Hello Experts,
MartyTargetTestPrep, GMATNinja, GMATGuruNY, AjiteshArun, AndrewN
It seems that they (choice A and B) are talking about the 'cost of illiteracy' which has no existence in real life. So, can we cancel choice A and B for this reason?
Thanks__

Hello, TheUltimateWinner. The cost of illiteracy answers the question of what may have been estimated—you can speculate on just about anything you want, real or imaginary—so no, I would not place (A) or (B) on the chopping block for the reason you have outlined. Of course, there are other problems with the two answer choices. For instance, when I hit $20 billion a year in (B), I went back to (A) and looked for the same redundancy (after opening with the annual cost). But I would not read too deeply into these sentences. If they express a clear meaning in a concise manner, then they make a compelling case for being correct.

Thank you for thinking to ask me about this one.

- Andrew

What's costing the US here is 'illiteracy' so any choice that deviates away from that is unclear.

It has been estimated that the annual cost to the United States of illiteracy in lost industrial output and tax revenues is at least $20 billion a year.


(A) the annual cost to the United States of illiteracy in lost industrial output and tax revenues is at least $20 billion a year
-this one suffers from a modification error...illiteracy IN LOST ...
-what the sentence should be saying is that the illiteracy costs the United States $20 billion a year IN LOST...

(B) the annual cost of illiteracy to the United States is at least $20 billion a year because of lost industrial output and tax revenues
-I don't see anything obviously wrong with this one, but it's not as direct and punchy as C
-perhaps the issue is 'because of...'

(C) illiteracy costs the United States at least $20 billion a year in lost industrial output and tax revenues CORRECT

(D) $20 billion a year in lost industrial output and tax revenues is the annual cost to the United States of illiteracy
-wordy

(E) lost industrial output and tax revenues cost the United States at least $20 billion a year because of illiteracy
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