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Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by KevinRocci » Thu Mar 27, 2014 10:39 am
This is a great question testing our knowledge of a common idiom-"contrast with" and "contrast to." Both are acceptable, so we can quickly cut out answer choices that don't contain the proper preposition. Goodbye (D) and (E).

Now let's see what we have left. Well, (B) immediately stands out as being very long and contains some pretty awkward working "that which she saw to be" is probably the worst thing I have read all week, so I am going to toss (B) out.

Awesome! Now I have two choices. I love getting down to this point. I just need to be really careful and focus on the details. But now that I see my options, one stands out as wrong. Using "being" in a sentence is pretty horrible and generally unnecessary and weak. So I am tossing that answer out and am left with the right answer.

Hope that helps! :)
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by neptune28 » Thu Mar 27, 2014 8:47 pm
Kevin's answer is good, but I wanted to comment on one small part of it. To me, "contrast to, " in which "contrast" is used as verb, sounds strange. Let me give some examples:

a) In contrast to cats, dogs really aren't that fussy. (This is fine--"contrast" is used here as a noun.)
b) In his lecture, the professor illustrated his point by contrasting cats with dogs. (Fine.)
c) In his lecture, the professor illustrated his point by contrasting cats and dogs. (Acceptable.)
d) In his lecture, the professor illustrated his point by contrasting cats to dogs. (Doesn't sound right.)

I don't know if "contrast to" is outright unidiomatic (though I suspect it is), but I've never heard anyone use it as in d). Has anybody else?

Anyway, even though sometimes you can say "contrast X and Y," in this instance, "contrast X with Y" is clearly preferable, because it makes the distinction clearer. That eliminates C) through E) (which have other problems as well). In B), "that which" is wordy and unnecessary, and "saw to be" unidiomatic. I mean, would you ever say, "I saw him to be a father figure"? No, you would say, "I saw him as a father figure."

The remaining choice is clear and concise.
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by [email protected] » Fri Mar 28, 2014 4:30 am
EXPERTS PLEASE HELP
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