Sentence Correction

Dr. Hegsted argues that just as polio vaccine is given to every person to protect the few who might actually contract polio, mass dietary change is needed to protect the significant number who are susceptible to the life-threatening effects of press eating habits.
(A) just as polio vaccine is given to every person to protect the few who might actually contract polio
(B) like polio vaccine, which is given to every person to protect the few who might contract polio
(C) similar to polio vaccine which is given to every person to protect the few who might actually contract polio
(D) while, to protect the few who might actually contract polio, polio vaccine is given to every person
(E) similar to the giving of polio vaccine to every person in order to protect the few who might contract polio actually

OA after discussion.

OA is B?

imo A

compares two actions - giving of polio vaccines with mass dietary change. Don't think "like" works here as its used to compare only nouns

Although I am not 100% sure about A as the idiom should be Just as X, so Y (not sure if we can let go of "so")

OA : A

@rohangupta83: Can you explain what's wrong with C ? I wasn't too convinced with A - usage of just as X, so Y idiom. 'so' is missing as pointed out by you.

sam2304 wrote:OA : A

@rohangupta83: Can you explain what's wrong with C ? I wasn't too convinced with A - usage of just as X, so Y idiom. 'so' is missing as pointed out by you.

Hii sam,


Here "which" is incorrectly used . "Which" is always used after a comma as it is always used for a non essential modifier. Moreover here we cannot use make - " is given to every person" an non essential modifier. In this case the comparison issue with the non underline portion does not hold.

Polio vaccine is given...............mass dietary change is needed ( action vs action)

I know that C lacks parallelism and its a bad construction, but A is not idiomatic

As said by rohangupta Just as X, so Y is the right idiom - so is missing in A. I was skeptical about it and went for C.

Check out this link for similar question with just as X, so Y idiom usage, its a gmatprep question

https://gmatclub.com/forum/just-like-the ... 79021.html

All i need to know is whether A has a proper structure because am not sure of the source which i believe to be old paper based test questions

In the expression Just as..., so.... the word so is optional.

sam2304 wrote:OA : A

@rohangupta83: Can you explain what's wrong with C ? I wasn't too convinced with A - usage of just as X, so Y idiom. 'so' is missing as pointed out by you.

shekhar.kataria wrote:In the expression Just as..., so.... the word so is optional.

sam2304 wrote:OA : A

@rohangupta83: Can you explain what's wrong with C ? I wasn't too convinced with A - usage of just as X, so Y idiom. 'so' is missing as pointed out by you.

Hi Shekhar,

is "so" in Just as X, so Y always optional ?

sam2304 wrote:OA : A

@rohangupta83: Can you explain what's wrong with C ? I wasn't too convinced with A - usage of just as X, so Y idiom. 'so' is missing as pointed out by you.

Hi Sam

2 issues with C

As Avik pointed out - which is commonly used with a comma as a non-essential modifier.

Secondly, if we do use which, we lose out on parallelism - polio vaccine is given......mass dietary change is needed

sam2304 wrote:Dr. Hegsted argues that just as polio vaccine is given to every person to protect the few who might actually contract polio, mass dietary change is needed to protect the significant number who are susceptible to the life-threatening effects of press eating habits.
(C) similar to polio vaccine which is given to every person to protect the few who might actually contract polio

IMO Problem in C is that of comparison between comparable things. Lets see how:

(C) Polio vaccine which is given to every person to protect the few who might actually contract polio, mass dietary change is needed

Polio vaccine is followed by relative clause (which...few). This clause is followed by another relative clause (who might..polio). Therefore the structure we have is
"Polio vaccine [clause {cluase}], mass dietary change...". Now we can clearly see the sentence is comparing POLIO VACCINE with MASS DIETARY CHANGE.

IMO these 2 elements are not comparable. This problem is not there in original sentence in which we are comparing the WHY POLIO VACCINE is given to every person with WHY MASS DIETARY CHANGE is needed.

Thanks rohangupta, avik and patanjali. Found experts' explanation in manhattan forums as well.

@patanjali: You were pointing out the same i guess.

erpriyankabishnoi wrote:
What's wrong with choice (c) ?

"similar to" can only be used when two things are actually similar.
e.g.,
similar to the Argentine accent, the Uruguayan accent generally uses a fricative sound for the letters "ll".
--> this sentence is correct, because an uruguayan accent actually *sounds like* an argentine accent -- i.e., they are similar.

the sentence in this thread fails, because mass dietary change is not similar to a polio vaccine (they are completely different and unrelated things). the sentence makes an analogy, but does not make the claim that the 2 things are actually similar to each other.

https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/dr- ... t3605.html


@rohangupta: Our queries answered as well - Just as X, so Y and Just as X, Y - both are idiomatic it seems

https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/jus ... t5971.html

patanjali.purpose wrote:
Polio vaccine is followed by relative clause (which...few). This clause is followed by another relative clause (who might..polio). Therefore the structure we have is
"Polio vaccine [clause {cluase}], mass dietary change...". Now we can clearly see the sentence is comparing POLIO VACCINE with MASS DIETARY CHANGE.

Can you please explain how - "which ... few" is a relative clause here.

As far as I know, "which" acts as a relative pronoun/subordinator only when it is acting as a object of a preposition(of which, in which...). Yes many books and grammarians generally believe that "which" can act as a subordinator even without a preposition but "that" is preferable in that case. I haven't seen such construction with "which" usage in OG SC and RC.

https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/pron ... lative.htm

According to me, in GMAT, "Which" can only follow a comma or be an object of a preposition. Please correct me if I am wrong.


Thank you.

I think Sam has answered your doubt. Yes, Just as X, Y is idiomatic.

rohangupta83 wrote:

shekhar.kataria wrote:In the expression Just as..., so.... the word so is optional.

sam2304 wrote:OA : A

@rohangupta83: Can you explain what's wrong with C ? I wasn't too convinced with A - usage of just as X, so Y idiom. 'so' is missing as pointed out by you.

Hi Shekhar,

is "so" in Just as X, so Y always optional ?