Diesel engines burn as much as 30 percent less fuel as gasoline engine

Question

Diesel engines burn as much as 30 percent less fuel  as gasoline engines with comparable size do, and they emit far less carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which have been determined to be contributing  to global warming.

(A) as gasoline engines with comparable size do, and they emit far less carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which have been determined to be contributing

(B) as gasoline engines of comparable size do, emitting far less carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which they have determined to contribute

(C) than do gasoline engines of comparable size, and they emit far less carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which have been determined to contribute

(D) than do gasoline engines of comparable size, and emitting far less carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which have been determined as contributors

(E) than gasoline engines whose size is comparable, and they emit far less carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which have been determined as contributing

Shivan21 · Accepted Answer

AS vs THAN: Since this sentence presents a comparison, THAN must be used and not AS. So  A & B  are out

THEY EMIT vs EMITTING: THEY EMIT is correct as it maintains parallelism i.e. DIESEL ENGINES BURN and THEY EMIT. So  D  is out

Between  C & E ,  E  chooses the wordy WHOSE SIZE IS COMPARABLE instead of OF COMPARABLE SIZE. Also  E  has AS CONTRIBUTING instead of more idiomatic TO CONTRIBUTE. So  E  is also out

The correct answer should be  C  in my opinion

rohitchayal · Answer

“They” in the answer is ambiguous

Posted from my mobile device

mSKR · Answer

They  can refer to the subject of previous clause in parallelism. So  they  is acceptable in C.

gmat102021 · Answer

I think the construct should be "as much as ... as"
So, I chose (B)
Another reason to eliminate C is "have been"

100mitra · Answer

Original Option A:
Diesel engines burn as much as 30 percent less fuel  as gasoline engines with comparable size do, and they emit far less carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which have been determined to be contributing  to global warming.

Intended Meaning:
1. Diesel Engine burn =<30% less fuel, than gasoline engine with same size.
2. Diesel Engine emit far less CO2 and other green house gases, which (gases) contribute to global warming.

Sentence exam on:
1. Comparison: not similarity (as much as X, as Y) but degree of superiority, (as much as X, than Y)
2. Tense: contributing (present participle) vs to contribute (Infinitive verb)
The infinitive refers to a complete action while the present participle refers to an ongoing action
3. conjuction: usage of "and"

(A)  as  gasoline engines  with comparable size do , 
and 
they emit far less carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which have been determined  to be contributing 
 Flaw: 
1. Wrong comparison, it says DE = GE (limiting only with comparable size)
2. Tense error "contributing" 
3. X as much as A, than Y - correct idiom.

(B)  as  gasoline engines of  comparable size do , 
 emitting  far less carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases
, which  they  have determined to contribute
 Flaw:  
1. Intended meaning error, "emitting far less carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases" works as a information between two comma.
comparable size modifys "Emitting", where as it must modify DE.
2. Wrong Idiom used for comparison between DE and GE, it shows DE is compared with comparable size, than GE.
3. they is ambigious, no clear referance, either is it gases or is it engines.

(C)  than  do gasoline engines of comparable size, 
and 
 they  emit far less carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases
, which have been determined to contribute
 Correct

(D) than do gasoline engines of comparable size, 
and  emitting  far less carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases
, which have been determined   as  contributors 
 Flaw:  
1. Tense Error - Emit (present tense), emiting (present particle) 
2. Comparison Flaw - as contributors, Intended meaning error
3. usage of "as" shows comparison, but usage of "to" is used for - expressing motion in the direction

(E) than gasoline engines  whose  size is comparable, 
and they emit far less carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases
, which have been determined   as  contributing 
 Flaw: 
1. "whose" limits the comparison with only those GE, whose size id comparable, creates intened meaning flaw
2. usage of "as" shows comparison, but usage of "to" is used for - expressing motion in the direction
3. tense error - "Contributing"

thedarkwolf · Answer

egmat  since there is no use of comparable words such as more , less or any other how can we use than?

thedarkwolf · Answer

KarishmaB   GMATNinja  
 x as much as Y - so cant the answer be B 
Can you throw some light on this ?

Scorpi0n · Answer

less fuel  as   X 
less fuel  than   ✓

KarishmaB · Answer

Diesel engines burn as much as 30 percent less fuel __ as/than __ do gasoline engines...

'as much as' is complete in the first part. It is not 'comparing' here. It is showing 'degree.' It stands for 'the amount could be as large as'
Take a simpler example:
The fine could be as much as 30 million dollars. (such a huge amount!!)

The comparison starts with 'less...' and we should use 'less than' not 'less as'

We could re-write the same as:
Diesel engines burn 30 percent less fuel than do gasoline engines...

Diesel engines burn as much as 30 percent less fuel as gasoline engine

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Diesel engines burn as much as 30 percent less fuel as gasoline engine

Prep Toolkit

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

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My Rewards