Normally associated with airplane construction, wind-tunnel testing ha

Question

Project SC Butler: Day 162: Sentence Correction (SC2) 
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Normally associated with airplane construction, wind-tunnel testing has also been applied to automobiles, not so much to calculate aerodynamic forces as  determining ways to reduce the power required to move vehicles on roadways  at a given speed.

A) determining ways to reduce the power required to move vehicles on roadways

B) to determine ways to reduce the power required for the moving of vehicles on roadways

C) it has determined ways to reduce the power required for the moving of vehicles on roadways

D) in the determination of ways to reduce power required to move vehicles on roadways

E) to determine ways to reduce the power required to move vehicles on roadways

generis · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

I truly have no idea where to start. My test just went off the rails.

What was my test? To see whether you remembered the idiom 
 NOT SO MUCH X AS Y.  
That idiom anchors  this question, here .

On that topic thread I explained the idiom in  this post, here .

The good news is that you all can handle mechanical parallelism..

I am not convinced that I see an understanding of what this sentence  means. 
On the other hand, elimination is quick and easy, so I can't tell whether you took the short route (smart move) but still understand the sentence.

• Meaning  
NOT SO MUCH X AS Y (a preposition can be added, but  those words are the basic idiom )

When we say that something is not so much one thing as something else, we mean that the something is "more" the second thing.

Typically wind tunnel testing is used on airplanes as they are being built.
Wind tunnel testing tells builders whether the airplane is aerodynamic—whether its shape reduces the drag from air that moves past the airplane as the plane flies through the air.
Planes that are not aerodynamic do not fly. They must be  built  properly.

Wind tunnel testing is also done on cars.
Cars don't fly. Wind tunnel testing is done in part to test whether the shape of the cars is aerodynamic.
But the bigger reason wind tunnel testing is done on cars is that testers want to make the cars more power efficient.
The cars can drive even if they are not very aerodynamic. But wind tunnel testing helps to determine ways to make the cars use less power while driving on a road.

Cars are subject to wind tunnel testing not so much to ensure that they can cut through the air with little resistance in order to work properly as to determine ways to make cars use less power as they drive on roads.

And yes, the grammatical splits help a lot.

• Split #1: Parallelism - to maintain parallelism,  to calculate  must be paired with  to determine   
Wind tunnel testing is used on cars    to calculate  . . . as  to determine  ways . . . .

In options A, C, and D, the X and Y elements are not parallel.

To determine  is correct because the phrase is parallel with  to calculate 
Option (A) incorrectly uses  determining  
Option (C) incorrectly uses  it has determined 
Option (D) incorrectly uses  in the determination of

Eliminate A, C, and D

• Split #2: the correct idiom is  required TO , not  required for the ___ING of

Aside from idiom, you could use concision to decide between B and E.
(B) required for the moving of 
(D) required to move

Option D is clearer and more concise than B.

Idiom?
This one you just have to remember. 
When require is a verb or past participle (verbED) it is followed by TO.
-- He is required to do community service.
-- Visas, required to enter the country, are hard to get.

If you see that X is required for Y, ask, is X required  in order to do  Y?
If so, then the sentence should say X is required to do why.

Require overwhelmingly takes TO or THAT and nothing else.
Option B uses "required for the moving of . . . " Not idiomatic.
Eliminate B.

The answer is E

COMMENTS

LalitaSiri  and  RichiSharma  , welcome to SC Butler.  TheNighking  -- your avatar is awesome.

Everyone handled parallelism and the awkward wording in B very well.
See whether you can articulate what the sentence means. (Two of you can. I can see it.)
Kudos to all.

** The idiom, by the way, is NOT SO MUCH X AS Y.
Variations on that idiom are
NOT SO MUCH BY X AS BY Y
NOT SO MUCH TO X AS TO Y

I'm just making sure that people understand the general idiom.
Prepositions can be added to that idiom, as is the case in this question.

Doer01 · Answer

Hi,
 I'd go with E.
 The author is trying to convey that the wind tunnels that has been used so far in aviation, are now being used by car manufacturers to determine ways to reduce the power required to move vehicles on roadways.

