OG Verbal Review - SC - #33

[Saurabh Malpani]

Hi All,


Is so X as to Y correct Idiom or wrong idiom???

As per OG 11th Edition question -33 it is a wrong Idiom Option C.

Where as in one of the question "Police Escoret" from MGMAT Sentence Correction Question Bank I see the exaplaination suggest that so X as to Y is a correct idiom. Here is the explaintion given:

So X as to Y" is used when the emphasis is on X. For example, "I am tall enough to touch the ceiling" implies that the focus is on the fact of being able to touch the ceiling. "So tall as to be able to touch the ceiling" implies that the focus is on the fact of being tall.

Can you please clarify what is correct and what's wrong I am little confused which is correct and ...?

Thanks
Saurabh Malpani

[ayang]

Saurabh,

Here answer choice C is written:

Although schistosomiasis is not often fatal,

so debilitating is it as to become an economic drain on many developing countries.

The OG explanation then says that so x as to y is not a correct idiom.

However, in my view answer choice C could have been written correctly as:

it is so debilitating as to become an economic drain on many developing countries.

In my view, the GMAT recognized that this answer choice, as re-written above, would have been correct. Thus, it reordered the words in this answer choice to make this incorrect.

In my opinion, the answer choice explanation is incorrect as to rule out the possibility of so X as to Y as an idiom, and this answer choice is wrong largely because of poor word order. I would not rule out an answer choice that uses this idiom, and regard is as an appropriate possibility.

I hope that this is helpful. - Andrew

[Saurabh Malpani]

Saurabh,

Here answer choice C is written:

Although schistosomiasis is not often fatal,

so debilitating is it as to become an economic drain on many developing countries.

The OG explanation then says that so x as to y is not a correct idiom.

However, in my view answer choice C could have been written correctly as:

it is so debilitating as to become an economic drain on many developing countries.

In my view, the GMAT recognized that this answer choice, as re-written above, would have been correct. Thus, it reordered the words in this answer choice to make this incorrect.

In my opinion, the answer choice explanation is incorrect as to rule out the possibility of so X as to Y as an idiom, and this answer choice is wrong largely because of poor word order. I would not rule out an answer choice that uses this idiom, and regard is as an appropriate possibility.

I hope that this is helpful. - Andrew

Perfect Andrew, thanks that's what I was looking for. I also gusses that it was poor order "is it" rather tha so X as to Idiom that was wrong and moreover the Question 88 of OG 10th edition also uses so X as to Y....for the correct option. I think this clarifies a lot.

Saurabh Malpani