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B
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
55%
(hard)
Question Stats:
56% (01:26) correct
44%
(01:31)
wrong
based on 10522
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
Dirt roads may evoke the bucolic simplicity of another century, but financially strained townships point out that dirt roads cost twice as much as maintaining paved roads.
(A) dirt roads cost twice as much as maintaining paved roads
(B) dirt roads cost twice as much to maintain as paved roads do
(C) maintaining dirt roads costs twice as much as paved roads do
(D) maintaining dirt roads costs twice as much as it does for paved roads
(E) to maintain dirt roads costs twice as much as for paved roads
(A) dirt roads cost twice as much as maintaining paved roads
(B) dirt roads cost twice as much to maintain as paved roads do
(C) maintaining dirt roads costs twice as much as paved roads do
(D) maintaining dirt roads costs twice as much as it does for paved roads
(E) to maintain dirt roads costs twice as much as for paved roads
https://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/17/nyregion/dirt-roads-deep-ruts-high-cost-but-status.html
In the beginning, there were dirt roads. In spring, tires got stuck in the mud; in summer, a film of dirt dulled shiny cars. Then there were paved roads, an indisputable sign of progress. Right?
Wrong. Across northern Westchester County and in neighboring Putnam County, dirt road devotees argue that it is worthwhile to save a disappearing network of back roads that evoke the bucolic simplicity of another century. And these advocates -- often affluent commuters to Manhattan, horse farm owners and would-be naturalists -- hold their position even as some officials of financially strapped towns point out that dirt roads cost twice as much to maintain as paved roads do.
In the beginning, there were dirt roads. In spring, tires got stuck in the mud; in summer, a film of dirt dulled shiny cars. Then there were paved roads, an indisputable sign of progress. Right?
Wrong. Across northern Westchester County and in neighboring Putnam County, dirt road devotees argue that it is worthwhile to save a disappearing network of back roads that evoke the bucolic simplicity of another century. And these advocates -- often affluent commuters to Manhattan, horse farm owners and would-be naturalists -- hold their position even as some officials of financially strapped towns point out that dirt roads cost twice as much to maintain as paved roads do.
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18 Oct 2010, 17:18
Kudos
Bookmarks
Formatting issues aside, I've always loved this question as a great example of a comparison error.
When a comparison is drawn on a sentence correction question, two major themes should jump out at you:
1) The two things compared must be compared in equivalent form.
Here, we could compare:
Dirt roads to paved roads
Maintaining dirt roads to maintaining paved roads
But comparing "the cost of maintaining dirt roads" to "paved roads" is incorrect - one is a cost, and the other is a road...they could never be alike!
Make sure that, when a comparison is drawn, you check to ensure that the two items are in equivalent form. I like to envision a balance scale from chemistry class as a mental picture. If I'm weighing a substance in a petri dish I must account for the weight of the dish on the other side of the balance! Similarly, if I'm comparing a cost of one item, I have to make sure I compare it directly to the cost of the other.
2) Comparison idioms should be in the right form.
This one doesn't have a mistake, but you should get in the habit of seeing:
"As Many As" or "As Much As" ---> Equality
"So Many That" or "So Much That" ---> Critical Mass (e.g. "there is so much pollution in the air that we can't go outside")
"More Than" or "Less Than" ---> Inequality
An easy way for the testmakers to write a wrong-but-tricky answer is to criss-cross these idioms (e.g. "As many that" or "More...as")
In this case, the comparisons are all off but one:
A) Dirt roads cost vs. Maintaining paved roads
B) Dirt roads cost vs. paved roads do ("do" takes the place of "cost") ---> CORRECT!
C) Maintaining dirt roads costs vs. paved roads cost
D) Maintaining dirt roads costs vs. it does
E) To maintain dirt roads vs. for paved roads
Only B puts each element in the same form, so B is a correct comparison while the others miss the mark.
When a comparison is drawn on a sentence correction question, two major themes should jump out at you:
1) The two things compared must be compared in equivalent form.
Here, we could compare:
Dirt roads to paved roads
Maintaining dirt roads to maintaining paved roads
But comparing "the cost of maintaining dirt roads" to "paved roads" is incorrect - one is a cost, and the other is a road...they could never be alike!
