Sentence Correction

2. Samuel Sewall viewed marriage, as other seventeenth-century colonists, like a property arrangement rather than an emotional bond based on romantic love.


(A) Samuel Sewall viewed marriage, as other seventeenth-century colonists, like a property arrangement rather than
(B) As did other seventeenth-century colonists, Samuel Sewall viewed marriage to be a property arrangement rather than viewing it as
(C) Samuel Sewall viewed marriage to be a property arrangement, like other seventeenth-century colonists, rather than viewing it as
(D) Marriage to Samuel Sewall, like other seventeenth-century colonists, was viewed as a property arrangement rather than
(E) Samuel Sewall, like other seventeenth-century colonists, viewed marriage as a property arrangement rather than



Viewed X to be Y is wrong
Viewed X as Y

Also most improtantly can someone answer the below for me


Is B the wrong answer becuase of this

(B) As did other seventeenth-century colonists, Samuel Sewall viewed marriage to be a property arrangement rather than viewing it as

the first half is
viewed X to be Y
rather than
Viewing

The first verb is ed and the second is ING
Also Viewed X to be Y is wrong
can this be considered wrong becuase of that

Thanks

We think correct answer is E.

We think B is incorrect because of the "As did other" clause. The portion of B that reads Samuel Sewall viewed marriage to be a property arrangement rather than viewing it as an emotional bond based on romantic love is actually a valid English sentence. It's the dependent clause that sounds off in B.

In E, you can break out the main sentence: Samuel Sewall viewed marriage as a property arrangement rather than an emotional bond based on romantic love -- this is correct. Then, if you look at how the "like" clause is used, you can see that it is properly modifying "Samuel Sewall" - one of many 17th-century colonists.

As with all the GMAT answers we try on BTG, we totally could be wrong (we have much higher confidence in our answers to bschool admissions and essay questions!) however we're pretty sure this is how the English language works in this case.

EssaySnark

IMO E.

Use 'like' to compare nouns and 'as' to compare clauses. So A and B are wrong based on that.

Here samuel and other seventeenth century colonists are compared.

Like X, Y ... or X, like Y ... - this should be the structure.

sam2304 wrote:Use 'like' to compare nouns and 'as' to compare clauses.

Non-GMAT-expert that we are, we had not heard this before - but this is definitely sensible. Someone else was asking about "like" and "as" elsewhere on BTG, we'll try to find that post again and let them know this.

Thanks sam2304!!

IMO:E