Confusion - Ellipsis

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Confusion - Ellipsis

by shekhar.kataria » Sat Feb 04, 2012 7:55 pm
While Reading an Explanation i got confused at a point that uses Ellipses and States that the below two sentences are correct.

1. She sings as her mother does.
2. She sings like her mother.

But i strongly feel that by the logic of ellipses, the sentence 2 is incorrect as it is comparing clause to a clause using like. Since the sentence implies She sings like her mother {sings},therefore as ir required in place of like but the offical explanation says opposite.

Source :- 700-800 level Questions by IVY GMAT, ( a prep comp in India ).

Please correct me if i m wrong in my understanding of the concept.
Last edited by shekhar.kataria on Sun Feb 05, 2012 2:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by avik.ch » Sat Feb 04, 2012 10:17 pm
Like is a preposition, So "she sings like her mother does" is wrong. To join two clause you need a subordinator/conjunction such as "as".

As "like" is a preposition, it is used only for nouns.

She sings like her mother ---

She - subject, sings - intransitive verb, like her mother - adverb : here "her mother" is an object of a preposition.

She sings as her mother does. ---

She sings -- 1 clause
her mother does -- 2nd clause..

The concept of ellipse do not come here. The level of question is not something that maters - only the concept does.

Hope this helps !!

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