According to a study by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of

In this case, "as many as" is a modifier, not a parallel marker. So your job is to figure out what the phrase is describing, and whether that description makes sense in context.

In (E), it seems to be describing the phrase "nearly eight million people." So what do we know about this figure? That it's as many as are enrolled in four year programs, meaning that nearly eight million people are getting job training from various companies and nearly eight million people are enrolling in four year programs. Makes sense to me.

Note that the writer doesn't restate the phrase, "nearly eight million people," because she doesn't need to. The modifier, "as many as" is right next to the thing it's describing. And there's really no other way to interpret the sentence. It's perfectly fine as is.

The takeaway: don't look for parallelism when you've got a modifying phrase with no parallel markers! Instead, think logically about how the modifier operates. If it seems to make sense, move on to other issues.

I hope that helps!

Hello Shirisha995,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, here "about as many as..." is a modifying phrase acting on "eight million people" to convey that eight million people is approximately how many people are enrolled in the nation’s four-year colleges and universities. Thus, parallelism is not necessary here.

We hope this helps.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Ninja, I know the definition of enrollment was mentioned in a previous post directed to you, but that was for an explanation for choice A.

My question is that given the definition 'An enrolment is the number of people who are enrolled at an institution or on a course.', choice D also makes the comparison between "8MM people" vs. "number of people".

Curious about your thoughts on why is choice D wrong, or why is it undesirable vs. Choice E?

GMATNinja

Almost would be slightly better I think?

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Hi GMATNinja,

I followed your explanation and still I couldn't understand why D is wrong. Please help!

in D: What is the problem with the meaning of "the enrollment" when it can refer to the number of people enrolled in universities?

Isn't it supposed to be:
"Companies are providing job training for nearly 8 million people, as many as the number of people enrolled in 4-year universities"?
or
"... as many as those enrolled in the 4-year universities"?

How about: "... 8 million people, equal to the number of people who are enrolled in 4-year universities"? Is this the correct usage of "equal" - compare the mathematic numbers?

Thank a lot!

Fair questions!

Even though "enrollment" can refer to the number of people enrolled at a school, it can also be used in a more general or abstract way (i.e. "Enrollment starts on May 1." or "Enrollment at Burrito University dropped 10% last year."). We touched on this point in our original explanation.

But even if we assume that "enrollment" refers to the number of people enrolled at a school, that means that the enrollment should equal some number (10,000, for example). In other words, enrollment is a statistic.

If you put all of a school's students in a room, you wouldn't say, "Here is the enrollment of Burrito University." Instead, you would say, "Here are all the people (who are) enrolled at Burrito University." Why? Because "enrollment" is a figure describing the human students, but it doesn't directly refer to the humans themselves. So (D) literally compares eight million people to a statistical figure.

Choice (E), on the other hand, compares eight million people to the number of people who are enrolled in the nation’s four-year colleges and universities. Sure, the "number of" part is implied, but since "being enrolled" is something that only a human student can be, "as many as are enrolled" MUST refer to the people who ARE enrolled at those schools.

So (E) does a better job comparing a number of humans to a number of humans. For the same reason, the first of these examples works better than the second:

• "Eight million people are enrolled in the nation’s four-year colleges and universities."
• "Eight million people are the enrollment of the nation’s four-year colleges and universities."

Also, what is "the enrollment of the nation’s four-year colleges and universities"? Do those schools share one single enrollment? Of course not, so I don't love using "enrollment" as a singular entity here. Something like "total enrollment" would probably be better.

I hope that helps!

GMATNinja ExpertsGlobal5 KarishmaB

I took somewhat different approach to solve this ques. Request you to validate my understanding below-
1. "about equivalent" is redundant because both these words mean approx. So, A and B are out.
2. "enrollment of the nation’s four-year colleges and universities" is incorrect because people are enrolled in colleges and universities but this phrase implies that colleges are enrolled. So, D is out.
3. C and E was close- "as many as" seems better comparison than "equal to", so marked E. I do not agree with the explanation of few experts here that "equal" is used for uncountable nouns, because "equal to" is used for number say, x is equal to 1 and numbers are countable.

Yeah, this is one of those annoying questions that comes down to subtle distinctions in logic and meaning for pretty much every answer choice.

I wouldn't treat the phrase "about equivalent" as a definite error, by itself. Is it the most elegant way to express the idea? No, but it's not fundamentally wrong either. The problem with (A) and (B) is the logic of what is treated as equivalent, not the usage itself.

And I agree with you that there's nothing inherently problematic about using "equal" to compare non-countable elements. Check out our breakdown here and let us know if you still have questions.

Hi MartyTargetTestPrep

"about as many as are enrolled in..."
Is this sentence and independent clause or dependant?

I think it contains an understood dependent clause.

Hi GMATGuruNY - you mention (D) is wrong because "enrollment" is an AMOUNT.

Is that really true in the following context ?

I thought "enrollment" is an ACTUAL NUMBER

(i) The enrollment for the Geometry course is 800 students, this year.
(i) The enrollment in the Geometry course is 800 students, this year.

How can enrollment be an amount in these two sentences ?

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My thoughts :

Perhaps there is a difference between "Enrollment of" vs "Enrollment for" vs "Enrollment in"

Had (A) and (D) been "Enrollment for" or "Enrollment in " -- then "Enrollment" stands for an actual number.

Thoughts ?

Rather than debate whether a noun constitutes an amount or a number, focus on the VERB attributed to the noun.

Whereas enrollment requires a SINGULAR verb, many requires a PLURAL verb:
The enrollment IS large.
Many ARE attending the class.

If a noun take a SINGULAR verb, then it cannot be modified by many, which requires a PLURAL verb.
In D, many (which requires a plural verb) incorrectly refers to enrollment (which requires a singular verb).
Eliminate D.



The preposition is irrelevant.
enrollment remains singular regardless of the preposition that follows.

Why can we not say that 'those' is referring to eight million people? I rejected option C coz I was not able to find the correct reference for 'those'. Thank you in advance for your help

According to a study by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, companies in the United States are providing job training and general education for nearly eight million people, about equivalent to the enrollment of the nation’s four-year colleges and universities.


(A) equivalent to the enrollment of

(B) the equivalent of those enrolled in

(C) equal to those who are enrolled in

(D) as many as the enrollment of

(E) as many as are enrolled in

I did it rather simply. Corrrect sentece is enrolled in or enrollment in, hence A, D & E are out. Now Both C & E sounds similar in meaning , however E is concise so is the best option.