There is no SV agreement or pronoun issue here as the main clause is in non underlined portion and latter is just not there.

what we see here is an unidiomatic construction.  Not so much to X as to Y.  (I have no idea whether such an idiom exists. It just does not sound kind of parallel.)
Since first half,not so much to calculate aerodynamic forces, is in non underlined portion, second half must be parallel in construction and convey correct meaning.

A,C & D are unidiomatic and thus, incorrect.

B) to determine ways to reduce the power required   for the moving of vehicles on roadways   : Not the best way to convey the message here.

E) to determine ways to reduce the power required to move vehicles on roadways: most concise and idiomatic of all five choices.

zhanbo · Answer

I chose  (E) .

For parallel structure, we should use "Not so much to ... as to". (A) (C) (D) can be eliminated.

Between B and E, E is much preferred as it uses the verb in active mode (to move) instead of unnatural and long-winded gerund (the moving of）.

LalitaSiri · Answer

Normally associated with airplane construction, wind-tunnel testing has also been applied to automobiles, not so much to calculate aerodynamic forces as determining ways to reduce the power required to move vehicles on roadways at a given speed.

A) determining ways to reduce the power required to move vehicles on roadways

B) to determine ways to reduce the power required for the moving of vehicles on roadways

C) it has determined ways to reduce the power required for the moving of vehicles on roadways

D) in the determination of ways to reduce power required to move vehicles on roadways

E) to determine ways to reduce the power required to move vehicles on roadways

Check the Parallelism.
 not so (much) to... as to... 
thus, eliminate A,C,D.

Between B and E, the difference is "required to" or "required for"

required to do something - use to explain the purpose
required for - means necessary

In this case, choice E is more concise and convey the intended meaning.

shridhar786 · Answer

A) determining ways to reduce the power required to move vehicles on roadways
Not so much X as Y is the correct idiom---X and Y should be parallel
what follows  much  should also follow  as  to maintain the parallelism
Not so much  to calculate aerodynamic forces  as  determining ways to reduce  --parallelism error (incorrect)

B) to determine ways to reduce the power required  for the moving of vehicles  on roadways
required for the moving of vehicles---not the correct way to say and wordy---required to is required (incorrect)

C) it has determined ways to reduce the power required for the moving of vehicles on roadways
Not so much  to calculate aerodynamic forces  as  it has determined ways to reduce 
Not so much to___as to---to maintain parallelism to is required after as

D) in the determination of ways to reduce power required to move vehicles on roadways
Not so much  to calculate aerodynamic forces  as  in the determination of ways to reduce power 
(incorrect)

E)  to determine  ways to reduce the power  required to move  vehicles on roadways
Not so much  to calculate aerodynamic forces  as   to determine ----maintains parallelism
--required to--is correct here concise and idiomatic (correct)

generis  can you please elaborate on ---required to vs required for

Lampard42 · Answer

A)  determining ways  to reduce the power required to move vehicles on roadways  - Not parallel with "to calculate aerodynamic forces"

B) to determine ways to reduce the power required  for the moving of vehicles  on roadways  - Awkward. Felt option E is better?

C)  it has determined ways  to reduce the power required for the moving of vehicles on roadways  - Same as option A

D)  in the determination of  ways to reduce power required to move vehicles on roadways   - Same as option A

E) to determine ways to reduce the power required to move vehicles on roadways -  Correct. Maintains parallelism

exc4libur · Answer

MEANING
wind testing has also been applied to automobiles, not so much TO… as TO determine ways to reduce the power… to move;

A) "determining" not parallel;
B) "required for the moving" unintended;
C) "it has determined…" not parallel;
D) "in the determination" not parallel;

Answer (E)

ahabib · Answer

1st split: Not so much  to    as  to

A)  determining  ways to reduce the power required to move vehicles on roadways 
 
 B) to determine ways to reduce the power required  for the moving of vehicles  on roadways 
 
 C)  it has  determined ways to reduce the power required  for the moving of vehicles  on roadways
 
 D)  in  the determination of ways to reduce power required to move vehicles on roadways 
 
 E)  to  determine ways to reduce the power required to move vehicles on roadways

(E) is more concise than (C) and conveys the same meaning.

nishthagupta · Answer

) determining ways to reduce the power required to move vehicles on roadways - Not parallel with "to calculate aerodynamic forces"

B) to determine ways to reduce the power required for the moving of vehicles on roadways - Awkward. Felt option E is better?

