Never before had the navy defeated so many foes at once as it had in : Sentence Correction (SC)

Never before had the navy defeated so many foes at once as it had in the battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

(A) so many foes at once as it had in
(B) at once as many foes as
(C) at once as many foes that there were in
(D) as many foes at once as it did in
(E) so many foes at once as that it defeated in

Bunuel wrote:Never before had the navy defeated so many foes at once as it had in the battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

(A) so many foes at once as it had in
(B) at once as many foes as
(C) at once as many foes that there were in
(D) as many foes at once as it did in
(E) so many foes at once as that it defeated in

This is a SC Butler Question

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OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

D

This question is a swirling mixture of idiom and parallel comparison. The correct idiom in question: as many … as. When you say it out loud, does so many … as seem right? Of course, it’s much easier to notice that it doesn’t when the expression has already been pulled out of the problem for you. During the GMAT, you have to do your own pulling, but remember, you always have five sensational clues: the answer choices. Even if you initially have no idea what might or might not be wrong with this sentence, you can figure it out by scanning the answers; you’ll see that you have a collection of so many as’s and as many as’s to choose from.

The other thing going on in this sentence, of course, is parallel comparison. Words such as as or than often mean a comparison is being made. The correct comparison would read: “Never before had a navy defeated as many foes at once as it defeated…,” but as you know from reading our chapter on Sentence Correction, the test writers like to see if you know that you can replace the second verb with a replacement verb: did. The best answer is D.