Sentence Correction

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 for earlier generations
(C) just as earlier generations did
(D) as have earlier generations
(E) as it was of earlier generations


OAE

Experts please explain.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

j_shreyans wrote: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 for earlier generations
(C) just as earlier generations did
(D) as have earlier generations
(E) as it was of earlier generations

like = SIMLAR TO.
A: Owning and living in a freestanding house on its own land is still a goal...like that of earlier generations.
Here, that seems to be standing in for goal.
Conveyed meaning:
Owning and living in a freestanding house on its own land is still a goal...SIMILAR TO THE GOAL of earlier generations.
Not the intended meaning.
The intended meaning is that the two generation have the SAME goal:
The goal of owning and living in a freestanding house on its own land.
Eliminate A.

Generally, as serves to compare CLAUSES.
B: Owning and living in a freestanding house on its own land is still a goal...as that for earlier generations.
Here, that seems to be standing in for goal.
Implied comparison:
Owning and living in a freestanding house on its own land is still a goal...as the goal for earlier generations [was a goal].
The words in brackets are omitted, but their presence is implied.
This comparison is nonsensical.
Eliminate B.

C: as earlier generations did
Here, it is unclear what earlier generations DID.
Eliminate C.

D: as have earlier generations
Here, it is unclear what earlier generations HAVE.
Eliminate D.

The correct answer is E.

OA: Owning and living in a freestanding house on its own land is still a goal of a majority of young adults, as it was of earlier generations.
Here, it (subject pronoun) serves to refer to owning and living in a freestanding house on its own land (the preceding subject).
Implied comparison:
Owning and living in a freestanding house on its own land is still a goal of a majority of young adults, as owning and living in a freestanding house on its own land was [a goal] of earlier generations.
The words in brackets are omitted, but their presence is implied.

Hi Mitch,

I have some doubts.

1)What is the difference between 'as' & 'just as'? Is 'just as' idiomatic in GMAT?

2) How a pronoun 'it' refer to a gerund? Should not 'it' refer to clear noun? Also 'it' refers to 'owning and living, Should not 'they' used instead of 'it' as we talk about 2 things 'Owning and living?so we should use 'they' for plural.

Thanks

Mo2men wrote:1)What is the difference between 'as' & 'just as'? Is 'just as' idiomatic in GMAT?

as has too many usages to list here.
Generally, just as means IN THE SAME WAY AS.

SC99 in the OG11:
Just as reading Samuel Pepy's diary gives a student a sense of the seventeenth century, so listening to Jane Freed's Guileless Child Narrator takes the operagoer inside turn-of-the century Vienna.
Conveyed meaning:
Listening takes the operagoer inside turn-of-the century Vienna IN THE SAME WAY AS reading gives a student a sense of the seventeenth century.

From GMATPrep:
Airline executives are convinced that, just as one-third of bank customers still prefer human tellers to automatic teller machines, many travelers will still use travel agents.
Conveyed meaning:
Many travelers will still use travel agents IN THE SAME WAY AS one-third of bank customers still prefer human tellers.

2) How a pronoun 'it' refer to a gerund? Should not 'it' refer to clear noun?

A gerund is a VERBing that serves a NOUN.
A pronoun may serve to refer to a gerund, just as a pronoun may serve to refer to any noun.
Conveyed meaning:
A pronoun may serve to refer to a gerund IN THE SAME WAY AS as a pronoun may serve to refer to any noun.

Also 'it' refers to 'owning and living, Should not 'they' used instead of 'it' as we talk about 2 things 'Owning and living?so we should use 'they' for plural.

Generally, a compound subject is composed of two nouns connected by and:
X AND Y.
In the vast majority of cases, a compound subject will be considered PLURAL and will take a PLURAL VERB.
in some cases, however, a compound subject will be considered SINGULAR and will take a SINGULAR VERB.
In the SC above, the non-underlined portion reads as follows:
Owning and living in a free-standing house IS still a goal of a majority of young adults.
Here, the verb in red is SINGULAR, indicating that the subject -- owning and living in a free-standing house -- is to be considered SINGULAR.

Note:
On the GMAT, a compound subject should be considered singular ONLY IF THE NON-UNDERLINED PORTION makes the intention clear.

B: Owning and living in a freestanding house on its own land is still a goal...as that for earlier generations.
Here, that seems to be standing in for goal.
Implied comparison:
Owning and living in a freestanding house on its own land is still a goal...as the goal for earlier generations [was a goal].
The words in brackets are omitted, but their presence is implied.
This comparison is nonsensical.
Eliminate B.

Hi GMATGuruNY ,

Just a quick question.

In option B the words in Brackets are omitted, but their presence is implied . So these words are also omitted in option A and where these words have to be applied and how?

Please explain sir.

Many thanks in advance.

SJ

jain2016 wrote:In option B the words in Brackets are omitted, but their presence is implied . So these words are also omitted in option A and where these words have to be applied and how?

A and B are not the same.

As noted in my post above, as serves to compare CLAUSES.
In many cases, the second clause will omit words whose presence is implied.
The omission of such words is known as ELLIPSIS.
B: as that for earlier generations
Here, the usage of as implies ellipsis.

Unlike as, like does NOT serve to compare clauses.
Rather, like serves to compare NOUNS.
Generally, the usage of like does NOT imply ellipsis.
Since A employs like instead of as, no words are omitted but implied in A.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

jain2016 wrote:In option B the words in Brackets are omitted, but their presence is implied . So these words are also omitted in option A and where these words have to be applied and how?

A and B are not the same.

As noted in my post above, as serves to compare CLAUSES.
In many cases, the second clause will omit words whose presence is implied.
The omission of such words is known as ELLIPSIS.
B: as that for earlier generations
Here, the usage of as implies ellipsis.

Unlike as, like does NOT serve to compare clauses.
Rather, like serves to compare NOUNS.
Generally, the usage of like does NOT imply ellipsis.
Since A employs like instead of as, no words are omitted but implied in A.

Hi GMATGuruNY ,

Thank you so much sir for your reply.

All clear now.

THanks,

SJ