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Comma before like

by Amadalia » Tue Feb 04, 2014 9:33 am
Good day,
While reading the manhattan sentence correction book, I got through the following note:

You have to be careful about ambiguity with a like phrase at the end of a sentence:
(1) I want to coach divers LIKE Greg Louganis.
= I want to coach divers WHO ARE LIKE Greg Louganis.
OR
= I want to coach divers IN THE SAME WAY AS Greg Louganis does.
(2) I want to coach divers, LIKEGreg Louganis. (note the comma before like)
= LIKE Greg Louganis. I want to coach divers. (he coaches divers; I want to do
so.)
My question is : if I came across a sentence with a comma before like at the end of the sentence, does it mean that the ambiguity is lifted (is the sentence correct)?
Many thanks in advance
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by Mike@Magoosh » Tue Feb 04, 2014 6:12 pm
Amadalia wrote:Good day,
While reading the manhattan sentence correction book, I got through the following note:

You have to be careful about ambiguity with a like phrase at the end of a sentence:
(1) I want to coach divers LIKE Greg Louganis.
= I want to coach divers WHO ARE LIKE Greg Louganis.
OR
= I want to coach divers IN THE SAME WAY AS Greg Louganis does.
(2) I want to coach divers, LIKEGreg Louganis. (note the comma before like)
= LIKE Greg Louganis. I want to coach divers. (he coaches divers; I want to do
so.)
My question is : if I came across a sentence with a comma before like at the end of the sentence, does it mean that the ambiguity is lifted (is the sentence correct)?
Many thanks in advance
Dear Amadalia,
I'm happy to respond. :-)

As far as the presence or absence of the comma, see:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-gramm ... modifiers/

As I think about your question, I believe the comma would always resolve the ambiguity --- I can't think of a cogent example in which it doesn't. I will say, though, I don't know that I have ever seen this particular grammatical form tested on an official question.

I hope all this helps.
Mike :-)
Magoosh GMAT Instructor
https://gmat.magoosh.com/
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by GMATGuruNY » Thu Feb 06, 2014 11:33 am
Check here for an official SC that tests the usage of comma + like:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/tough-sc-t112890.html
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