HOT Competition (Instagram) 1 Sep/10:00AM: In a recent study, research

Question

In a recent study, researchers reported that several times more carbon dioxide could be removed from the atmosphere by using  sequestration techniques like enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even artificial trees than by  changing the entire world’s automobile fleet to electric vehicles.

A. sequestration techniques like enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even artificial trees than by

B. sequestration techniques like enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even artificial trees than would be by

C. such sequestration techniques as enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even by artificial trees as

D. such sequestration techniques as enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even artificial trees as by

E. such sequestration techniques as enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even artificial trees than by

V34-02

GMATNinja · Accepted Answer

Unless you’re brand-new to GMAT SC, you probably know the deal here: if we’re introducing examples, the GMAT prefers “such as” over “like.” That’s enough to eliminate (A).

In case you’re wondering, the parallelism is fine here: “... enhanced rock weathering ,  scrubbing towers , and perhaps even  artificial trees …” We have three parallel nouns, so there’s no problem. Don’t be fooled by the phrase “perhaps even” -- that’s just a modifier that adds a little bit of extra commentary about the artificial trees, but it doesn’t fundamentally change the parallelism.

In other words, we still have three logically parallel nouns; the author just had a tiny bit more to say about the artificial trees.

Anyway, (A) is out because of the “like” issue.

The only difference between (A) and (B) is the addition of the phrase “would be” in (B). That phrase isn’t great, because the following is the fundamental comparison that happens in the sentence:

Several times more carbon dioxide could be removed from the atmosphere:

by  using sequestration techniques such as W, X, and Y... 
than 
 by  changing Z

Why would we need to insert the phrase “would be” before the “by”? It’s unnecessary at best, confusing at worst.

Anyway, the “like” problem is an even clearer problem, just like in (A). So (B) is gone.

We have “such as” here, and that’s good. But we have a parallelism issue now: “... enhanced rock weathering ,  scrubbing towers , and perhaps even   by  artificial trees …”

Whoa. What’s the “by” doing there? We have “... (noun), (noun), (gratuitous preposition)(noun)...” And that’s not OK. (C) is out.

Let’s line up these last two side-by-side:
 
The only difference here is “as” vs. “than”. Here’s a hint:

Would you follow that phrase with a “than” or an “as”? Well, would you say "I ate four times more burritos AS  bb  last night"? Nope -- I ate four times more burritos THAN  bb .

The same is true here. Several times MORE carbon dioxide can be removed by using (techniques W, X, Y) THAN by using (technique Z).

So (E) is the answer.

And in case you're wondering: it is absolutely not a problem to separate the "such" and the "as".  Here's an example of that from an official question .

Jks3000 · Answer

A. techniques  like  enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even artificial trees than by  -- "LIKE" is never used to give examples. "such as" must be used to give examples.

B. techniques  like  enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even artificial trees than  would be  by  -- "LIKE" is never used to give examples. "such as" must be used to give examples. Also, use of "would be" is incorrect.

C. such techniques as enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even  by  artificial trees  as   -- WRONG. The use of "by artificial" distorts the parallelism. Also the use of "as" is incorrect. Correct idiom is "More..Than".

D. such techniques as enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even artificial trees  as  by  -- -- WRONG. The use of "as" is incorrect. Correct idiom is "More..Than".

E. such techniques as enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even artificial trees than by  -- CORRECT.

Posted from my mobile device

MayankSingh · Answer

IMO E

Concept  :  
"Like Vs Such as"  - Like is used for comparison, Such as is used to present examples.
Idiom:  More X than Y

Ques:  In a recent study, researchers reported that several times  more  carbon dioxide could be removed from the atmosphere by using sequestration  techniques  like  enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even artificial trees  than  by  changing the entire world’s automobile fleet to electric vehicles.

A.  techniques  like  enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even artificial trees than by  -   Incorrect   -
 Use of  "Like"  top present example is wrong.

