OFFICIAL EXPLANATIONProject SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC2)
Quote:
The shutting down of Good Books, the country’s popular chain of bookstores that has now decided to only sell online, has attracted criticism from book lovers across the nation, but the company’s management says that running a physical bookstore costs four times as much as it does to run an online one.
Although this fact may not be self-evident from our reading the prompt alone, one glance at the options lets us know that we are dealing with parallelism in comparisons.
More specifically, we are dealing with an SC question that demands very strict parallelism.
Quote:
A) running a physical bookstore costs four times as much as it does to run an online one.
• lack of parallelism
→ what is this "it" doing in there?
You could argue that
it has a delayed antecedent, the infinitive phrase
to run an online one.
Maybe so, but then
(1) the sentence gets unnecessarily long, and
(2) The X and Y elements are not parallel:
X = running a physical bookstore costs
Y = it does to run an online one
• Shaky comparison - parallelism is not strong
We should see like compared to like, this way:
running a physical bookstore costs four times as much as
running an online bookstore costs.
By contrast, in this sentence,
running a physical bookstore costs is compared to
it does to run an online one.→ In terms of phrasing,
it does to run an online one is okay, but if we want crystal clear comparison, this phrase is meddlesome.
On its own, without thinking about parallelism, the phrase is clear.
It does = it costs.
To run = infinitive phrase that is the delayed antecedent for
it.
An online one = an online bookstore
But this sentence tests direct comparisons, so we had better be thinking about parallelism.
Tough call.
Do not use more than 10 seconds to switch gears.
KEEP, very conservatively, but look for a better answer.
Quote:
B) a physical bookstore costs four times as much to run as an online one does.
• Correct
one = bookstore
does = costs to run
• this option correctly compares
how much a physical bookstore costs to run with
how much an online bookstore costs to run [=does].
• Can we let option A stick around? No.
In terms of clarity, concision, and clean parallelism, option B wins, hands down.
KEEP.
Quote:
C) a physical bookstore costs four times as much to run as it does for an online one.
• what does
it refer to?
Same problem as that in option A.
The option compares
a physical bookstore costs with
it does for an online one.
• this option should compare
a physical bookstore costs with
an online one [store] costs, but we get "it does for an online one
• diction error: something does not cost $X
FOR [to run]
ELIMINATE C
Quote:
D) running a physical bookstore costs four times more than an online one.
• The sentence incorrectly compares
the cost of running a physical bookstore with an
online bookstore.
ELIMINATE D
Quote:
E) to run a physical bookstore costs four times as much as for an online one.
• this sentence should compare
how much a physical bookstore costs to run with
how much an online bookstore costs to run.
→ The word
for is sneaky. And wrong. "For" cannot mean "it costs for." Yet again, the sentence is missing a comparative verb.
Not parallel.
• Style gaffe. The infinitive
to run is probably not preferred to
running.This decision point is not a major one and should be used only to break ties at the end.
ELIMINATE E
The answer is B.NOTESTakeaway: when a problem is clearly testing an issue (strict parallelism in comparisons), be strict.
At other times, when other issues are [also?] clearly at stake, focus on those issues.
Take your cue from the way that the SC is set up.
COMMENTSTough question, brave posters.
Well done.
Kudos to all.
close
24 Jul 2021, 22:50
55%
(01:37)
wrong 
