manasgoswami1 wrote:Hi,
Can anyone please guide me on the following?
when do we use "like" vs "as" and
when do we use "even though" vs "although"
regards
Dear
manasgoswami1,
I'm happy to help with this.
First of all,
neptune28 gave a good introduction to the "
like" vs. "
as" distinction. Here's a more extensive blog:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-sente ... ike-vs-as/
and here's a blog that talks about idioms of comparison in general:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-idioms-of-comparison/
As to your second question: both "
although" and "
even though" are
subordinate conjunctions, which means they introduce a dependent clause, and this clause, like any clause, must have a full
[noun] + [verb] structure. If we take an dependent clause starting with a subordinate conjunction, and remove the subordinate conjunction, then what's left should form a complete sentence. In this sentence, the dependent clause is in green.
Although Einstein was a great scientist, he wasn't good at math.
We can take that entire clause, remove the word "
although", and get a complete sentence:
Einstein was a great scientist.
Both "
although" and "
even though" are words that establish logical contrast. In the previous sentence, there's an unexpected contrast between being a great scientist and not being good at math. We would use either in that first sentence.
Although Einstein was a great scientist, he wasn't good at math.
Even though Einstein was a great scientist, he wasn't good at math.
In most contexts, both could be used. Technically, "
even though" is a little stronger, a little more emphatic, so for a particularly strong contrast, "
even though" might be preferable, and for a subtle contrast, "
although" might be preferable. I assure you: the GMAT will NOT make you decide on something as subtle as this. For GMAT purposes, we can say these two are interchangeable.
Does all this make sense?
Mike
