminate Wrong Answer Choices:

As stated earlier, phrases such as "equivalent to" or "equal to" are less preferable than phrases like “as many as” or “as much as,” so eliminate choices (A), (B), and (C). Choice (B) is also unnecessarily wordy, employing the passive voice.

The difference between choices (D) and (E) is the word "provide." As discussed above, we'd have to use the word provide here to complete the comparison. Because "provide" is necessary, choice (D) is incorrect.

If we put Choice (E) back into the original sentence, the new sentence would read, in part: "The defense budget might… fund more than 70 billion dollars annually…, as many as private grants provide." All the pieces match up perfectly, so Answer Choice (E) is the correct answer."

hopeful101candidate · Answer

See the attached screenshot. The answer choices I listed are as they appear on the practice test.

lastshot · Answer

Choose E !!!! Reasoning as follows : A. equivalent to private grants --> what is equivalent to private grants < Meaning & Structure error > B. equivalent to that which is provided by private grants --> use of that & which simultaneously wrong < Structure error > C. equal to what private grants provide --> Use of equal is wrong < As equal must be used for exact quantity as 1+1 is equal to 2, Usage of Equivalent as 1$ is equivalent to 60Rs > D. as much as private grants -- > < Budget Amount is countable noune, Usage of much wrong > E. as many as private grants provide < Left with E only > Regards LS

darn · Answer

Hi  mikemcgarry  /  GMATNinja

I went through the explanation that Kaplan provided, but I was not satisfied with their explanation that for countable quantities 'as many as' is preferred.
In Option C if instead of equal we had equivalent, would it still be wrong ?
It would be great if you could you please let me know what your views are on this question and if I should just remember this rule for future questions as well.

kdk21 · Answer

Very poor question. For currency or amount- "as much as" or "equal to what private grants provide" can easily be considered correct

According to a study by a prominent think tank, the defense budget of

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