akhp77 wrote:Archaeological excavations of Roman ruins on the Greek island of Crete show that securing control over the maritime trade routes of the Eastern Mediterranean was a primary goal of the Romans, as it was of the Greeks in preceding centuries.

A. as it was of the Greeks
B. like that of the Greeks
C. as that of the Greeks
D. just as the Greeks did
E. as did the Greeks


Can some explain that how to arrive at answer?

this is a ripoff of an official guide problem -- the original is #73 in OG11, #82 in OG12. you can look at that problem for additional information.

this is one of those situations in which ellipsis (the omission of repeated instances of specific words) is used in parallel structures. here are the parallel structures:

securing control ... was ... a primary goal ... of the Romans
VS
it ... was ... (a primary goal -- omitted) ... of the Greeks

there are your parallel structures.

--

two notes:

(1) problems like this annoy me -- they skate dangerously close to copyright violation, and, more importantly from a student's perspective, they provide absolutely zero utility above what you would learn from the corresponding official guide problem.

(2) someone is probably bound to ask when, exactly, you can omit words, as you can in this structure.
unfortunately, the best answer i can give to that question is simply to state that you should recognize the types of structures in which you can eliminate words, by simply noticing what they look like when they appear in official problems.

thephoenix wrote:can u locate similar usage of it from OG

as i stated above, this is a ripoff of an official guide problem -- the original is #73 in OG11, #82 in OG12. you should probably just go look at that one instead.

avishekchaudhury wrote:B - correct answer

nope.

the problem with (b) is with "like".

when you use "like" after a COMMA, or at the beginning of the sentence, the comparison is ALWAYS with the subject of the preceding clause (whether or not that's intended).

for instance, let's say Brent is attracted to brunettes, and that Brent is also attracted to redheads.
Brent is attracted to brunettes, like redheads --> incorrect. this doesn't mean what you want it to mean; instead, it implies that redheads are also attracted to brunettes (since "like redheads" automatically applies to brent, the subject).
Brent is attracted to brunettes, as he is to redheads --> correct. (note that you don't have to repeat "attracted".)

in this case, then, "like" sets up a faulty comparison between "that of the Greeks" (which doesn't stand for anything anyway -- see below) and "archaeological excavations".

a poster inquired about the following choice in a private message:

C. as that of the Greeks

probably the most straightforward way to eliminate this choice is to realize that "as" is being used incorrectly: it's not followed by an entire clause, or by a prepositional phrase (these are the elements by which "as" should be followed when it's used as this sort of comparison element).