OG 13 : Q 31

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OG 13 : Q 31

by sinsofgmat » Fri Apr 11, 2014 9:11 am
Galileo was convinced that natural phenomena, as
manifestations of the laws of physics
, would appear
the same to someone on the deck of a ship moving
smoothly and uniformly through the water as a person
standing on land

The portion marked in red. Should it not be like manifestations of the laws of physics. manifestations of the laws of physics is a noun and a clause.

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by [email protected] » Fri Apr 11, 2014 12:30 pm
Hi sinsofgmat,

First off, for anyone who wants to see the entire prompt, this is Question 32 from the OG 13 (not Question 31)

I've noticed in a number of your posts that you're asking questions about the non-underlined portions of the sentence (even arguing against them). The non-underlined portion is "locked in", so you can't change it. That portion of the sentence often offers clues about what the underlined portion should be though.

To answer your immediate question, the word "like" is only used in some select circumstances on GMAT SCs (usually as a comparison word). When citing an example, proper style requires that we use the phrase "for example" or "such as" (or "as", in this sentence). The word "like" is conversational and incorrect.

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by GMATGuruNY » Sat Apr 12, 2014 3:44 am
sinsofgmat wrote:Galileo was convinced that natural phenomena, as
manifestations of the laws of physics
, would appear.
Like means SIMILAR TO.
The sentence above does not intend to convey that natural phenomena are SIMILAR TO manifestations.
Rather, the purpose of the as-modifier is to explain HOW natural phenomena WOULD APPEAR:
Natural phenomena would appear AS MANISFESTATIONS.
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