SC question

[ANIMESHG379]

Even though more money was removed out of stock funds in July as in any month since October 1987, sales of fund shares in July were not as low as an industry trade group had
previously estimated.

A. as in any month since October 1987, sales of fund shares in July were not as low
as
B. as had been in any other month since October 1987, sales of fund shares in July
were not as low as what
C. than there was in any other month since October 1987, sales of fund shares in July
were not as low as that which
D. than in any month since October 1987, sales of fund shares in July were not as
low as
E. than in any other month since October 1987, sales of fund shares in July were not
as low as what

Please help me understand why E and not D?

[harpreetsinghbajaj]

any other month not any month (means including this month as well

[ANIMESHG379]

I feel both any month and "any other month" are correct. (correct me if i am wrong).
I have confusion over "as low as what an industry.." part.

I feel "what" is not required? Please help.

[harpreetsinghbajaj]

"any month" will compare all months including july itself. Correct usage to compare between July and rest of months is "any other month"

[ANIMESHG379]

Thanks man. That makes sense.

And I had some confusion regarding the usage of "what" as well but I read a similar thread with Ron's explanation and that helped.

[RonPurewal]

if there is any further discussion, we'll need a citation of the original source.

[rohit.manglik]

In this sentence: Bob runs faster than any man in the world. He can't run faster than himself!

In this case Bob is a subset of Man so usage of "other" makes sense.

However, in our case we have July and any month since October. July'87 is not a subset of any month since October'87. So isn't the usage of "other" unnecessary over here?

[RonPurewal]

In this sentence: Bob runs faster than any man in the world. He can't run faster than himself!

In this case Bob is a subset of Man so usage of "other" makes sense.

However, in our case we have July and any month since October. July'87 is not a subset of any month since October'87. So isn't the usage of "other" unnecessary over here?

in this sentence—which, presumably, comes from some news-type source—'july' would be the most recent july (NOT july 1987).

if the sentence meant july 1987, it would say 'july 1987'. (also, a bit of thinking about the context should make it clear that it's not 'july 1987 vs. all the months from october 1987 onward'... because that would just be weird.)

[rohit.manglik]

Now I got it. Thanks Ron.

In this sentence: Bob runs faster than any man in the world. He can't run faster than himself!

In this case Bob is a subset of Man so usage of "other" makes sense.

However, in our case we have July and any month since October. July'87 is not a subset of any month since October'87. So isn't the usage of "other" unnecessary over here?

in this sentence—which, presumably, comes from some news-type source—'july' would be the most recent july (NOT july 1987).

if the sentence meant july 1987, it would say 'july 1987'. (also, a bit of thinking about the context should make it clear that it's not 'july 1987 vs. all the months from october 1987 onward'... because that would just be weird.)

[RonPurewal]

you're welcome.

[ZhengJ600]

Hi GMAT Experts,

Not to question the correct answer, but just out of curiosity, would E still be correct without "what"? I would think so but please kindly let me know your thoughts.

Thank you.

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Please could you quote the source of this problem?

Answer choice E seems okay to me without the word "what".