Equal Vs Equivalent

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Equal Vs Equivalent

by gmat620 » Mon Mar 16, 2009 12:19 pm
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

I searched the thread but didn't find satisfying explanation...Plz help..thanks

OA: after few responses

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Re: Equal Vs Equivalent

by Goal to 800 » Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:14 pm
I choose (e)

It uses the correct idiom "as many as" and has parallel construction.

gmat620 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 - incorrect idiom & not parallel to "US are providing job training"
(B) the equivalent of those enrolled in -not parallel & incorrectly uses those
(C) equal to those who are enrolled in - incorrect idiom & same as above
(D) as many as the enrollment of - correct idiom; however, "the enrollment of" is not parallel
(E) as many as are enrolled in

I searched the thread but didn't find satisfying explanation...Plz help..thanks

OA: after few responses



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by satish.nagdev » Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:30 pm
Equal = two things are equal
equivalent = two things are approximately similar/equal

IMO B sounds correct.

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by ronniecoleman » Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:18 pm
IMO C

people can't be equal to enrollments...can they ?


i guess...

IMO E is right

1) equal and equivalent for uncountable things
2) compare people with people
Last edited by ronniecoleman on Tue Mar 17, 2009 1:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by gmat620 » Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:17 am
OA: E....but i am confused between D and E......I somehow marked the correct answer but not sure how to reach the correct one....Can anybody explain it ?

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by gmat740 » Tue Mar 17, 2009 1:06 am
Hello,
While reading the question I was much more inclined to go for B.

Can anyone please explain why the OA is E and not B

Although E uses a correct form of idiom but I think it doesn't fit the sentence.

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by krishnakumarhod » Tue Mar 17, 2009 1:26 am
I dont remember but i read this somewhere

Equivalent to-->
Use it not to compare numbers
eg:She has the emotional capacity equivalent to that of a 2 yr old

Equal to--->

The number of dogs in the canal is equal to number of cats

Hope this helps

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by Goal to 800 » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:24 am
gmat740 wrote:Hello,
While reading the question I was much more inclined to go for B.

Can anyone please explain why the OA is E and not B

Although E uses a correct form of idiom but I think it doesn't fit the sentence.
B's sentence does not contain active tense parallelism.

the answer has to be active parallel to "are providing" hence "are enrolled"

also "Those" in choices B & C does not refer to anything (It has no antecedent)

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by Goal to 800 » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:28 am
gmat620 wrote:OA: E....but i am confused between D and E......I somehow marked the correct answer but not sure how to reach the correct one....Can anybody explain it ?
D's choice is not parallel to the original sentence.

It has the correct idiom "as many as"; however, it does not contain an active verb needed to show the impact of one action on the other action.

"United States are providing job training" to "are enrolled in..."

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New Question

by gmat740 » Fri Mar 20, 2009 8:46 am
25) According to the enrollment statistics published by U.S. medical schools, the number of female medical students is equivalent to the number of male medical students currently enrolled in medical school.


(A) the number of female medical students is equivalent to the number of male medical students currently enrolled in medical school
(B) as many female as male students are currently enrolled in medical school
(C) the number of female students is as many as that of male students currently enrolled in medical school
(D) as great as the number of female is the number of male students currently enrolled in medical school
(E) female and male students are currently enrolled in equal numbers in medical school


OA B
My answer is E

reason: less wordy and uses Equal to compare numbers instead of Equivalent