Dirt Roads may invoke the bucolic simplicity of another

Question

Dirt Roads may invoke the bucolic simplicity of another century, but financially strained townships point out that  dirt roads costs twice as much as maintaining paved roads. 

a)
b) dirt roads cost twice as much as to maintain as paved roads do
c) maintaing dirt roads cost twice as much as paved roads do
d) maintaining dirt roads costs twice as much as it does for paved roads
e) to maintain dirt roads cost twice as much as for paved roads


pls explain your answer

TeHCM · Answer

My answer is B

a) dirt roads costs twice as much as maintaining paved roads   ==> "dirt roads" are plural, needs "cost"  

b) dirt roads cost twice as much as to maintain as paved roads do   ==> Correct!  

c) maintaing dirt roads cost twice as much as paved roads do   ==> "Maintaining" is singular, thus "cost" is wrong  

d) maintaining dirt roads costs twice as much as it does for paved roads  ==> The use of "it" is ambiguous  

e) to maintain dirt roads cost twice as much as for paved roads   ==> Use of infinitives is awkward

SunShine · Answer

B.

Only B compare the maitainance of the roads (paved/dirt)

cool_jonny009 · Answer

TeHCM, the confusion I had was why "it" in D is ambiguous...as it can refer back to Maintaing (Gerund singular Noun) the only other singular noun available is "dirt" but here its acting as Adjective modifying roads so the only singular noun left is maintaing .... :roll:

TeHCM · Answer

IMO, E has a weird sentence structure and is not ||. In B, the comparisons are ||. 

Idiom: X.....as Y....==> X must be parallel to Y

B)

  dirt roads cost   twice as much as to maintain as 
  paved roads do (cost)

plsubbu · Answer

My choice is C. I don't like B because there is an extra  as  in "as much as to" maintain.

b14kumar · Answer

As pointed out by TeHCM, "Maintaining" is singular, thus "cost" is wrong.
Therefore C can be ruled out.
I would go with B.

Regards,
Brajesh

ps_dahiya · Answer

I chose C but after reading TeHCM's I realized my silly mistake. :wall

It should be B

allabout · Answer

b) dirt roads cost twice as much  as  to maintain as paved roads do 

I suppose this is a typo, supporting B as my choice.

Dirt Roads may invoke the bucolic simplicity of another

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