thephoenix wrote:To relieve anxiety, moderate exercise can be equally effective as, and less addictive than, most sedatives.

a. effective as, and

b. as effective as, while being

c. effectively equal to, but

d. as effective as, and

e. effective, and

IMO (D)

A) Correct IDIOM is either "EQUAL TO..." or "AS X AS". Hence, rule it out.
B) We need AND here to connect the two similar sides.
C) Same as B.
D) Correct choice. IDIOM used correctly.
E) The sentence should be correct even if remove one of the part in the pair of X AND Y. So, we remove the part, less addictive than from the sentence, then new sentence would be

To relieve anxiety, moderate exercise can be equally effective most sedatives. - Awkward construction. Hence it is wrong choice. I guess, I answered to your question.

thephoenix wrote:To relieve anxiety, moderate exercise can be equally effective as, and less addictive than, most sedatives.

a. effective as, and

b. as effective as, while being

c. effectively equal to, but

d. as effective as, and

e. effective, and

i feel equally effective and as effective as means same , if i am correct then equally and as X as sud not go together
[spoiler]source:GMAT club[/spoiler]

[spoiler]IMO: E[/spoiler]
can be equally --> as effective as, doesn't seem to go along..

I choose A.

Option D: A can be equally as effective as, and less addictive than B.

Here it seems to me that equally illogically modifies what follows.

I mean: A can be equally effective and less addictive.

What's the OA?

IMO A

Well I am not sure confused between D and E . I agree with thephoenix only one of the options should be there.

If you check Idiomatically D is the better option AS X AS . If at all you want to use AS you have to use AS X AS , as its the correct Idiom .

But if you want the answer to be concise and make sense then E is a better option .

Having said that a question having 2 such equally close options is not a good GMAT question whatever may be the reason .

Another reason to suspect is if you look at the question it self :

To relieve anxiety, moderate exercise can be equally effective as, and less addictive than, most sedatives.


The phrase in orange is an important phrase for the sentence to make sense and hence it can not be marked off by commas .

Also the source although is GMAT club some user in GMAT club must have posted this question , so all the more reason to suspect the question.

what is the OA ?

I got A..

OA ??