The category 1 to 5 rating known as the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale provides an estimate of a hurricane’s potential of destroying or damaging property, and is primarily determined from wind speed; a category 5 storm has wind speeds so high as to blow away small buildings, completely destroy mobile homes, and cause severe window and door damage.
1. of destroying or damaging property, and is primarily determined from wind speed; a category 5 storm has wind speeds so high as
2. to destroy or damage property, and is primarily determined from wind speed; a category 5 storm has wind speeds high enough
3. of destroying or damaging property, and is primarily determined by wind speed; a category 5 storm has wind speeds so high as
4. to destroy or damage property, and is primarily determined by wind speed; a category 5 storm has wind speeds high enough
5. to destroy or damage property, and is primarily determined by wind speed; a category 5 storm has wind speeds so high as

The OA is E, but according to OG11 Q 33, SO X AS TO Y is not a correct idiom. Can you please resolve my misunderstanding? THank :roll: :oops:

2 things:
1) please post the source of this question
2) please type the OG question you reference as well as the relevant part of the explanation. "so X as to Y" may not have been the correct idiom given the construction of that specific sentence - but "so X as to Y" is a generally valid (though rare) idiom.

I believe that this question is from the MGMAT practice exam.

The category 1 to 5 rating known as the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale provides an estimate of a hurricane’s potential of destroying or damaging property, and is primarily determined from wind speed; a category 5 storm has wind speeds so high as to blow away small buildings, completely destroy mobile homes, and cause severe window and door damage.

A) of destroying or damaging property, and is primarily determined from wind speed; a category 5 storm has wind speeds so high as
B} to destroy or damage property, and is primarily determined from wind speed; a category 5 storm has wind speeds high enough
C) of destroying or damaging property, and is primarily determined by wind speed; a category 5 storm has wind speeds so high as
D) to destroy or damage property, and is primarily determined by wind speed; a category 5 storm has wind speeds high enough
E) to destroy or damage property, and is primarily determined by wind speed; a category 5 storm has wind speeds so high as

Could you please let me know why answer choice E is preferable to D?

Thanks.

hmm.

well, first off, both d and e exhibit proper grammar, clarity, and proper diction/usage. the difference between the two boils down solely to rhetorical concerns, as explained below; since authentic problems never turn on such a flimsy difference, i'll submit this problem for review.

--

'high enough to' conveys only the meaning that the speeds are above a certain threshold; unlike 'so ... as to', it doesn't carry any sort of connotation of 'extreme' or 'extraordinary'.

'so high as to', on the other hand, implies that the speeds are high to the extreme.

since we're talking about a category 5 hurricane, an event that definitely satisfies anyone's definition of 'extreme', it makes better rhetorical sense to use the latter construction.

rest easy, though; as stated previously, an authentic gmat problem would not be decided solely by this sort of concern.

another example:

jake's test score was so high as to earn him a B-: makes no sense, since a B- is a perfectly average grade
jake's test score was high enough to earn him a B-: makes sense