Sentence Correction

According to a study by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, companies in the United States are providing job training and general education for nearly eight million people, about equivalent to the enrollment of the nation's four-year colleges and universities.

(A) equivalent to the enrollment of
(B) the equivalent of those enrolled in
(C) equal to those who are enrolled in
(D) as many as the enrollment of
(E) as many as are enrolled in

lilisanei wrote:According to a study by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, companies in the United States are providing job training and general education for nearly eight million people, about equivalent to the enrollment of the nation's four-year colleges and universities.

(A) equivalent to the enrollment of
(B) the equivalent of those enrolled in
(C) equal to those who are enrolled in
(D) as many as the enrollment of
(E) as many as are enrolled in

A and D: Illegal comparison of Number of people to the enrollment of colleges. Colleges are not enrolled but the people.

B,C and E all seem correct to me but E is concise and clear and unlike B (the equivalent of those) and C it is not wordy.

I cannot see any kind of rule to rule out equivalent or equal to in this context. Please cite the source.

IMO E

IMO E

A and D are eliminated ( enrollment of )

lilisanei wrote:According to a study by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, companies in the United States are providing job training and general education for nearly eight million people, about equivalent to the enrollment of the nation's four-year colleges and universities.

(A) equivalent to the enrollment of
(B) the equivalent of those enrolled in
(C) equal to those who are enrolled in
(D) as many as the enrollment of
(E) as many as are enrolled in

lilisanei wrote:According to a study by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, companies in the United States are providing job training and general education for nearly eight million people, about equivalent to the enrollment of the nation's four-year colleges and universities.

(A) equivalent to the enrollment of
(B) the equivalent of those enrolled in
(C) equal to those who are enrolled in
(D) as many as the enrollment of
(E) as many as are enrolled in

Please do the following:

1. Underline properly.
2. Refresh the sentence in a manner so that all can read easily.

The deals:


First Deal:

Equivalent is used in case of NON-COUNT NOUNS.

Example:

Equivalent amount of milk....
Equivalent amount of water...
An equivalent amount of power...

This kills A and B.

Second Deal

People cannot be equal to those---rather 800 people can be equal to the number of those.

This kills C.

Third Deal:

8 million people, about as many as the enrollment of the nation's four-year colleges and universities.

---> What does this mean?

This means that "some colleges and universities have been newly enrolled in the nation within four years"

AND "8 million people is as many as the number of enrolled colleges and universities."

--> This kills D.

Answer is E, which is concise and free from ambiguity.

Thanks.