Like Vs As

[srinivasreddy.c]

@supratims

Yeah OA is B

[RonPurewal]

More than thirty years ago Dr. Barbara Mc-Clintock, the Nobel Prize winner, reported that genes can "jump," 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


I m not able to apply the rules I ve read in this thread to this question. How do I know if a comparison is real or not ?

"Genes can jump", as "pearls do" -- Am I not comparing two clauses here. "pearls do" is this portion of the sentence a clause in the first place.

What would the sentence look like if I rephrase it using "AS"

in choice (c), "as" is not the problem. that construction contains a genuine verb ("do"), and is thus a clause. since it's a clause, "as" is the proper connector to use in this case.

the real problem in choice (c) is the placement of the modifier.
you CAN'T place a verb between a noun and its modifier.
ever.

so, "pearls do that blah blah blah" would be incorrect. the two pink parts (the noun and its modifier) MUST be adjacent.
in this case, the only acceptable place for the helping verb "do" is BEFORE the noun:
"as do pearls that blah blah blah"

hope that helps.

[gharora]

This is excellent thread... here is my doubt....

One of the duties of the Securities and Exchange Commission is to guarantee that individual or small investors have the same information about the financial health of a company as do the large, institutional investors.

a. as do the large, institutional investors
Or
e. as the large, institutional investors

Which one is correct

[cool_johncj]

Hello.
I will go with option A. As option B introduces nouns.

"Like" introduces noun and "As" introduces clauses. Option A does not sound perfect but A is best out of given choices.

What is OA?

[RonPurewal]

Hello.
I will go with option A. As option B introduces nouns.

"Like" introduces noun and "As" introduces clauses. Option A does not sound perfect but A is best out of given choices.

What is OA?

please read the thread before you post. this has all been addressed on here.
(b) is the correct answer.

[RonPurewal]

This is excellent thread... here is my doubt....

One of the duties of the Securities and Exchange Commission is to guarantee that individual or small investors have the same information about the financial health of a company as do the large, institutional investors.

a. as do the large, institutional investors
Or
e. as the large, institutional investors

Which one is correct

this is not the place to post this problem. you are breaking FOUR of the forum rules here:
1. you must post ALL the answer choices with a problem.
2. you must post A NEW THREAD with each new problem (this thread is for another problem)
3. you can ONLY POST MGMAT CAT PROBLEMS in this folder; problems that are not ours belong in the GENERAL VERBAL FOLDER.
4. you MUST GIVE THE SOURCE of problems that you post in the general folder.

please read the forum rules before posting. thank you.

[ritesh.bindal]

I think the original sentence is the least awkward phrasing, but maybe this would be an acceptable use of "as":

More than thirty years ago, Dr. Barbara McClintock, the Nobel Prize winner, reported that genes can
"jump," as pearls would move mysteriously from one necklace to another.

It's tricky, because the pearls are metaphorical. You would definitely need a hypothetical verb such as "would" in that clause.

Though the "as would" construction here is grammatically correct, it logically implies that the movement of the pearls is a reality. However, the meaning of the sentence indicates that this movement is "just an image". Thus the simile should be a phrase introduced by the preposition "like" and not by a clause introduced by the conjunction "as". As mentioned, the "as would" construction would imply that the movement is a reality, something which isn't correct.

Further, there are fundamentally 4 differences between "as" and "like".

1. As introduces clauses (which have verbs) and like introduces phrases (which don't have verbs).

2. As clause construction is used to introduce comparisons that are real. Like phrase constructions are preferred when making comparisons that are not real but imaginary. (See the above McClintock example)

3. "As" is also used as a substitute for "in the capacity of". Eg. As the president of USA, George Bush.....

4. Idiomatic differences: Used as (Correct) Used Like (Incorrect) / Regarded as (Correct), Regarded Like (Incorrect). There is just one exception (that I have come across) to the idiomatic constructions using the verb "act", where one has to infer the meaning before using "as/like". "Act as" is used when a function of an inanimate object is described. Eg. In the flood, the wall acted as a dam. However, "act" is followed by like to mean to behave or comport oneself and describes the action of a person. Eg. He acted like a fool.

I hope this post helps. :-)

Pooja

Wonderful points Pooja. I included them in my notes.
Do you have such notes in any soft copy?

[Ben Ku]

I think we've pretty much exhausted this post. If there are new questions on this topic, please start a new post explaining your question clearly. This way, readers don't have to go through this long post to understand and respond to your question.

Thanks!

[parveenjain]

Hi Ron,
* "moving" is not a verb.
-ing forms are NOT verbs. they can be a number of different things - adjectives, gerunds (= nouns), and participles - but never actual VERBS (i.e., tensed verbs, which can be the main verb of an independent clause).
in this case, "moving" is a participle, which creates a modifier describing "pearls".
once again, -ing forms are NOT verbs. this is important.

As you mentioned that ing forms can never be a verb.Then what are "present progressive" forms, how these are different from present participle ?

[mschwrtz]

Fair enough parveenjain. How about "-ing forms without helper verbs are NOT verbs," or "-ing forms without forms of the verb to be are NOT verbs."

Okay, now I'm going to follow Ben's suggestion and block any further additions to this thread.

[mschwrtz]

Fair enough parveenjain. How about "-ing forms without helper verbs are NOT verbs," or "-ing forms without forms of the verb to be are NOT verbs."

Okay, now I'm going to follow Ben's suggestion and block any further additions to this thread.