Galileo and natural phenomena

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GmatGreen: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 85; Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2009 10:58 am

by GmatGreen » Wed Mar 12, 2014 9:13 am

Galileo was convinced that natural phenomena, as manifestations of the laws of physics, would appear the same to someone on the deck of a ship moving smoothly and uniformly through the water as a person standing on land.

(A) water as a

(B) water as to a

(C) water; just as it would to a

(D) water, as it would to the

(E) water; just as to the

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Wed Mar 12, 2014 9:13 am

Patrick_GMATFix: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 1052; Joined: Fri May 21, 2010 1:30 amFollowed by: 98 members; Thanked: 335 times

by Patrick_GMATFix » Wed Mar 12, 2014 9:28 am

Since we have a comparison, parallel structures should be maintained. Look for an answer as close as possible to "phenomena...would appear the same to someone on a ship...as to someone on land". Also beware of answers that use a single pronoun (it) to refer to a plural noun (phenomena)

The answer is B. I go through the question in detail in the full solution below (taken from the GMATFix App).

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Bill@VeritasPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 1248; Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2012 2:57 pmFollowed by: 192 members; Location: Everywhere; Thanked: 503 times; GMAT Score:780

by Bill@VeritasPrep » Wed Mar 12, 2014 9:47 am

GmatGreen wrote:Galileo was convinced that natural phenomena, as manifestations of the laws of physics, would appear the same to someone on the deck of a ship moving smoothly and uniformly through the water as a person standing on land.

(A) water as a

(B) water as to a

(C) water; just as it would to a

(D) water, as it would to the

(E) water; just as to the

We're comparing how natural phenomena appear to two different people: someone on a ship and a person standing on land. The first half is not underlined (would appear the same to someone on the deck of a ship..., so we have to adjust the second part to be parallel. B is good; it would appear the same to X as to Y.

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by [email protected] » Wed Mar 12, 2014 12:53 pm

Hi GMATGreen,

Both Bill and Patrick have properly pointed out that this question is built on "2-part" Parallelism. Parallelism shows up on GMAT SCs in a number of different ways, so you should make sure that you practice the various options. 2-part Parallelism often involves common (and some not-so-common) pairs of words, such as...

either.....or.....
neither....nor....
not only....but also....

Each of the "first parts" requires the respective "second part" AND requires parallel phrases and style.

In this prompt, we have the phrase "to ______ as to ________", so the two blanks must contain parallel items (in this case 'people').

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swarnav999: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 25; Joined: Sun Sep 29, 2013 7:51 am

by swarnav999 » Sat Mar 15, 2014 3:52 am

B is the answer. Parrelelism, it is.

GmatGreen wrote:Galileo was convinced that natural phenomena, as manifestations of the laws of physics, would appear the same to someone on the deck of a ship moving smoothly and uniformly through the water as a person standing on land.

(A) water as a

(B) water as to a

(C) water; just as it would to a

(D) water, as it would to the

(E) water; just as to the

Like this post

swarnav999: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 25; Joined: Sun Sep 29, 2013 7:51 am

by swarnav999 » Sat Mar 15, 2014 3:54 am

Correct explanation! (y)

Bill@VeritasPrep wrote:
GmatGreen wrote:Galileo was convinced that natural phenomena, as manifestations of the laws of physics, would appear the same to someone on the deck of a ship moving smoothly and uniformly through the water as a person standing on land.

(A) water as a

(B) water as to a

(C) water; just as it would to a

(D) water, as it would to the

(E) water; just as to the
We're comparing how natural phenomena appear to two different people: someone on a ship and a person standing on land. The first half is not underlined (would appear the same to someone on the deck of a ship..., so we have to adjust the second part to be parallel. B is good; it would appear the same to X as to Y.

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