SC: Mixed with an equal part of water, ethylene glycol...

[dianapaolasanchez]

Mixed with an equal part of water, ethylene glycol, a compound commonly used as an automovile antifreeze, is effective at temperatures as low as - 30 degrees Fahrenheit

a. temperatures as low
b. temperatures so low
c. as low temperatures
d. as few
e. as little

For me the answer is A, I think the original sentence is correct but I am confused with B, because temperatures so low sounds good too. What is correct?

[sanyalpritish]

IMO A as low as idom usage is correct here.

wat is the OA

[cfaking]

Must be A
another good one
the-environmental-protection-agency-frequently-puts-t2469.html

IMO A as low as idom usage is correct here.

wat is the OA

[tankobe]

bumb!
in thE thread:http://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/sc-mixed-with-an-equal-part-of-water-ethylene-glycol-t9113.html
1# as small a collection as three pirated albums has occasionally drawn...
2#a collection as small as three pirated albums has occasionally drawn

Ron, you said 1# and 2# both right. as a result , A and C will be both right. but it does not; what's wrong with C?

[RonPurewal]

bumb!
in thE thread:http://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/sc-mixed-with-an-equal-part-of-water-ethylene-glycol-t9113.html
1# as small a collection as three pirated albums has occasionally drawn...
2#a collection as small as three pirated albums has occasionally drawn

Ron, you said 1# and 2# both right. as a result , A and C will be both right. but it does not; what's wrong with C?

first, let me scold you:

DO NOT "BUMP".

IF YOU "BUMP" A THREAD, IT IS AUTOMATICALLY MOVED TO LAST IN THE QUEUE.

we always answer questions in reverse order (oldest first). when you "bump" a thread, it becomes the newest thread - meaning that we won't even see it until we get through ALL of the other threads.
on a folder like this one, that can sometimes mean that your "bump" will add an extra month to the response time.

--

now, on to the question:

the construction "as ADJ a NOUN as..." is strictly limited to singular nouns, preceded by "a/an".

so:
as low a temperature as... --> ok
as low temperature as... --> not ok (the "a" is missing)
as low temperatures as... --> not ok

that's a good question.

[tankobe]

bumb!
in thE thread:http://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/sc-mixed-with-an-equal-part-of-water-ethylene-glycol-t9113.html
1# as small a collection as three pirated albums has occasionally drawn...
2#a collection as small as three pirated albums has occasionally drawn

Ron, you said 1# and 2# both right. as a result , A and C will be both right. but it does not; what's wrong with C?

first, let me scold you:

DO NOT "BUMP".

IF YOU "BUMP" A THREAD, IT IS AUTOMATICALLY MOVED TO LAST IN THE QUEUE.

we always answer questions in reverse order (oldest first). when you "bump" a thread, it becomes the newest thread - meaning that we won't even see it until we get through ALL of the other threads.
on a folder like this one, that can sometimes mean that your "bump" will add an extra month to the response time.

first, i will promise you that i will not bumb ever.

--

now, on to the question:

the construction "as ADJ a NOUN as..." is strictly limited to singular nouns, preceded by "a/an".

so:
as low a temperature as... --> ok
as low temperature as... --> not ok (the "a" is missing)
as low temperatures as... --> not ok

that's a good question.

what a great explanation!
you know what, ron, i try to find answer for this question, and i do find a lots of supposedly explanation/key/or whatever, but no one refer the singular-plural issue. obviously, i don't believe them and their key.

However, could you recheck the red part; is it a wrong sentence? see an example in the following threat,where the construct in B ressemble the red part yet is right:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/the-environmental-protection-agency-frequently-puts-t2469.html?hilit=Agency%20frequently%20puts%20mandatory%20controls%20on%20toxic%20substances

there are two related sentence, which one is better?
1# Stephen imitated a broader range of styles than that produced by someone else.
2# Stephen imitated a range of styles broader than that produced by someone else.
is 2# try to say "stephen also imitated range of styles produced by someone else", which distort the meaning.
however, see sentence below:
3# The Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope (GSMT), along with other proposed Extremely Large Telescopes (ELT's) with apertures over 20-m, is likely to impose rather different site selection criteria than those for existing large telescopes.
[source: from news, try google it]
two problems:
there is a "than" but no "-er".
it seems to day "GSMT can also impose criteria for existing large telescopes", for the same reason in 2#.
However, i know 3# may be judge a right one in GMAT, is it because "rather...than..." can also be seen as a idiom?

[dianapaolasanchez]

Mixed with an equal part of water, ethylene glycol, a compound commonly used as an automovile antifreeze, is effective at temperatures as low as - 30 degrees Fahrenheit

a. temperatures as low
b. temperatures so low
c. as low temperatures
d. as few
e. as little

For me the answer is A, I think the original sentence is correct

Any body know what is the correct answer here?

[tim]

Diana, I'm not sure if you didn't read all the other posts in this thread, but you've already asked this question and it's already been thoroughly established that the answer is A. Of course, GMAT Prep would have told you this already if the question actually came from GMAT Prep. Please do not post questions in the GMAT Prep forum that did not actually come from GMAT Prep..

[xingym]

bumb!


so:
as low a temperature as... --> ok
as low temperature as... --> not ok (the "a" is missing)
as low temperatures as... --> not ok

that's a good question.

hi Ron,

choice B of OG problem #125 states "produces twice as many apples as it did in 1990"

it seeminlgy contradicts with the rule above. Could you please clarify the differences between these situations?

[tim]

we'll clarify the differences when you clarify what you think the contradiction is. :) without understanding the contradiction you think exists, we don't know what it is we need to clarify!

[vietmoi937]

there is only 2 kind of error, gmat can test us: rule and logic

this question tests us the rules of english grammar, not logic. but the problem is that these rule are not mentioned in general grammar books and we find the question hard. But Ron give us advice that we should learn from intuition. great.

but this question is only about rules and we can learn the rules as a machine learns the rule. no logic thinking.

I summurize:

- the idiom is as adjective as
- not so is used to show negative sentence. there is no idiom "noun so adjective as"
- there is no idiom "as adjuctive plural noun as"
- there is no idiom as few/little noun as though there is idiom " as few/little as"

[tim]

I don't see a question here; let us know if you need anything specific from one of the instructors.

Meanwhile, I want to warn other students reading this thread not to take these examples as conclusive; some of them are categorically incorrect and for the rest I can't quite understand what this poster is trying to say.

[divineacclivity]

If "as low temperature as": is wrong because "a" is missing,
could you please explain why "as little risk as .." correct in:
the-environmental-protection-agency-frequently-puts-t2469.html?hilit=Agency%20frequently%20puts%20mandatory%20controls%20on%20toxic%20substances
I just can't make that out myself. Please help.
thanks.

[tim]

Ah, good question. Read up on countable versus uncountable nouns, and if that doesn't suggest the answer to you, let me know and we can talk some more about it. :)

[divineacclivity]

Ah, ok. So, if it's a countable noun, "a/an" would be required otherwise "a/an" can be skipped.

e.g.
This is as little a problem as no problem atall.
This is as little water as ... --> no article used

Does that sound good? Thank you.