Sentence Correction

Judith Martin writes that the answering machine is to the contemporary middle-class household just the same as butlers had been to the rich in earlier times: it is the gatekeeper that screens welcome visitors from unwanted intruders on the privacy of the family.



A . just the same as butlers had been

B. just like a butler was

C. as has been a butler

D. what the butler was

E. what the butler is

Can anyone please tell me what's wrong in B. I know that it should have been the butler to make parallel with the answering machine. But my Q is like is used to show similarity between two nouns, answering machine and butler.

Is the OA D

What you think of option B and why it's incorrect? any thoughts ?

M09 wrote:Judith Martin writes that the answering machine is to the contemporary middle-class household just the same as butlers had been to the rich in earlier times: it is the gatekeeper that screens welcome visitors from unwanted intruders on the privacy of the family.




B. just like a butler was


D. what the butler was

Can anyone please tell me what's wrong in B. I know that it should have been the butler to make parallel with the answering machine. But my Q is like is used to show similarity between two nouns, answering machine and butler.

IMO D!!

I feel D depicts parallelism (the answering machine & the butler).

we need to check out whether Just like is idiomatic(Not sure of that)

M09 wrote:Judith Martin writes that the answering machine is to the contemporary middle-class household just the same as butlers had been to the rich in earlier times: it is the gatekeeper that screens welcome visitors from unwanted intruders on the privacy of the family.



A . just the same as butlers had been

B. just like a butler was

C. as has been a butler

D. what the butler was

E. what the butler is

Can anyone please tell me what's wrong in B. I know that it should have been the butler to make parallel with the answering machine. But my Q is like is used to show similarity between two nouns, answering machine and butler.

B is definitely wrong. We're comparing two clauses here. So it shouldn't be LIKE.

IMO D

this question test rarely used idiom

st is st what st is st

E is wrong because past tense is needed.

I am not native speaker and only remember this idiom. I think this Q is not basic and is met at 700 level

remember this idiom. that is all