Retailers reported moderate gains in their November sales,

Question

Retailers reported moderate gains in their November sales, as much because  of their sales of a year earlier being so bad as that  shoppers were getting a head start on buying their holiday gifts.

A. of their sales of a year earlier being so bad as that
B. of their sales a year earlier having been as bad as because
C. of their sales a year earlier being as bad as because
D. their sales a year earlier had been so bad as because
E. their sales of a year earlier were as bad as that

foraj · Answer

This is a tough one, I would go with E, just because it sounds better than the other ones.

ruhi · Answer

D for me.

1) maintains ||ism.. "as much because... as because"

2) uses "had been" which explains one past action followed by another past action.

gladiator · Answer

Yup: "D" maintains parallelism. "D" is my choice

crackgmat04 · Answer

Hi Everyone,

Yes....the OA is D


I agree that only D has the right parallel structure....but i did not like the "So bad" part in the sentence....doesnt sound right to me .....

Is this an accepted usage.... 

as much because their sales a year earlier had been  so bad  ...as because XYZ

patrickpui · Answer

totally agree with ruhi160184 on his answer. Another perspective is that "as much ... as" is the required Idiom usage.

Retailers reported moderate gains in their November sales,

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