B.  techniques  like  enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even artificial trees than   would be  by -   Incorrect   -
 Use of  "Like"  top present example is wrong. E
Parallelism Break: "More CO2 could be removed  by  XYZ than  Would be   by  PQR"

C.   such  techniques  as  enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even by artificial trees  as   -   Incorrect   -
 "Uses of Such As' to Give example is OK.
Idiom Error:  "More X as Y"  is not idiomatic

D.   such  techniques  as  enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even artificial trees  as  by  -   Incorrect   -
 "Uses of Such As' to Give example is OK.
Idiom Error:  "More X as Y"  is not idiomatic

E.   such  techniques  as  enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even artificial trees  than  by    Correct  
 "Uses of Such As' to Give example is OK.
Idiom is also correct " More X than Y" & parallelism is maintained- " More by X ...than by Y....

Posted from my mobile device

EatMyDosa · Answer

Structure

• In a recent study, –   prepositional phrase; modifies the main verb (“reported”)  
• researchers reported that several times more carbon dioxide could be removed from the atmosphere -  main clause; SV pair – “researchers”, reported  
• by using sequestration techniques like enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even artificial trees than –   prepositional phrase; modifies the verb “could be removed”  
• by changing the entire world’s automobile fleet to electric vehicles -   prepositional phrase; modifies the verb “could be removed”

Meaning/Crux

Researchers reported that more CO2 can be removed from atmosphere using sequestration techniques compared to the amount of CO2 that can be removed by changing all automobile vehicles to electric vehicles.

Error Analysis

A. techniques like enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even artificial trees than by 
  CORRECT

B. techniques like enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even artificial trees than   would be   by

Ellipsis error   – Whenever we repeat certain words that are skipped for clarity, we must repeat the exact verbs that are repeated elsewhere in the sentence. Here if we have to repeat the missing words then the entire set of words should be repeated i.e. than “  could be removed from the atmosphere  ”. Therefore, repetition of “would be” is incorrect.

REJECT 
 
C.   such techniques as   enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even   by   artificial trees   as

Idiom error   - use of “ such technique as ” is  unidiomati c in this sentence structure. It should ideally be “technique such as”
  Parallelism error   – use of “ by ”  violates parallelism  (could be removed  by   using sequestration techniques  and  perhaps even   artificial trees   )
  Comparison error   – use of “ as ” for comparison is  incorrect . “than” is preferred here.

REJECT

D.   such techniques as   enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even artificial trees   as   by

Idiom error   - Use of “ such technique as ” is  unidiomati c in this sentence structure. It should ideally be “technique such as”
  Comparison error   – use of “ as ” for comparison is  incorrect . “than” is preferred here.

REJECT

E.   such techniques as   enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even artificial trees than by

Idiom error   - Use of “ such technique as ” is  unidiomatic  in this sentence structure. It should ideally be “technique such as”

REJECT

Bambi2021 · Answer

Im not the native here and I know that "like" is not used to introduce examples, but of all the hundreds of SC questions I have tried Ive never met a correct option that sounds so terribly wrong as this one:

"...by using sequestration such techniques as..."

Its not that "such" and "as" are separated, but the sentence is clearly lacking words. Does it really sound correct to you?

Some minor corrections that would improve the sentence could be:

1. "...by using such sequestration techniques as..."

2. "...by using for sequestration such techniques as..."

3. "...by using sequestration techniques such as..."

Thanks in advance.

Posted from my mobile device

GMATNinja · Answer

Great catch! The original post was indeed flawed. The typos have been fixed, and the people responsible for the typo have been flogged accordingly. Sorry for the confusion!

Crytiocanalyst · Answer

A. sequestration techniques like enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even artificial trees than by 
except for the usage of like everything is perfect however out

B. sequestration techniques like enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even artificial trees than would be by 
would be isn't the right usage than by is the perfect usbstitute and like isn't used for comparison

C. such sequestration techniques as enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even by artificial trees as
as in the end is not the correct usage therefore out

D. such sequestration techniques as enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even artificial trees as by
as by isn't conveying the right meaning

E. such sequestration techniques as enhanced rock weathering, scrubbing towers, and perhaps even artificial trees than by
The meaning is perfect and the comparison is spot on hence our option

Therefore IMO E

VerbalBot · Answer

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HOT Competition (Instagram) 1 Sep/10:00AM: In a recent study, research

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HOT Competition (Instagram) 1 Sep/10:00AM: In a recent study, research

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