The easiest way of handling the ellipsis questions such as these is to first mentally formulate the entire correct sentence and then see which words can be skipped without jeopardizing the meaning. The entire correct sentence would be:

Wind resistance created by opening windows while driving results in a fuel penalty (at least as great as / greater than) fuel penalty incurred by using air conditioning.

So, once we have the entire sentence, it is easy to analyze the answer choices:

A. as is missing (the correct usage is: as great as). At the very least, this option should have been: as great as or greater than

B. Same as A above: as is missing. Also, the is in the latter part of the sentence (than is incurred using air conditioning) is redundant. Following would have been better:

that is as great as or greater than that incurred using air conditioning

C. ...than (fuel penalty) that of using air conditioning... of is an issue here. by as used in the entire sentence is the correct usage.

D. As stated in another reply, air conditioning's fuel penalty seems to suggest that air conditioning possesses fuel penalty.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

shweta.kalra wrote:Hi mitch,
thnks for the reply
I HAV ONE QUESTION
WUD IT BE REDUNDANT TO SAY=
AS GREAT AS OR GREATER THAN IS INCURRED BY USING AIR CONDITIONING

I would be skeptical of an answer choice that uses as great as or greater than. The construction at least as great as is more concise.

Hi Mitch shweta wrote "****than is incurred by ". Is it correct to say "than is incurred by "

GMATGuruNY wrote:

In C, of is the wrong preposition: the fuel penalty of using air conditioning makes no sense.

Mitch,

Understand that C has a problem with the first part - as great as or greater than - not a concise construction.

Why is of the wrong preposition in the fuel penalty of using air conditioning? If you forget the rest of the sentence, how else would you write the phrase - the fuel penalty of using air conditioning. Would it be "fuel penalty in"?

mundasingh123 wrote:

GMATGuruNY wrote:

shweta.kalra wrote:Hi mitch,
thnks for the reply
I HAV ONE QUESTION
WUD IT BE REDUNDANT TO SAY=
AS GREAT AS OR GREATER THAN IS INCURRED BY USING AIR CONDITIONING

I would be skeptical of an answer choice that uses as great as or greater than. The construction at least as great as is more concise.

Hi Mitch shweta wrote "****than is incurred by ". Is it correct to say "than is incurred by "

The following is incorrect:

Wind resistance results in a penalty greater than is incurred by using air conditioning.

Since two different penalties are being compared -- the penalty that is the result of wind resistance and the penalty that is incurred by using air conditioning -- the sentence above requires a pronoun:

Wind resistance results in a penalty greater than that incurred by using air conditioning.

The following sentence is correct:

The price is higher than was expected.

No pronoun is needed in the sentence above because both verb phrases (is higher and was expected) are referring to the same price.

Hope this helps!

stormier wrote:

GMATGuruNY wrote:

In C, of is the wrong preposition: the fuel penalty of using air conditioning makes no sense.

Mitch,

Understand that C has a problem with the first part - as great as or greater than - not a concise construction.

Why is of the wrong preposition in the fuel penalty of using air conditioning? If you forget the rest of the sentence, how else would you write the phrase - the fuel penalty of using air conditioning. Would it be "fuel penalty in"?

The correct idiom would be the penalty for using air conditioning. Please note, however, that this idiom would change the intended meaning: it would suggest that an outside body (such as the government) is imposing the penalty.

IMO-E

d is the answer mainly i concentrated as great as, and e is so lengthily

IMO E.

I managed to do this in just under 1 minute, my thought process was as follows

A) 'Is' should be 'that'. Plus 'as great or greater than' is unecessarily wordy. ELIMINATE
B) Same issues as A). ELIMINATE
C) Wasn't clear / Didn't make sense, but could not pick specific error. Didn't immediately eliminate but moved on...
D) Possesive for inanimate objects are not ideal. ELIMINATE
E) Aha, 'is' is replaced with 'that' AND the concision issue is fixed. Clear favorite. Cross out C and choose E.

IMO E

Answer is E.

my official answer is E

IMO E.

(E) is the correct answer as it is concise and grammatically correct.

IMO: E