Set 22 --Q.34---recycled commodities

[prachich1987]

The market for recycled commodities like aluminum and other metals remain strong despite economic changes in the recycling industry.

A. commodities like aluminum and other metals remain
B. commodities like those of aluminum and other metals are remaining
C. commodities such as aluminum and other metals remains
D. commodities, such as aluminum and other metals, remain
E. commodities, like the commodities of aluminum and other metals, remains

[Salman Ghaffar]

The market for recycled commodities like aluminum and other metals remain strong despite economic changes in the recycling industry.

A. commodities like aluminum and other metals remain
B. commodities like those of aluminum and other metals are remaining
C. commodities such as aluminum and other metals remains
D. commodities, such as aluminum and other metals, remain
E. commodities, like the commodities of aluminum and other metals, remains

The subject in the sentence is "the market", which is a singular. Hence the verb should be singular (remains) and not plural (remain). This cancels options A and D.

Secondly, never use "like" to introduce examples. GMAT always prefers "such as". Hence, options B and E are out too. That leaves only C. That's the right answer.

[prachich1987]

The market for recycled commodities like aluminum and other metals remain strong despite economic changes in the recycling industry.

A. commodities like aluminum and other metals remain
B. commodities like those of aluminum and other metals are remaining
C. commodities such as aluminum and other metals remains
D. commodities, such as aluminum and other metals, remain
E. commodities, like the commodities of aluminum and other metals, remains

The subject in the sentence is "the market", which is a singular. Hence the verb should be singular (remains) and not plural (remain). This cancels options A and D.

Secondly, never use "like" to introduce examples. GMAT always prefers "such as". Hence, options B and E are out too. That leaves only C. That's the right answer.

Even I thought in the same way & marked "C".
But the OA is E

[Salman Ghaffar]

In my experience of original GMAT questions, never has the use of "like" been preferred over the use of "such as" to introduce examples. This question must therefore not be from an original GMAT book.

As a rule, for original GMAT questions, always prefer "such as" to introduce examples.

[prachich1987]

In my experience of original GMAT questions, never has the use of "like" been preferred over the use of "such as" to introduce examples. This question must therefore not be from an original GMAT book.

As a rule, for original GMAT questions, always prefer "such as" to introduce examples.

But there might be some other point in E as you can see in "E" they say "commodities like commodities of"
Why do they mention commodities two times?

[ikaplan]

In E they mention commodities so that they can make this answer choice redundant; in fact, redundancy floats over GMAT questions occasionally.

As for the question- we can discard A and D because they do not follow the basic S-V agreement rule. E should be out because it is redundant. B is incorrect because it introduces wrong tense- the meaning of the sentence indicates that the phenomenon (market is strong) has been there for a while and it is not happening just right now.

Therefore, IMO the correct answer is C.

[muralimba]

The market for recycled commodities like aluminum and other metals remain strong despite economic changes in the recycling industry.

A. commodities like aluminum and other metals remain
B. commodities like those of aluminum and other metals are remaining
C. commodities such as aluminum and other metals remains
D. commodities, such as aluminum and other metals, remain
E. commodities, like the commodities of aluminum and other metals, remains

Friends,

E must be the answer.

as a known fact Market .....remains. eliminating A,B and D

in C there is a comparision problem.

Commodity ("basically a product" ) is not aluminium or other metal, but it is made with aluminum or/and other metals.

hence, "commidty such as aluminium" is wrong.


"commodity like the commodity (product) of aluminium" is correct. as in "E"

Though it looks like an easy qtn (as we have "C" , the most tempting wrong answer), it is a 700 level qtn.

MY QUOTE: IF AN SC QTN on GMAT LOOKS VERY SMALL WITH A SMALL PART OF IT UNDERLINED, BE CAREFUL ABOUT THE TRICK BEHIND THE QTN. THERE WOULD DEFINITELY BE A WRONG ANSWER WHICH TEMPTS YOU MOST.

Regards,
Murali.

[Salman Ghaffar]

Murali

There is NO way a correct answer in GMAT will use "like" to introduce examples. I can quote you questions directly from the official GMAT materials which will confirm the same.

700 level question or not, option E violates the basic rule of GMAT.

The maximum that i will concede against option C is that placement of "such as aluminum and other metals" within commas would make it better. So perhaps the best option would be

The market for recycled commodities, such as aluminum and other metals, remains strong despite economic changes in the recycling industry.

But I am confident that in an ACTUAL Gmat question option E would always be wrong. "Like" should only be used for comparison, and not to quote examples.

[muralimba]

Murali

There is NO way a correct answer in GMAT will use "like" to introduce examples. I can quote you questions directly from the official GMAT materials which will confirm the same.

700 level question or not, option E violates the basic rule of GMAT.

The maximum that i will concede against option C is that placement of "such as aluminum and other metals" within commas would make it better. So perhaps the best option would be

The market for recycled commodities, such as aluminum and other metals, remains strong despite economic changes in the recycling industry.

But I am confident that in an ACTUAL Gmat question option E would always be wrong. "Like" should only be used for comparison, and not to quote examples.

Salman,

I partially agree with you.
However,
in this current qtn: C is surely wrong for the reason i explained in my above post.

Coming to E, consider the below example:

The birds, like parrot and kingfisher, look beatiful --- WRONG cz, here i am providing the expamples for that kind of birds
The birds, such as parrot and kingfisher, look beatiful ---RIGHT "such as " perfectly goes with the examples

the BIRD is a group that has paarot and kingfisher as members in it. hence thease two birds, in the above quest, must be the examples.

consider this.
The food for the birds, such as parrot and kingfisher, is very delicious.-- WRONG. cz i can not specify the examples (parrot and kingfisher) for the birds in this case as there is not direct noun BIRD. the direct noun is FOOD for the birds.

The food for the birds, like the food for a horse, is very delicious -- COrrect.

Back to the original qtn:

i do not have a direct noun COMMODITY in the sentence, and hence can not speficy the expamples with "Such as"
the direct noun is "The market for the commodity".

Correct me if i am wrong.

Regards,
Murali.

[e-GMAT]

What is the source of this question?

The correct answer to this question should be C.
1: GMAT is very clear about the usage of like and such as. "Like" is not used to give examples. "Such as" is the correct usage for introducing examples.
2: Aluminum and other metals are clearly examples of recycled commodities. For example, after recycling different products such aluminum cans etc., the product obtained is recycled commodity = aluminum.

Be wary of using questions from un-supported sources. Trying to justify an incorrect stated answer will hurt your preparation.

Thanks,

Payal

[Salman Ghaffar]

Murali

The food for the birds, such as parrots and kingfishers, is very delicious - This is CORRECT.

"such as parrots and kingfishers" gives us examples of the types of birds whose food is delicious. This is fine.

I've taught GMAT for many years now. There is not a single question in the original sources where the use of like is preferred over "such as" for giving an example. The source of this question is obviously suspect.

In many cases, companies try to manufacture questions based on the actual GMAT questions. But in their effort to sound as similar to the original question as possible, they sometimes overlook obvious mistakes. This is one such example.

The original GMAT source (model) of this question (I think) is:
"Teratomas is an unusual form of cancer, because it is composed of tissues such as tooth and bone not normally found in the organ in which the tumor appears"

The sentence above sounds fine, but GMAT says that the error can be fixed by either:
1. placing "such as tooth and bone" within commas; or
2. putting a comma after "bone", and then repeating the word "tissues" - hence reading "because it is composed of tissues such as tooth and bone, tissues not normally found in the organ in which the tumor appears."

Even in this original question, the use of "like" was frowned upon by the OG.