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Like vs As

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Like vs As

by optimist » Sat Jun 09, 2012 9:22 am
Teachers in this country have generally been trained either to approach mathematics like a creative activity or that they should force students to memorize rules and principles without truly understanding how to apply them.


A.to approach mathematics like a creative activity or that they should force students to memorize rules and principles

B.to approach mathematics like a creative activity or to force students to memorize rules and principles

C.to approach mathematics as a creative activity or to force students to memorize rules and principles

D.that they should approach mathematics as a creative activity or to force students to memorize rules and principles

E.that they should approach mathematics like a creative activity or that they should force students to memorize rules and principles


OA is B
Although I am well versed with the differences between As and Like, but in this particular case, I think both B and C fit well. I chose B but as per Manhattan C is right. Please help..
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by Birottam Dutta » Sat Jun 09, 2012 10:31 am
Actually this is not a like v/s as question.

This is simply a parallelism question in which c wins the battle.

And the usage of as here is that of a preposition. The sentence does not intend to make a comparison between mathematics and a creative activity. Rather it says that math is a creative activity.

So, usage of "as" as a preposition.
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by karthikpandian19 » Sat Jun 09, 2012 5:31 pm
This sentence needs to be considered for both parallelism and Like Vs As:

Explanation below:
optimist wrote:Teachers in this country have generally been trained either to approach mathematics like a creative activity or that they should force students to memorize rules and principles without truly understanding how to apply them.


A.to approach mathematics like a creative activity or that they should force students to memorize rules and principles - Parallelism error "to approach" Vs "that they should force"

B.to approach mathematics like a creative activity or to force students to memorize rules and principles - Proper parallelism "to approach" Vs "to force". Sentence describes "approach mathematics like a creative activity" - like here indicates "similar to", so this sentence is clearly the right choice

C.to approach mathematics as a creative activity or to force students to memorize rules and principles - Sentence describes "approach mathematics as a creative activity" - as here indicates "is", so this sentence is clearly wrong. Mathematics is a creative activity is not what it meant to be

D.that they should approach mathematics as a creative activity or to force students to memorize rules and principles - usage of that is wrong without a proper modifier

E.that they should approach mathematics like a creative activity or that they should force students to memorize rules and principles - usage of that is wrong without a proper modifier


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by umeshpatil » Sat Jun 09, 2012 8:27 pm
Kartik, Good question.

As you are well versed with the differences between As and Like,"a creative activity" should be followed by 'like' and not 'As'. 'As' always follows a clause where as 'like' follows noun/pronoun.

@Birottam, Even this is parallelism question, it is required to know the difference between them to answer this question.
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by karthikpandian19 » Sat Jun 09, 2012 8:31 pm
U r absolutely right....thank you
umeshpatil wrote:Kartik, Good question.

As you are well versed with the differences between As and Like,"a creative activity" should be followed by 'like' and not 'As'. 'As' always follows a clause where as 'like' follows noun/pronoun.

@Birottam, Even this is parallelism question, it is required to know the difference between them to answer this question.
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by 1947 » Sat Jun 09, 2012 9:47 pm
optimist wrote:Teachers in this country have generally been trained either to approach mathematics like a creative activity or that they should force students to memorize rules and principles without truly understanding how to apply them.


A.to approach mathematics like a creative activity or that they should force students to memorize rules and principles

B.to approach mathematics like a creative activity or to force students to memorize rules and principles

C.to approach mathematics as a creative activity or to force students to memorize rules and principles

D.that they should approach mathematics as a creative activity or to force students to memorize rules and principles

E.that they should approach mathematics like a creative activity or that they should force students to memorize rules and principles


OA is B
Although I am well versed with the differences between As and Like, but in this particular case, I think both B and C fit well. I chose B but as per Manhattan C is right. Please help..
meaning here means that maths is said to be similar to creative activity so like is correct.
here maths is not playing the role of creative activity...had it been doing this then as would be correct.
read this for details
https://gmatclub.com/forum/as-vs-like-co ... 33950.html
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by optimist » Sun Jun 10, 2012 1:22 am
Thanks a bunch Karthik, Umesh, Birrottam for the comprehensive explanation.

I understand that in option B "Math is being compared to a creative activity" and it should be the correct answer while in option C "Math is playing the role of a creative activity" but as per Manhattan, C is the right answer. Is it possible that the answers provided by Manhattan may be wrong?

