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Like VS As

by subgeeth » Wed Mar 24, 2010 10:40 am
. Like Byron at Missolonghi, Jack London was slowly killed by the mistakes of the medical men who treated him.
(A) Like Byron
(B) Like Byron’s death
(C) Just as Byron died
(D) Similar to Byron
(E) As did Byron

[spoiler]The answer is A). Please advise me why C) can not be the answer

Here the Death of two person are compared not the person I am not sure whether I am missing something here.[/spoiler]
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by tomada » Wed Mar 24, 2010 11:17 am
IMO, using "Just as Byron died" suggests that Jack London was slowly killed at or about the same moment that Byron died.

Q. When was Jack London slowly killed?
A. Just as Byron died

Ok, I brace for the backlash...
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by lkm » Wed Mar 24, 2010 12:48 pm
subgeeth wrote:. Like Byron at Missolonghi, Jack London was slowly killed by the mistakes of the medical men who treated him.
(A) Like Byron
(B) Like Byron’s death
(C) Just as Byron died
(D) Similar to Byron
(E) As did Byron
This is very common construction in so called GMAT questions:-
RULE wrote: Like/As + noun/possessive noun + comma + noun/possessive noun + etc.

In such case, we are ALWAYS comparing two nouns, not there ACTIONS. So LIKE is correct form to choose. Also, compare the right things. e.g. Noun (before comma) with noun (after comma) and if possessive noun is there then possessive noun (before comma) with possessive noun (after comma)
For example,

1. Comparing possessive nouns.

Like Auden, the language of James Merrill is chatty, arch, and conversational-given to complex syntactic flights as well as to prosaic free-verse strolls.
(A) Like Auden, the language of James Merrill
(B) Like Auden, James Merrill's language
(C) Like Auden's, James Merrill's language
(D) As with Auden, James Merrill's language
(E) As is Auden's the language of James Merrill

Here correct answer is (C), as we are comparing languages not the poets.

2. Comparing nouns.

Like Rousseau, Tolstoi rebelled against the unnatural complexity of human relations in modern society.
(A) Like Rousseau, Tolstoi rebelled
(B) Like Rousseau, Tolstoi's rebellion was
(C) As Rousseau, Tolstoi rebelled
(D) As did Rousseau, Tolstoi's rebellion was
(E) Tolstoi's rebellion, as Rousseau's, was

Here correct answer is (A), as we are comparing two nouns (persons).
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by tomada » Wed Mar 24, 2010 12:51 pm
Thank you for that lucid explanation, lkm.
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by lalmanistl » Wed Mar 24, 2010 8:12 pm
whenever there is noun to noun comparison, "Like" is used.

-STL
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by Pdgmat2010 » Thu Mar 25, 2010 5:25 am
thats good expln lkm
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by akahuja143 » Thu Mar 25, 2010 4:06 pm
A is the good to go... nicely explained by Lkm..
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by tanviet » Sat May 05, 2012 11:14 pm
Like Byron at Missolonghi, Jack London was slowly killed by the mistakes of the medical men who treated him.
(A) Like Byron
(B) Like Byron’s death
(C) Just as Byron died
(D) Similar to Byron
(E) As did Byron

in the above problem, why D is wrong? pls, explain.
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by tanviet » Sat May 05, 2012 11:15 pm
I post again to tick the box of notification. sorry.
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by abhayambo » Wed Oct 31, 2012 6:51 am
duongthang wrote:I post again to tick the box of notification. sorry.
Why was option D incorrect?
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by tanviet » Sat Nov 03, 2012 5:58 am
D is incorrect because "similar to" is not idiomatic.
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