Sentence Correction

385. In its most recent approach, the comet Crommelin passed the Earth at about the same distance and in about the same position, some 25 degrees above the horizon, that Halley’s comet will pass the next time it appears.
(A) that Halley’s comet will pass
(B) that Halley’s comet is to be passing
(C) as Halley’s comet
(D) as will Halley’s comet
(E) as Halley’s comet will do

Can anyone explain the solution?

I was able to zero in on A and D, but went ahead with A. But the answer is D.

In this case why was D preferred over A? Is it due to conciseness or any other grammatical issue?

(d) since the idiomatic expression being used is 'the same ... as' and 'the same ... that' is not a correct idiom

Hi,

The answer is D) but why dose is has to be this order "as will Subject"??

385. In its most recent approach, the comet Crommelin passed the Earth at about the same distance and in about the same position, some 25 degrees above the horizon, that Halley’s comet will pass the next time it appears.
(A) that Halley’s comet will pass


(B) that Halley’s comet is to be passing
(C) as Halley’s comet
(D) as will Halley’s comet
(E) as Halley’s comet will do

Can anyone tell the difference between D & E. Is E passive?

Here we need 'As; becuase we are comparing two phrases.

the comet Crommelin passed the Earth ...AS ...Halley's comet
So only C,D,E are left.

C.as Halley’s comet the next time it appears. ( wrong comparsion)
(D) as will Halley’s comet (CORRECT)
(E) as Halley’s comet will do(AMBIGOUS.Do what?)

I am still not clear why E is wrong? please explain??

I think 'D' has an edge over 'E' as 'do' is not required.

Thanks a lot. The "do" makes no sense.

IMO E.

The comparison is between 2 clauses, so "as" is required.

A. "as" is required.
B. "as" is required.
C. The comparison should be between 2 clauses. In this case, "as Halley's comet" is a phrase. It should be converted to a clause "as Halley's comet will do".
D. Same as C

In its most recent approach, the comet Crommelin passed the Earth at about the same distance and in about the same position, some 25 degrees above the horizon, that Halley’s comet will pass the next time it appears.
(A) that Halley’s comet will pass
(B) that Halley’s comet is to be passing
(C) as Halley’s comet
(D) as will Halley’s comet

Rephrasing-->
In its most recent approach, the comet Crommelin passed the Earth some 25 degrees above the horizon, at about the same distance and in about the same position as will Halley’s comet

Hence D

Can somebody explain why "do" is not required as in E?

IMO-E

we are comparing two clauses:
1) Comet Crommelin passed...
2) Halley’s commet will pass...
Here we could use E if the verb form in both the clauses were same- as Halley’s Comet did [passed]. But in the sentence ‘do’(being a present tense verb) cannot refer back to ‘passed’ and the right verb required is ‘pass’.
So, D is a better choice than E.

IMO D

A and B are out as we are comparing and so we need "as"

c] Lacks the verb "will" required to show an action in future..

d] perfect. Correctly emphasizes that Halley's comet will pass in the same way..

e] Incorrect. Do is redundant. Do is used as a substitute to avoid repetition of a verb or full verb expression): I think as you do.

Here Do isnt required as "will" conveys the same meaning to us..

Could some one kindly explain between D and E why D is preferred.

From a parallelism perspective, E makes sense to me ('the comet Crommelin passed' - noun followed by verb......... E has 'Halley's comet will'......). Also as far as I remember, the verb is used before a subject for emphasis, but why do we need emphasis here?

From a wordiness perspective D does sound better (E is wordy with 'will do' vs 'will' in D)

However, when I read the sentence again and again D seems more elegant........ aaah.......... how do we choose in such cases.

Experts please help!!

Thanks