A: The use of “as great or greater” is unidiomatic and awkward
B: Same as A. Wordy and weird.
C: The use of "as great as or greater..." is wordy. Moreover, this sentence wrongly suggests that penalty is...... “of using the AC”.
D: the penalty compared is that of “air conditioning” but it should be that incurred by “using air conditioning”.
E: parallelism is maintained- “Wind resistance created by………incurred by...”.
“at least as great as” is idiomatic as well. Hence, E is the best choice.

IMO answer is option E

The correct idiom is as X as Y. A and B can be eliminated.

In C, of is the wrong preposition: the fuel penalty of using air conditioning makes no sense.

D can be eliminated because the possessive construction implies that the fuel penalty belongs to the air-conditioning. The intended meaning of the sentence is that air conditioning causes a fuel penalty to be incurred.

In E parallelism is maintained- “Wind resistance created by………incurred by...”. “At least as great as” is idiomatic as well. Hence, E is the best choice.
The correct answer should be E.

Wind resistance created by opening windows while driving results in a fuel penalty as great or greater than is incurred by using air conditioning.

(A) as great or greater than is incurred by using air conditioning
(B) that is as great or greater than is incurred using air conditioning
(C) as great as or greater than that of using air conditioning
(D) at least as great as air conditioning's
(E) at least as great as that incurred by using air conditioning

Correct usage of as in this sentence: at least "as great as"
"as great or greater than" is wrong

Eliminate (A), (B), (C)

between (D) and (E), (D) is wrong because it fails at parallelism.
Modifier " W created by X" should be parallel to "Y incurred by Z"
Also, in (E), the word "that" correctly refers to wind resistance

Therefore, Ans: (E) time 00:45

Official Explanation:

The corrected sentence should compare the fuel penalty incurred by opening windows while driving with the fuel penalty incurred by using air conditioning. Choices A and B are grammatically incomplete: as great must be as great as. Also, the noun phrase fuel penalty must be compared to a noun or pronoun; changing is incurred to that incurred would supply the missing element. Although C sets up the comparison correctly, as great as or greater than is needlessly wordy, and of using air conditioning is imprecise. In choices D and E, at least as great as expresses the comparison between fuel penalties succinctly. In D, however, air conditioning's does not indicate that a fuel penalty results froin the use of air conditioning. Choice E is best.
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Wind resistance created by opening windows while driving results in a fuel penalty as great or greater than is incurred by using air conditioning.

(A) as great or greater than is incurred by using air conditioning - Incorrect usage

(B) that is as great or greater than is incurred using air conditioning - Incorrect Usage

(C) as great as or greater than that of using air conditioning - Changes meaning.

(D) at least as great as air conditioning's - Incorrect comparison Fuel penalty by using AC is compared to fuel penalty with open window driving. Not the AC's penalty.

(E) at least as great as that incurred by using air conditioning - Correct

Error are high-lighted in RED.

Ans : E
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"that of conditioning' can happen in OA. but this is inferior to "incurred by..." . one clue leading us to OA is the preceding part contain
"result in" so, we need "incurred by.." for parallelism.

Hi,

In this case the reason, why i eliminated "E" was that it was missing a working verb "Incurred". Can you please tell me why it is okay to dont have a working verb for this sentence?

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Wind resistance created by opening windows while driving results in a fuel penalty as great or greater than is incurred by using air conditioning.

(A) as great or greater than is incurred by using air conditioning
(B) that is as great or greater than is incurred using air conditioning
(C) as great as or greater than that of using air conditioning
(D) at least as great as air conditioning's
(E) at least as great as that incurred by using air conditioning

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Hi krrishwins,

I'm not sure what you mean by "a working verb", but the main subject-verb pair is in the non-underlined portion:

Wind resistance created by opening windows while driving results in a fuel penalty at least as great as that incurred by using air conditioning.

(X results in Y.)

Incurred is a past participle (modifier, for the pronoun that).
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(A) as great or greater than is incurred by using air conditioning - if you wish to make comparison using the word numbers , use greater than
(B) that is as great or greater than is incurred using air conditioning - Same as A
(C) as great as or greater than that of using air conditioning - Same as A
(D) at least as great as air conditioning's - can be eliminated because of the possessive word. Wrong comparison between penalty and air conditioning.
(E) at least as great as that incurred by using air conditioning - Correct

Here's the official explanation provided by the GMAC for this question:

This sentence presents a comparison between the degree to which one action causes a negative consequence and the degree to which another action causes the same negative consequence. The original version says that the magnitude of the problem caused by one action is as great or greater than the magnitude of the problem caused by the other action. We say that one thing is as great as the other, not that it is as great the other. The phrase needs to be completed with a second as even if it is followed by greater than. In this sentence, the comparison can be expressed more efficiently, though, by using the logically equivalent phrase at least as great as.

Option A: As great or greater than is unidiomatic. The phrase should be as great as instead of simply as great.

Option B: As mentioned above, as great or greater than is unidiomatic. The phrase should be as great as instead of simply as great.

Option C: The complex structure as great as or greater than is slightly more awkward than the logically equivalent phrase at least as great as. That cannot plausibly refer to anything except the fuel penalty. The fuel penalty of using air conditioning does not precisely express the comparison between what is caused by wind resistance and what is caused by using air conditioning.

Option D: This is unidiomatic and imprecise. With this structure, air conditioning’s refers to air conditioning’s fuel penalty, appearing to say, illogically, that air conditioning has a fuel penalty rather than that it causes a fuel penalty.

Option E: Correct. This expresses the comparison precisely and concisely and does not contain any nonstandard diction or misleading phrasing.

The correct answer is E.

Please note that I'm not the author of this explanation. I'm just posting it here since I believe it can help the community.
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Wind resistance created by opening windows while driving results in a fuel penalty as great or greater than is incurred by using air conditioning.

We need 'at least as great as' here.


(A) as great or greater than is incurred by using air conditioning

(B) that is as great or greater than is incurred using air conditioning

(C) as great as or greater than that of using air conditioning

(D) at least as great as air conditioning's

-- Air conditioning's fuel penalty? Incorrect structure.

(E) at least as great as that incurred by using air conditioning

Answer is E.
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