Like vs As

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Like vs As

by singalong » Thu Jun 09, 2011 5:06 pm
More than thirty years ago Dr. Barbara McClintock, the Nobel Prize winner, reported that genes can "jump," as pearls moving mysteriously from one necklace to another.

a. as pearls moving mysteriously from one necklace to another
b. like pearls moving mysteriously from one necklace to another
c. as pearls do that move mysteriously from one necklace to others
d. like pearls do that move mysteriously from one necklace to others
e. as do pearls that move mysteriously from one necklace to some other one

The OA is b. But 'moving' is NOT parallel to 'jump'.Then how is it the correct answer?
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by vikram4689 » Thu Jun 09, 2011 5:17 pm
More than thirty years ago Dr. Barbara McClintock, the Nobel Prize winner, reported that genes can "jump," as pearls (can jump) moving mysteriously from one necklace to another.

* (moving...) is a modifier which is modifying pearls

What is WRONG with this interpretation
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by singalong » Sun Jun 12, 2011 3:39 am
vikram4689.. r u telling me or adding another question to mine?confused.

Anyways, I just looked at the question again and I partly get it that the context here is similarity of the the pearls with the genes in terms of movement.But I still cant get how is 'moving' parallel to 'jump'?Or am I comparing wrong things for parallelism?

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by Ozlemg » Sun Jun 12, 2011 3:48 am
Are you confident with the OA? B sounds weird also, what I have read is that the choices with "like" is rare in GMAT.
For me, correct answer is c
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by vikram4689 » Sun Jun 12, 2011 4:10 am
singalong wrote:vikram4689.. r u telling me or adding another question to mine?confused.

Anyways, I just looked at the question again and I partly get it that the context here is similarity of the the pearls with the genes in terms of movement.But I still cant get how is 'moving' parallel to 'jump'?Or am I comparing wrong things for parallelism?
Please ignore my question above, i got the answer and the answer to your question too

Lets understand the Meaning: B.M. reported than genes can jump in a similar fashion as pearls jump while moving mysteriously from one necklace to another (now dont ask that how pearls can jump between 2 necklaces ;), she just provided an analogy and we do not go into that). From this we can find the 'moving' is in relation to pearls.

Lets come back to your question: moving is not || to jump. so from the meaning you might have realized that jump & moving are serving different purpose and need not be ||. Pearls are modified by 'moving.....' and that is why B is correct.

Hope this helps.
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by Geva@EconomistGMAT » Sun Jun 12, 2011 4:22 am
singalong wrote:More than thirty years ago Dr. Barbara McClintock, the Nobel Prize winner, reported that genes can "jump," as pearls moving mysteriously from one necklace to another.

a. as pearls moving mysteriously from one necklace to another
b. like pearls moving mysteriously from one necklace to another
c. as pearls do that move mysteriously from one necklace to others
d. like pearls do that move mysteriously from one necklace to others
e. as do pearls that move mysteriously from one necklace to some other one

The OA is b. But 'moving' is NOT parallel to 'jump'.Then how is it the correct answer?
I think the real question is why do you think that moving should be parallel to jump in the first place? There's nothing connecting the two verbs - no parallel construction of any sort. The "like" clause is a modifier, completing the similarity between genes and pearls in terms of movement. Such a comparison between two nouns requires "like".

As for Vikram's post - the comparison of action to action (as pearls do) is illogical, since pearls don't jump mysteriously from necklace to another any more than genes do. In other words, it would be wrong to say "genes jump, as pearls do" for the simple reason that pearls DON'T (jump). the sentence is trying to say that the genes are "like pearls that move mysteriously"; the gerund is another, equivalent way of starting a relative clause modfying "pearls" instead of "that move".
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by vikram4689 » Sun Jun 12, 2011 4:51 am
Geva@MasterGMAT wrote: the comparison of action to action (as pearls do) is illogical, since pearls don't jump mysteriously from necklace to another any more than genes do. In other words, it would be wrong to say "genes jump, as pearls do" for the simple reason that pearls DON'T (jump).
Yes thats exactly the reason why i above said that ignore my post.
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