Sentence Correction

40. 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

OA is E

Can someone explain why?

"as many as are"?? I got C.

I answered C at first, it does not match the OA!

C and E was the thought initially, can't spot error in either. C is a bit wordy though.

this question tests whether you know idiom "as many as". By keeping in mind, try to see what will be the answer.

my pick is E.
Why C is not the answer? As many as.
and equal to and as many as are different notion and meaning.
that is why.

Please correct me if I am wrong.
thank you.
hope for the best!


one more thing,
equivalent to... is very vague. so stay away from this monster.

and equal to.... this means pretty much "EXACTLY" for example,
one plus one equal to two.
you know what I mean? so you can't say that will be "equal to" but you can round up saying, as many as.
that's the whole point.

i hope this helps.

hitmewithgmat wrote:this question tests whether you know idiom "as many as". By keeping in mind, try to see what will be the answer.

my pick is E.
Why C is not the answer? As many as.
and equal to and as many as are different notion and meaning.
that is why.

Please correct me if I am wrong.
thank you.
hope for the best!


one more thing,
equivalent to... is very vague. so stay away from this monster.

and equal to.... this means pretty much "EXACTLY" for example,
one plus one equal to two.
you know what I mean? so you can't say that will be "equal to" but you can round up saying, as many as.
that's the whole point.

i hope this helps.

i kinda disagree...

"i have equal number of pens as you do"
"i have as many pens as you do"

they both convey the same meaning..now, i agree that equal can be used sometimes to compare qualitative stuff such as "equal opportunity/rights etc." whereas as many as is used more often for comparing numbers. In this case though, both refer to the number of students enrolled.

I could be wrong but just a thought..

well, if you chose C then the implication suggests that you are comparing qualitative characteristics of people.. basically saying that people enrolled are equal to people in general training, not their number..


then in E you might be thrown off by what seems to be a tense mismatch (enrolled= past, rest of the sentence present continuous). So u have to use a bit of logic here and see that the training is a continuous thing(it can go on for years) whereas enrollment is binary(you are either enrolled or not) therefore it can only exist in the past, hence no tense mismatch

"as" suggests action comparison and "many" suggests number, which coincides with the logic of the sentence

E is therefore is the only plausible answer


C would be correct if it looked like this: " equal in amount to those who are enrolled in" where it clarifies that the numbers of people is used to compare enrollment to general education

does that seem reasonable ?

https://dictionary.reference.com/browse/equal

"...like or alike in quantity, degree, value, etc..."

c is wrong coz it is not a number and cant be equilated

Why D is incorrect?

OA?

40. 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

Point of this question:
1. Idiom problem
"enroll in" is the right idiom.

so eliminate A and D right away.


to clarify....
equivalent to- having the same value, purpose or thing of a different kind.
so since the usage of "about".. the anser cannot be the "equivalent to".

"about as many as are enrolled in" is more logical than "equivalent to"

"equal" is always used with uncountables. -Source OG

such as -equal justice

here, we refer to the no of people ..hence "many" ( used with countable) is required.

I think there is a question based on similar logic in OG Verbal supplement