I am sorry, I wrote B as the answer in my original post, but C is the correct answer as per the Manhattan Sentence correction question bank.
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by Birottam Dutta » Sun Jun 10, 2012 1:47 am
Guys I think this is a confusing question but I'll try and explain a bit more.

When I said that this is not a like v/s as question, what I meant was that as here is not being used to compare clauses, but merely as a preposition.

Please note that as is also a preposition.

Let me give you an example:

joe spoke to the committee like an expert.
--> this is a comparison: joe spoke in the same manner in which an expert would speak. in this sentence, there is no implication that joe is actually an expert; in fact, the probable implication is that joe is not an expert, but was speaking as though he were.

joe spoke to the committee as an expert.
--> this is not a comparison; this sentence implies that joe is actually an expert on the subject about which he was speaking to the committee.

in this sentence is, you are not saying that mathematics is LIKE a creative activity; you are actually saying that mathematics IS, genuinely, a creative activity. therefore, "like" is inappropriate

Now let's come to another problem with this sentence:

Whenever like is associated with a clause, it always compares With the subject of the clause. Here the subject is teachers. So this actually sets up an illogical comparison between teachers and a creative activity. In other words, using like in the sentence implies that teachers approach mathematics just as creative activity would approach mathematics which of course makes no sense whatsoever.

So, sorry us we are not in agreement here and I have no doubt in my mind that the manhattan answer,vwhich is C is absolutely correct!
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by optimist » Sun Jun 10, 2012 2:20 am
This is getting really interesting!

@Birottam - In the sentence "to approach math like a creative activity..", like is associated with a noun i.e. "a creative activity" and not a clause. So, here math is being compared to a creative activity and hence appears to be right.

what say?
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by dhonu121 » Sun Jun 10, 2012 4:16 am
First of all I would like to clear that while like can be used to compare two nouns/noun phrases only, as can be used to compare two noun/noun phrases as well as clauses.

As is particularly not used in comparison when it intends that one noun worked in the capacity of other noun.

For ex: I spoke as the president of student council. Correct
Another:I spoke like the president of student council. Incorrect.

As a king, I made really hard judgements.InCorrect.(We don't have monarchy now. ;))
Like a king, I made really hard judgements. Correct.

So in this question above,
approaching mathematics(which is a verb) is being equated to approaching a creative activity, hence clearly allowing the usage of as rather than like.
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by Birottam Dutta » Sun Jun 10, 2012 5:11 am
@optimist:

"Teachers are .....to approach mathematics" is the clause and "like" is setting up the comparison between this clause and "creative activity". So when like sets up the comparison between the clause and "creative activity" it always implies comparison with the subject of the clause, in this case being "teachers". So to compare teachers with creative activity would be illogical right?!

Hence, the incorrect usage of "like" in this case.

Hope this helps.
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by karthikpandian19 » Sun Jun 10, 2012 6:45 am
@optimist .... Can you let me know is it from Manhattan Strategy guides of SC?i so, provide me the reference?
optimist wrote:Thanks a bunch Karthik, Umesh, Birrottam for the comprehensive explanation.

I understand that in option B "Math is being compared to a creative activity" and it should be the correct answer while in option C "Math is playing the role of a creative activity" but as per Manhattan, C is the right answer. Is it possible that the answers provided by Manhattan may be wrong?

I am sorry, I wrote B as the answer in my original post, but C is the correct answer as per the Manhattan Sentence correction question bank.
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by karthikpandian19 » Sun Jun 10, 2012 6:46 am
Can any GMAT experts provide explanation for this?
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by bubbliiiiiiii » Sun Jun 10, 2012 8:12 am
My reasoning behind C:

I think option C involves the concept of ellipsis and tried to compare the approach of teachers for mathematics and a creative activity.

C.to approach mathematics as [teachers approach] a creative activity or to force students to memorize rules and principles

Experts please comment.
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by confuse mind » Sun Jun 10, 2012 8:43 am
Birottam Dutta wrote:Actually this is not a like v/s as question.

This is simply a parallelism question in which c wins the battle.

And the usage of as here is that of a preposition. The sentence does not intend to make a comparison between mathematics and a creative activity. Rather it says that math is a creative activity.

So, usage of "as" as a preposition.

Can you please tell me how C wins battle in parallelism over B (assume: I forget the difference of like vs as)
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