dirt roads

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dirt roads

by orel » Sat Dec 06, 2008 4:25 pm
Dirt roads may evoke the bucolic simplicity of another century, but financially strained township point out that dirt roads cost twice as much maintaining paved roads.

A.
B. dirt roads cost twice as much to maintain as paved roads do
C. maintaining dirt roads costs twice as much as paved roads do
d. maintaining dirt roads costs twice as much as it does for paved roads
e. to maintain dirt roads costs twice as much as for paved roads

What do you think about D?
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by gmataug08 » Sat Dec 06, 2008 5:01 pm
I would go with B

correct things are compared.
D sounds right too, but more wordy.

what is OA?

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by aroon7 » Mon Jan 19, 2009 10:33 pm
OA is B
but are we comparing "cost of dirt roads" and "cost for maintaing paved roads"?
can someone throw light on why D is wrong...
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by Bidisha800 » Mon Jan 19, 2009 11:40 pm
Always replace ellipses to make sure they match :

dirt roads cost twice as much to maintain as paved roads cost to maintain (cost to maintain =do)
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in D

by satish.nagdev » Wed Jan 21, 2009 8:24 pm
IMO
In D [ maintaining dirt roads costs twice as much as it does for paved roads ]
doesn't seem to be idiomatic
costs X as much as Y so Y should take paved roads and not it does

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Re: in D

by aroon7 » Sat Jan 24, 2009 11:09 am
satish.nagdev wrote:IMO
In D [ maintaining dirt roads costs twice as much as it does for paved roads ]
doesn't seem to be idiomatic
costs X as much as Y so Y should take paved roads and not it does
thanks satish
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by perfectstranger » Sat Jun 13, 2009 5:04 am
A. dirt roads cost twice as much maintaining paved roads.-as much…..as is needed here uncomplete and illogically compares dirt roads to maintaining paved roads OUT -
B. dirt roads cost twice as much to maintain as paved roads do – although to maintain looks awkard it is used correctly. To maintain …. Do structurely paralel. Do means to maintain here -
C. maintaining dirt roads costs twice as much as paved roads do- maintaining dirt roads….. paved roads do a passive voice is needed here since paved roads cannot make the maintaining themselves OUT-
d. maintaining dirt roads costs twice as much as it does for paved roads –it refers to what ? dirt roads or maintaining confusing OUT-
e. to maintain dirt roads costs twice as much as for paved roads- maintaining dirt roads is compared with paved roads OUT-
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by ket » Sat Jun 13, 2009 5:23 am
I also think it's B

Why not D?

1. awkward
2. look at it again 'maintaining dirt roads costs twice as much as it does for paved roads'

after replacing 'it does' - the sentence reads - maintaining dirt roads costs twice as much as maintaining costs for paved roads.

costs for paved roads --- I think this is incorrect...

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by Domnu » Sat Jun 13, 2009 11:24 am
The pronoun 'it' doesn't refer to anything in D.
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by Arsene Lupin » Fri Jun 19, 2009 6:15 am
Domnu wrote:The pronoun 'it' doesn't refer to anything in D.
Doesn't "it" refer to "maintaining"?

I can understand the broken parallelism in D, but I still don't understand how "it" has no reference.

I appreciate your help mate.

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by kvcpk » Wed Jun 16, 2010 12:53 am
Can someone please give me a genuine reason for why the answer is not D?

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by Mahavir - Shubham » Sun Feb 19, 2012 8:02 pm
Grammatically D is correct but B is surely more concise and efficient..and GMAT loves conciseness :)

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by GMATGuruNY » Mon Feb 20, 2012 4:47 am
orel wrote:Dirt roads may evoke the bucolic simplicity of another century, but financially strained township point out that dirt roads cost twice as much maintaining paved roads.

A.
B. dirt roads cost twice as much to maintain as paved roads do
C. maintaining dirt roads costs twice as much as paved roads do
d. maintaining dirt roads costs twice as much as it does for paved roads
e. to maintain dirt roads costs twice as much as for paved roads

What do you think about D?
In D, it seems to refer to the entire phrase MAINTAINING DIRT ROADS.
Does is standing in for costs.
Thus, the implied meaning makes no sense: MAINTAINING DIRT ROADS costs twice as much as MAINTAINING DIRT ROADS costs for PAVED ROADS.
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by Mahavir - Shubham » Mon Feb 20, 2012 9:21 am
Thanks Mitch ! i think you are right :)

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