Sentence Correction

An invetory equal to 90 days sales is as much as even the strongest businesses carry, and then only as a way to anticipate higher prices or ensure against shortages.
(A) as much as even
(B) so much as even
(C) even so much as
(D) even as much that
(E) even so much that

OA A

imo E

andrey_tsi wrote:An invetory equal to 90 days sales is as much as even the strongest businesses carry, and then only as a way to anticipate higher prices or ensure against shortages.
(A) as much as even
(B) so much as even
(C) even so much as
(D) even as much that
(E) even so much that

This is correct as written. The proper idiom is "as much as." The sentence could be rearranged to say "Even the strongest businesses carry [only] an inventory equal to 90 days' sales...." From that, you can see that "even" should be modifying "the strongest businesses," which allows us to eliminate C, D, and E. The only difference between A and B is the idiom.

A is the correct answer