bubbliiiiiiii wrote:One study found that although government policy and the industrial sector in which a company operates can influence its productivity and financial strength, management decisions have at least as great an impact on a company's performance.

management decisions have at least as great an impact

Question:

Shouldn't the answer choice contain one more as to complete the comparison? at least as great an impact as?

Yes agree but only when we have Y available in the construction "...X AS GREAT AS Y..."

we do not have Y in the given sentence;

One study found that although government policy and the industrial sector in which a company operates can influence its productivity and financial strength, management decisions have at least as great an impact on a company's performance.

management decisions have at least as great an impact

decisions by management have a great impact
--> COMPARISON is absent here.

manager decisions impact greatly
--> greatly is wrong need something with "GREATLY"

decisions by a company's management impact greatly
--> same issue as C

what a company's management decides has a greater impact
--> sounded awkward and wordy

after POE A is only good although would prefer someone highlighting major issues Between A and E.

killer1387 wrote:One study found that although government policy and the industrial sector in which a company operates can influence its productivity and financial strength, management decisions have at least as great an impact on a company's performance.

management decisions have at least as great an impact

decisions by management have a great impact
--> COMPARISON is absent here.

manager decisions impact greatly
--> greatly is wrong need something with "GREATLY"

decisions by a company's management impact greatly
--> same issue as C

what a company's management decides has a greater impact
--> sounded awkward and wordy

after POE A is only good although would prefer someone highlighting major issues Between A and E.

E - when we have GREATER...we need THAN somewhere to make comparison clear. GREATER than what?

patanjali.purpose wrote: E - when we have GREATER...we need THAN somewhere to make comparison clear. GREATER than what?

nice point..!!
yeah that means when greater is used as noun then greater stands alone but when its in comparison we need a THAN somewhere.

I posted an explanation here:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/management-d ... tml#391025

Thank you all for your responses. The doubt is cleared.

bubbliiiiiiii wrote:Thank you all for your responses. The doubt is cleared.

Hi,
I did not understand how the B,C,D,E were eliminated...
I thought the answer was B... why do we need a comparison here?... please explain... thanks

Hi Nandy,

I did not understand how the B,C,D,E were eliminated...

Patanjali has already given good reasons for elimination of erroneous answer choices. Moreover, link provided by Mitch would help you further in understanding whats wrong with wrong options.

I thought the answer was B... why do we need a comparison here?... please explain... thanks

The word although in the sentence indicates that there is some contrast. Following the idiom 'Although X, Y' we can say that some stuff is being compared. Taking a closer look at the sentence states that the we are comparing the impact of government policy and industrial sector and management decisions.

Hope it helps.

I came across another such questioning testing comparison along with ellipsis.

Here it is:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/comparision- ... 79937.html