Cooperative apartment houses have the peculiar distinction of being

I think is A. Even if the author uses being, i saw in some books similar sentences. I think we must use "as", not "like", because we talk about how these apartments must operate. Between A and E. In E we have "apartments have distinction to be a dwelling". I don't think that is ok to say that a plural could be a singular: houses.... dwelling. OA?

I think this thread is going to cause some conceptual debate. I have no issues with the use of being; But is it right to use the word -as - here to compare two nouns. The comparison here is not between apartments and businesses. But between how the apartments must operate and as businesses operate. Comparing apartments with just businesses using as is erroneous IMO. We can not say - that must also operate as businesses -; we must indeed say -as businesses do -, if we want to use – as -. The other choice will be to use the preposition – like –forthrightly comparing dwellings with business. Choice A looks to me like a case of improper diction and would rather go with C, however wordy.

If it is a GPREP or OG example, I will grudgingly take A , if it were the choice, but if the source is any other, then A is highly debatable. But kudos to Pkit for throwing it into the ring

The number 226 indicates that this topic belongs to the 1000m series. In 1000 series, it is futile to expect the best answer always and we must be ready to end up with the best of the lot answers. POE is a tool that will come handy in such situations.

POE 1. Plural houses and dwellings indicate that the other side of the comparison must also be a plural. Businesses are the correct choice. Business is a collective noun, which for all practical purposes is singular. Eliminate B, C and E. Between A and D:

POE 2. The word ‘distinction’ indicates that the compared one should be different from others. Such a contrast cannot be brought about by a corroborative conjunction, namely, ‘as’. By generalizing D will mean that all dwellings must be run like businesses. Not necessarily. There are many non - profits dwelling too. So D is suspect.
Notwithstanding the dubious ‘being’,( here being is used as a modifier of houses and hence is not very appropriate) one has to reluctantly accept A as the answer. Not a very happy situation.

i'm just wondering whether there should be a "do" follow the businesses?

Cooperative apartment houses have the peculiar distinction of being dwellings that must also operate as businesses.
(A) of being dwellings that must also operate as businesses
(B) of dwellings that must also operate like business
(C) that they are dwellings that must operate like business
(D) that, as dwellings, they must also operate like businesses
(E) to be a dwelling that must also operate as a business

In GMAT world like is never used to present examples
B,C,D are instant elimination

A is correct

Actually, the GMAT does sometimes use "like" to present examples. However, no examples are presented in this sentence. Here, we need "as" (meaning "in the role of") rather than "like" (meaning "in a similar way as"). The co-ops actually are businesses; they're not just acting like businesses.

Can we eliminate the options with the reason that, 'they' is used for houses?

Hello, ManyataM. Although they is not necessary to convey the meaning of the sentence, and the that clause in which we encounter the word is not idiomatic in this context, to use the pronoun in reference to houses is not a problem. (How else should we refer to them?) We could just as easily see a different sentence that employed this very relationship:

Apartment houses are not built to last today; they often incorporate lower quality materials such as particle board that break down after a decade or two.

Between that or they in (C) and (D), it is the former, the clause marker, that allows us to disqualify these answer choices: the peculiar distinction that is not preferred to of. You should note that the GMAT™ does not test idioms as commonly as it used to. I am not going to say that idiom questions will not pop up, but I would not worry too much about them, since there will often be other points within the answer choices that can be used to separate one from another.

I hope that helps. Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

hi AndrewN sir

what's your take on rejecting option E.

Cooperative apartment houses have the peculiar distinction of being dwellings that must also operate as businesses.
(E) to be a dwelling that must also operate as a business

1. houses= plural? so dwelling should also be plural?
2. business = singular is wrong here? I though business is collectives nouns . So in this context it must be " BusinessES"?
3. distinction of is right idiom?distinction to be is wrong?
4. In this example: why should i choose being because b,C,D and E are wrong?
I understand being as present for time being. distinction of being dwelling is not a temporary point so what's the justification of using being here?

Thanks in advance!

Hello, mSKR. I will draw attention to some talking points and outline my thought process below.


