Dolphin

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Dolphin

by goelmohit2002 » Sat Sep 05, 2009 12:00 pm
Hi All,

In the below question, OG-12, Q66.....

[spoiler]
OA = A. For kicking out D....OG says "as big as" is an idiomatically incorrect expression of the comparison....

Can someone please tell why "as big as" is incorrect for comparison here ?[/spoiler]

The 32 species that make up the dolphin family are closely related to whales and in fact include the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow to be 30 feet long and is famous for its aggressive hunting pods.

A. include the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow to be 30 feet long and is
B. include the animal known as the killer whale, growing as big as 30 feet long and
C. include the animal known as the killer whale, growing up to 30 feet long and being
D. include the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow as big as 30 feet long and is
E. include the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow to be 30 feet long and it is
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by scoobydooby » Sat Sep 05, 2009 12:07 pm
"grow as big as 30 feet long"

illogically compares whales with a length of 30 ft. not an apples to apples comparison.

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by goelmohit2002 » Sat Sep 05, 2009 12:14 pm
scoobydooby wrote:"grow as big as 30 feet long"

illogically compares whales with a length of 30 ft. not an apples to apples comparison.
Thanks Scooby...

Do you mean to say that we need something like:

which can grow as big as "whale" blah blah

would it have been correct then ?

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by scoobydooby » Sat Sep 05, 2009 12:25 pm
goelmohit2002 wrote:
scoobydooby wrote:"grow as big as 30 feet long"

illogically compares whales with a length of 30 ft. not an apples to apples comparison.
Thanks Scooby...

Do you mean to say that we need something like:

which can grow as big as "whale" blah blah

would it have been correct then ?
yes either "killer whales grow as big as type x whales"(which are known to be typically very big) or

the "length as big as 30 feet" so that the comparison is between apples-apples

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by goelmohit2002 » Sat Sep 05, 2009 12:31 pm
scoobydooby wrote:
goelmohit2002 wrote:
scoobydooby wrote:"grow as big as 30 feet long"

illogically compares whales with a length of 30 ft. not an apples to apples comparison.
Thanks Scooby...

Do you mean to say that we need something like:

which can grow as big as "whale" blah blah

would it have been correct then ?
yes either "killer whales grow as big as type x whales"(which are known to be typically very big) or

the "length as big as 30 feet" so that the comparison is between apples-apples
Thanks a lot Scooby....I got the same !!!!

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by goelmohit2002 » Sat Sep 05, 2009 10:13 pm
Hi Scooby,

just one small query.....

if this is the problem of comparison between apple to orange....then why does't OG say the same....

OG says that "as big as" is an idiomatically incorrect expression of the comparison....

I guess OG mean to say that there must be some other comparion phrase that must be used....not that the things being compared are of two different types....

Please tell what I am missing here.....or my interpretation of either OG or your explanation is wrong.

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by scoobydooby » Sat Sep 05, 2009 10:29 pm
yes. actually "as big as" is not a good expression when we want to indicate length. "as long as" would have been better if it was used to compare similar things.

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by goelmohit2002 » Sat Sep 05, 2009 10:39 pm
scoobydooby wrote:yes. actually "as big as" is not a good expression when we want to indicate length. "as long as" would have been better if it was used to compare similar things.
oh ok....do you mean to say that "big" is not used for comparing length....? If yes...any guess what is wrong with big ? Has it to do anything with countable/uncountable stuff ? or any other general rule under which this difference falls ?

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by mruzeful » Sun Sep 20, 2009 10:10 am
someone please explain when to use 'as big as'?

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by Stacey Koprince » Wed Sep 23, 2009 9:21 am
Received a PM asking me to respond. I'll have to be brief, because we're not supposed to post or discuss OG questions!

The wording of the explanationg in OG - well, sometimes, it's not that great. Here's what's going on:

as X as = comparison language. If you see this, someone's trying to make a comparison.

Is that what's really going on in this sentence? Am I trying to compare two things? No, not really - I'm trying to give one potential characteristic of a species. That's not a comparison. So, first, I shouldn't be using comparison language at all. And that's really what the explanation should have pointed out to us.

Next, if I were trying to make a comparison using "as big as," I would have to make sure I had an apples-to-apples comparison, as others have already said above.

Finally, as someone already pointed out, we don't use "as big as" when one of the comparison halves is "30 feet long." You'd have to say something like "as long as 30 feet." That's just an idiom, unfortunately - one of those things we're supposed to memorize. But if you note in the first place that we're not even supposed to be making a comparison - or that we don't have an apples to apples comparison anyway - then you don't need to worry about the idiom issue.
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by nikhilkatira » Mon Jul 19, 2010 6:25 am
Can anyone explain why "to be " is used and not " upto " ??
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by Stacey Koprince » Tue Jul 20, 2010 4:19 pm
Idiom.
The wolf grew up to 3 feet long.

"grew up" or "to grow up" is an idiom. It means either to get older or to get taller. It is not used to describe growing longer, which is what the sentence above is trying to convey.
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