C) it has determined ways to reduce the power required for the moving of vehicles on roadways - Same as option A

D) in the determination of ways to reduce power required to move vehicles on roadways - Same as option A

E) to determine ways to reduce the power required to move vehicles on roadways - Correct. Maintains parallelism

Posted from my mobile device

J2S2019 · Answer

IMO correct option is E

Normally associated with airplane construction, wind-tunnel testing has also been applied to automobiles, not so much  to calculate  aerodynamic forces as determining ways to reduce the power required to move vehicles on roadways at a given speed.

A)  determining  ways to reduce the power required to move vehicles on roadways - Parallelism issue, not so much X as Y - X & Y should be parallel with each other - Incorrect

B) to determine ways to reduce the power required  for the moving   of vehicles on roadways - E is better than B; Incorrect

C) it  has determined  ways to reduce the power required for the moving of vehicles on roadways - Same as A

D)  in the determination  of ways to reduce power required to move vehicles on roadways - Same as A

E)  to determine  ways to reduce the power required to move vehicles on roadways - Correct

RichiSharma · Answer

Normally associated with airplane construction, wind-tunnel testing has also been applied to automobiles, not so much to calculate aerodynamic forces as  determining ways to reduce the power required to move vehicles on roadways  at a given speed.

A)  determining  ways to reduce the power required  to move  vehicles on roadways

B)  to determine  ways to reduce the power required  for the moving  of vehicles on roadways

C)  it has determined  ways to reduce the power required  for the moving  of vehicles on roadways

D)  in the determination of  ways to reduce power required  to move  vehicles on roadways

E)  to determine  ways to reduce the power required  to move  vehicles on roadways

In this question 
First: idiom is tested.
 not so much to X as to Y 
so the answer options A, C and D is eliminated

Second: In remaining answer choice B "for the moving of" is wordy. Instead "to move" is correct
also "required to" is correct construction
so correct answer choice is "E"

TheNightKing · Answer

Let's try this.
 Normally associated with airplane construction, wind-tunnel testing has also been applied to automobiles, not so much to calculate  - If you were careful when reading this part of the sentence then you should have realize you just read "not so much to XX" and in the later part of the sentence you will need one more "to" after the comparative "as" to make things parallel.
That itself helps you get rid of A C and D.

Between B and E: "required for the moving of" vs "required to move vehicles". I mean E is the better structure and more concise.

Hence E.
Thank you!

amitanshumaity · Answer

Normally associated with airplane construction, wind-tunnel testing has also been applied to automobiles, not so much to calculate aerodynamic forces as determining ways to reduce the power required to move vehicles on roadways at a given speed.

Parallelism is the key here. When we use the Idiom' Not so much X as Y'. It basically means to prefer Y over X.
Where the elements X and Y must be parallel to logically convey the meaning.

X= to calculate Y= determining . So, clearly, parallelism is not maintained and choice E conveys the correct meaning by modifying determining to to determine.

IMHO E

generis · Answer

I have posted the official explanation  HERE

fauji · Answer

IMO option E 
On reading the sentence, noticed "Not So...As" should be followed by "to". Negated options A,C, and D.
Between option B and E:
B) to determine ways to reduce the power required  for the moving of  vehicles on roadways - use of 'For' is not correct here.
E) to determine ways to reduce the power required to move vehicles on roadways - Correct usage of 'to' - says 'in order to do something'.

Normally associated with airplane construction, wind-tunnel testing ha

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Normally associated with airplane construction, wind-tunnel testing ha

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

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Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards