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.

Birottam Dutta wrote:@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.

Birottam Dutta wrote: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!

karthikpandian19 wrote:@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.