OFFICIAL EXPLANATION



THE PROMPT

• Meaning?
This sentence is comparing either
(1) the cost of hand ale pumps themselves and the cost of gas-powered kegs themselves, OR
(2) the costs of maintaining hand ale pumps and of maintaining gas-powered kegs

We don't know which of those two meanings that the sentence is trying to express.
We have three nouns (hand ale pumps, gas-powered kegs, and the maintenance of gas-powered kegs). My number 1 and 2 are the only logical possibilities.

Items under comparison should be the same kinds of things.

THE OPTIONS

→ WRONG.
Option A compares the cost of hand ale pumps themselves with the cost of maintaining gas-powered kegs
A thing (a hand ale pump) and a service (maintaining a keg) are not logically similar items to compare.
ELIMINATE A


→ this option looks promising

→ "do" stands for "cost to maintain"
→ the items under comparison are parallel: the amount it costs to maintain hand ale pumps and the amount it costs to maintain gas-powered kegs
KEEP


→ WRONG.
Choice C does the opposite of choice A.
Choice C compares the cost of maintaining hand ale pumps with the cost of gas-powered kegs themselves.
Maintenance should be compared with maintenance and things should be compared with things.
ELIMINATE C



-- the clause as it does for is not parallel with costs twice
-- it cannot refer to a verb (including the verbs costs); it has no antecedent
-- if you're still on the fence, check out (B) again.
Option B is much better than (D).
ELIMINATE D

[/quote]
• the infinitive phrase to maintain is not parallel with for
Although contend that to maintain is not standard, the correct way would be:
. . . to maintain hand ale pumps costs twice as much as to maintain gas-powered kegs
ELIMINATE E

The answer is B.

COMMENTS

KSN27 and DixitNiket , welcome to SC Butler.

Well, some of these answers are a little off here and there, but for the most part, I am impressed by the fairly consistent critical thinking skills on display.
Nicely done. Kudos to all.

a) incorrect comparison between hand ale pumps and maintaining gas-powered kegs- wrong
b) Correct -- when we get do, we have to replace it with the verb, verb here is cost ,
Comparison is between hand ale pumps cost and gas- powered kegs cost
c) comparison is between maintaining hand ale pumps and gas-powered kegs costs- wrong
d) it has no clear referent- wrong
e) to maintain hand ale pumps is compared with for gas- powered kegs - wrong ( correct one here can be, to maintain hand ale pumps compared with to maintain gas- powered kegs)

Correct Answer - B

A - hand ale pumps cost - maintaining gas powered. wrong comparison

B - even though idiom as much as gotten broken, it can not be the only elimination - keep

C - maintaining hand pumps - as gas powered pumps do - reverse comparison as it is in A - out

d - maintaining hand pumps - it does for gas - wrong comparison

E - to maintain - for gas - parallel structure required.

B is the best.

My answer is (B). It took me 1'24''.

For comparison, we have to ensure parallelism.

(A) A costs twice as much as B - Needs to ensure A and B are parallel. Here, "hand ale pumps" (a phrasal noun in plural form) cannot be compared with "maintaining gas-powered kegs" (A gerund - treated as a singular)
(C） "maintaining hand ale pumps" (A gerund - treated as a singular) cannot be matched with "gas-powered kegs"(a phrasal noun in plural form)
(D) "maintaining hand ale pumps" (A gerund - treated as a singular) cannot be matched with "is". There might be other issues.
(E) “to maintain hand ale pumps” （A infinitive - treated as a singular) cannot be matched with "for gas-powered kegs" (a preposition phrase).

Take a final look at B, and confirm that its parallelism is flawless.

Hand ale pumps may slightly improve the flavor of ale over gas-powered kegs, but modern pub managers contend that hand ale pumps cost twice as much as maintaining gas-powered kegs.


X as much as Y - X,Y needs to be parallel & comparison should be btw identical things (i.e; we can't compare legs with hands )

A) hand ale pumps cost twice as much as maintaining gas-powered kegs - Cost twice is not parallel to maintaining ; costs of(HP) is compared to maintenance of (GP) - INCORRECT

B) hand ale pumps cost twice as much to maintain as gas-powered kegs do - Costs to maintain (HP) is compared to Costs to maintain of (GP) & it is grammatically correct

C) maintaining hand ale pumps costs twice as much as gas-powered kegs do - replace do with costs & understand the meaning - Awkward right - Eliminate it

D) maintaining hand ale pumps costs twice as much as it does for gas-powered kegs - as it does isn't parallel with costs twice - INCORRECT

E) to maintain hand ale pumps costs twice as much as for gas-powered kegs - costs twice isn't parallel with (for gp keys) - INCORRECT

IMO-B

Comparison between cost of maintaining hand ale pump and cost of maintaining gas powered kegs
X As much as y is correct idiom in which x and Y require parallelism

A) hand ale pumps cost twice as much as maintaining gas-powered kegs -incorrect -wrong placement of maintaining

B) hand ale pumps cost twice as much to maintain as gas-powered kegs do - correct

C) maintaining hand ale pumps costs twice as much as gas-powered kegs do -incorrect use of maintaining is wrong

D) maintaining hand ale pumps costs twice as much as it does for gas-powered kegs -incorrect-pronoun ambiguity and incorrect use of maintaining

E) to maintain hand ale pumps costs twice as much as for gas-powered kegs- placement of to maintain is wrong

Posted from my mobile device

I am making these repeated errors. For this question I chose C, but after checking realized that answer should be B, because -

A - Hand ale pumps are compared to maintenance of gas-powered kegs
B - Correct comparison
C - Maintenance of Hand ale pumps is compared to gas-powered kegs



Hand ale pumps may slightly improve the flavor of ale over gas-powered kegs, but modern pub managers contend that hand ale pumps cost twice as much as maintaining gas-powered kegs.

A) hand ale pumps cost twice as much as maintaining gas-powered kegs

B) hand ale pumps cost twice as much to maintain as gas-powered kegs do

C) maintaining hand ale pumps costs twice as much as gas-powered kegs do

D) maintaining hand ale pumps costs twice as much as it does for gas-powered kegs

E) to maintain hand ale pumps costs twice as much as for gas-powered kegs[/quote]

The official explanation is here.