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Usage doubt - when to use like

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Usage doubt - when to use like

by gmatrant » Sun Oct 14, 2007 9:56 am
According to a recent poll,owning and living in a freestanding house on its own land is still a goal of a majority of young adults, like that of earlier generations.

A)like that of earlier generations
B)as that of earlier generations
C)just as earlier generations did
D)as have earlier generations
E)as it was of earlier generations

Answer E

like is used for comparisons
and such as is used for examples.
So why wont A be a good choice for this SC.

Please give me an explanation and also
when to use 'as' and when to use 'like'.

Please don't point me to other forum posts.. i have been through them and haven't got a concrete answer.
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by jangojess » Sun Oct 14, 2007 9:27 pm
rule for comparisons....
a) Like/Unlike - to compare NOUNS ONLY....
Like John, Mary is intelligent....here John and Mary are compared.
Unlike stars, which are pretty far from earth, asteroids XXXXX......here stars and asteriods are compared.

b) As - to compare CLAUSES ONLY. Also note that we need a sub and verb in a clause.
Just as john did, Mary sang well for the concert....here mary sang well and John did are compared

i dont know how far my explanation helped u but, for more details pls do refer mahattan SC..its really good and i'm sure anyone can easily digest it....

what are we comparing here???
we are comparing owning ...is a goal...of students AND same mentalitiy of the earlier gen ..so its clear that we have two clauses to compare...A is out

one more point to be noted is ...the structure of phrases compared shld be the same....the tense, prepositions, pronouns etc...shld be the same in the clauses compared..here the 1st clause is owning ...is a goal of a majority of students...note the preposition OF...so as per rule the same preposition shld come in the 2nd clause...this boils down to B and E. also we need to have a verb in the clause and this is present only in E. So E is the ans...
Trying hard!!!
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by BTGmoderatorRO » Tue Dec 12, 2017 6:02 pm
Option A.
this is an incorrect option because 'Like' can be used to compare two Nouns.

Option B.
,'as that of earlier generations' this is the last part of the sentence and it does not carry any verb, thus, making it incorrect.

Option C
The dangling 'did' was not properly placed in this option.

Option D.
This is an awkward construction which requires proper modification.this option is incorrect.

Option E.
This option contains a verb, well placed in the option. It is important to know that 'AS' is used to compare two clauses.And the two clauses here are;
'young adults and earlier generations'.
Thus, this is the correct answer.
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