Confused: like vs as with a MGMAT problem

[Guest]

in one of the sentence correction questions from the mgmat question bank it is the follows:

"Teachers in this country have generally been trained either to approach mathematics like a creative activity or that they should force students to memorize rules and principles without truly understanding how to apply them."

of the two answer choices that i narrowed down:
1. to approach mathematics like a creative activity or to force students to memorize rules and principles
2. to approach mathematics as a creative activity or to force students to memorize rules and principles

mgmat chose #2. i don't understand this because i've been taught that like is used to compare nouns and as is used to compare clauses. how is #2 using 'as' appropriately?

[dbernst]

Good question! The like v. as conundrum is most often solved simply by determining whether the sentence is comparing nouns (like) or clauses (as). However, there are secondary uses for "like" and "as," and this sentence assesses one of those uses. Broadly, "like" is used to mean "similar to,", while "as" is used to represent an actual example. Consider the following two sentence:

1. In the play, Dan acted like a clown.
-This sentence indicates that I exhibited clownlike behavior. Perhaps I continuously told jokes and took nothing seriously.

2. In the play, Dan acted as a clown.
-This sentence indicates that I actually played the part of a clown, scary makeup and big red nose included!

In the example sentence you cited, teachers are considering whether to approach mathematics as an actual creative activity. Since this represents an actual example, "as" is the proper term.

Hope that helps!

-dan

[Guest]

thanks a lot dan, that clears it up for me. however, is there a telltale sign to look out for in a sentence to know whether the gmat is asking you to look for the meanings or the noun/clause rule of like/as? this question was listed as a 500-600 level question that i definitely don't want to miss on the actual gmat if it ever comes up.

[RonPurewal]

Rather than looking for telltale signs, you may want to 'collect' examples (such as this one) and try to make analogies with problems you see in the future. If there's one thing that the GMAT sentence correction writers are good at, it's varying the questions so that 'telltale signs' are subtle if they're present at all.

--

Here's another angle on like vs. as: If you have 'SUBJECT verbed OBJECT like/as DESCRIPTION', then:
* as usually refers to the OBJECT: 'He treated his dog as a friend' --> dog (not he) = friend
* like usually refers to the SUBJECT: 'He treated his date like a gentleman' --> he (not his date) = gentleman
There are probably exceptions to this principle (aren't there always...), but it might help you resolve any ambiguities. It definitely clears up the question you've posted (#1 would be pretty ridiculous, as it implies that teachers somehow manage to act like creative activities).

HTH.