Make sure that, when a comparison is drawn, you check to ensure that the two items are in equivalent form. I like to envision a balance scale from chemistry class as a mental picture. If I'm weighing a substance in a petri dish I must account for the weight of the dish on the other side of the balance! Similarly, if I'm comparing a cost of one item, I have to make sure I compare it directly to the cost of the other.
2) Comparison idioms should be in the right form.
This one doesn't have a mistake, but you should get in the habit of seeing:
"As Many As" or "As Much As" ---> Equality
"So Many That" or "So Much That" ---> Critical Mass (e.g. "there is so much pollution in the air that we can't go outside")
"More Than" or "Less Than" ---> Inequality
An easy way for the testmakers to write a wrong-but-tricky answer is to criss-cross these idioms (e.g. "As many that" or "More...as")
In this case, the comparisons are all off but one:
A) Dirt roads cost vs. Maintaining paved roads
B) Dirt roads cost vs. paved roads do ("do" takes the place of "cost") ---> CORRECT!
C) Maintaining dirt roads costs vs. paved roads cost
D) Maintaining dirt roads costs vs. it does
E) To maintain dirt roads vs. for paved roads
Only B puts each element in the same form, so B is a correct comparison while the others miss the mark.
01 Nov 2017, 16:06
Kudos
Bookmarks
This is all about being supremely literal with comparisons, as we'll discuss in this week’s YouTube webinar. And I don't think that anybody really loves comparisons, so… I dunno, try to enjoy this one anyway.
Tricky, but definitely wrong. (C) is gone.
Just as importantly, if we’re going to use the infinitive “to maintain” as the subject of the clause, then it’s only going to makes sense if the comparison is parallel. Something like “to maintain dirt roads costs twice as much as to maintain paved roads” would at least be parallel. (E) in its current form doesn’t make any sense, since “to maintain dirt roads” is compared with just the prepositional phrase “for paved roads.”
So (B) is our winner.
Quote:
This is literally saying that dirt roads themselves cost more than maintaining paved roads. That doesn’t work: we either need to compare “maintaining dirt roads” to “maintaining paved roads” or we can compare the two types of roads. But (A) makes no sense in its current form.
Quote:
This sounds pretty good! The key here is that the word “do” can replace a verb phrase – and in this case, “do” replaces “cost… to maintain.” So this is saying that “dirt roads cost twice as much to maintain as paved roads [cost to maintain].” Great, that makes sense. Let’s keep (B).
Quote:
This is lamentably subtle. Keep in mind that “do” replaces a verb phrase – and “maintaining” is a noun (gerund) in this case, and definitely not a verb. (For more on –ing words, check out this article: https://gmatclub.com/forum/experts-topi ... 39780.html.) So this is literally saying that “maintaining dirt roads costs twice as much as paved roads [cost].” Now we’re comparing the cost of maintaining dirt roads with the cost of paved roads themselves, and that doesn’t makes sense.
Tricky, but definitely wrong. (C) is gone.
Quote:
The “it” jumps out at me here. If we’re being charitable, I suppose we could accept the idea that “it” refers back to “maintaining”, since “maintaining” is a noun. So we have “maintaining dirt roads costs twice as much as [maintaining] does for paved roads.” Really? I guess that’s not totally illogical, but it’s a muddy mess, and it’s a whole lot less clear than (B). So (D) is out, since (B) is undoubtedly clearer.
Quote:
I don’t see any reason why we would use the infinitive “to maintain” as a noun here. That’s not something that you’ll see very often in correct answers on the GMAT. I’m not 100% certain that it’s absolutely wrong, but it’s definitely inferior to (B).
Just as importantly, if we’re going to use the infinitive “to maintain” as the subject of the clause, then it’s only going to makes sense if the comparison is parallel. Something like “to maintain dirt roads costs twice as much as to maintain paved roads” would at least be parallel. (E) in its current form doesn’t make any sense, since “to maintain dirt roads” is compared with just the prepositional phrase “for paved roads.”
So (B) is our winner.
WRONG