First, the correct answer. To have the distinction of being is idiomatic. I dislike resorting to idioms—and in this question, we do not need to, as we will see below—but if I know one, I can use such knowledge for or against an answer choice. Then, concerning like versus as, the comparison outlines the double duty cooperative apartment houses must pull in how they operate, a verb, so an as comparison is fitting:

dwellings... must... operate as businesses [operate/do]

In short, there is nothing wrong with the original sentence.

(B) omits being, which in this particular idiom is not only acceptable, but crucial. The idiomatic construct breaks down without it. Then, we see like instead of as, and we get business without even an article, a, to properly introduce it. In short, the ending makes no sense.

(C) gets off to the wrong start from the first word: the peculiar distinction that is certainly not favored over of, and that they are adds more words without launching into the distinction. But if you were unsure about the idiom, you could still turn to the latter portion of the sentence, which changes nothing from (B) and is just as problematic.

(D) not only starts off with the same that that (C) had improperly used, but it then skews the meaning of the sentence by roping off as dwellings. Doing so creates confusion about what the sentence aims to convey:

1) Within a larger category of dwellings, cooperative apartment houses are distinct for the reason given.

2) Because they are dwellings, cooperative apartment houses are distinct (as are, apparently, all other dwellings) for the reason given.

Yet again, though, if you were uncertain about this point, you could turn to the end of the sentence. The focus of the comparison is on how cooperative apartment houses and businesses operate, so like is incorrect.

(E) is unique itself in that it starts with the infinitive to be: the peculiar distinction to be is unidiomatic. But an easier target is one you have already pointed out: the plural houses and the singular a dwelling do not match up, any more than houses and a business pair up at the end. We can comfortably eliminate this answer choice.

As much as possible, keep your approach to SC simple. If you are uncertain about a particular point, let it be and see if you can find something else to tease out and attack. The hardest answer to argue against is the one to pick.

I hope that helps with your query. Thank you for thinking to ask.

- Andrew

Hi AndrewN

How do we determine whether usage of being in the sentence is correct or incorrect?

I can handle a question in which being is used as a verb or as a noun. Now in option A, my best guess is that being is used as adjective/participle(hope I am correct). But I could not immediately identify that usage of being is correct in option A.

Please help.

Best & regards.

Hello, beeblebrox. Since the idiomatic phrase is [to have] the distinction of, we are looking for a noun to follow of to answer what, exactly, that distinction may be, and a gerund such as being [something] fits the bill. It is not dissimilar to a construct that identifies a person and where that person may be from: Lawrence of Arabia. Still, I would not worry about the specifics of the words within an idiomatic construct. Just appreciate the larger piece for what it is and move on. For further reference, see this short entry for the phrase have the distinction of in Lexico (an offshoot of the Oxford English Dictionary).

Thank you for following up.

- Andrew

Hello beeblebrox,

We hope this finds you well.

One point of clarity that we would like to raise here is that here "being" is a participle and a noun; it is a gerund, a present participle functioning as a noun.

The idiomatic construction "distinction + of + gerund" refers to a distinction that stems from taking a particular action.

For example, "The director recently achieved the distinction of winning more Oscars than anyone else."

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

hi GMATNinja

can you explain this question , how is 'as business valid' here , business is a noun

pls help

Hello romasharma1998,

To clarify your doubt, here "as" acts upon the verb "operate"; the sentence compares how "dwellings" operate and how "businesses operate".

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Sounds like you're thinking of "as" in a comparison -- something like "(Just) as businesses have CEOs, teams have head coaches."

But "as" has many other uses, and in this case the "as" part is just a modifier, telling us more about the "must also operate" part of the sentence. How must they operate? As businesses. "Businesses" is just the object of the preposition in this case, and that's perfectly fine. Here, have another example:

"Tim's shirt functions as a napkin."

"A napkin" is the object of the preposition, and there's obviously no comparison here. This is similar to what we have in (A).

I hope that helps!

AndrewN,
What is the meaning that is conveyed in Option B?
"CAH have the peculiar distinction of dwellings that must operate like business"