Hello Everyone!
Let's take a look at this question, one issue at a time, and figure out which option is correct.
According to a recent study, retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as to receive it from them.
A. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as
B. retirees in the United States are four times as likely to give regular financial aid to their children as it is for them
C. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children than
D. it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than they are
E. it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they are
After doing a quick scan over the options, there are a couple glaring differences between each option than we can focus on:
1. How they begin: "...retirees in the United States..." vs. "...it is four times more likely..."
2. How they end: "as" / "as it is" / "than" / "than they are" / "as they are"
Since #1 on our list will knock out 2-3 options immediately, let's start by figuring out how the phrase should start. Right away, we notice that options D and E use vague pronouns:
D. it is four times more likely for retirees in the United States to give regular financial aid to their children than they are
E. it is four times as likely that retirees in the United States will give their children regular financial aid as they are
What is "it" referring to here? We don't know - and that is a MAJOR problem. All pronouns need clear antecedents! Options D and E can be tossed out as INCORRECT because they include pronouns without antecedents.
That leaves us with options A, B, and C. Let's take a closer look at how each option ends. Each one needs to use parallel structure and follow idiomatic rules, so let's focus on how well each accomplishes these tasks:
A. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children as
This is INCORRECT because it doesn't follow the proper idiomatic structure "more likely to X than Y." It says "more likely to X as Y," which is wrong.
B. retirees in the United States are four times as likely to give regular financial aid to their children as it is for them
This is INCORRECT because of pronoun agreement issues. The singular pronoun "it" is either referring back to the plural "retirees," which doesn't match up in number, or to nothing at all, which we know from earlier is a problem.
C. retirees in the United States are four times more likely to give regular financial aid to their children than
This is CORRECT because it uses the correct idiomatic structure "X is more likely to...than Y." Also, all pronouns are in agreement!
There you go - option C is the right answer!
Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.
