In her presentation, the head of the Better Business Bureau emphasized

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-



Choice A: In this answer choice, the phrase "as not an expense" breaks parallelism with the phrase "but as an investment". Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice B: In this answer choice, the phrase "as not expense" breaks parallelism with the phrase "but as an investment". Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice C: In this answer choice, the construction "think of ... an" is incorrect; the word "as" must precede the word "an". Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice D: In this answer choice, parallelism and proper idiom construction are maintained throughout the sentence. Thus, this answer choice is correct.

Choice E: This answer choice repeats the error seen in Option C. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.


Hence, D is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

The reason why you need two "as"s is idiomatic--it's just the way the expression works, and it creates parallel structure. Since there are two ways to think of something, there should be two "as"s.

I think of you not as a co-worker, but a friend. = incorrect
I think of you not as a co-worker, but as a friend. = correct

The same holds true for prepositions in general, when used in a similar way.

I am going not to Yale, but Harvard. = incorrect
I am going not to Yale, but to Harvard. = correct

Let's discuss it more generally, in terms of templates, and then again with specific examples:

"Subject + Verb/Predicate + Preposition + Any Objects of the Preposition" = correct (you don't have to repeat the preposition for additional objects)

For Example: "I like to go to the beach and the mountains." (Don't have to repeat "to" because the "to" is already established as the preposition of that verb.)

However,

"Subject + Verb/Predicate + Preposition + comma + BUT + no preposition..." is less correct, though people do so all the time in everyday speech. The reason why is that a punctuation/word such as ", but" serves as a possible "pivot point" in the sentence and thus requires a new preposition to confirm that the second clause is modifying the first, and not moving on to a whole other thought.

Ex: "I think of you not as an enemy, but a friend of mine is coming over soon and I need to clean the living room." I know this is a silly example and few would interpret it this way, but that's how grammar works. Any possible misinterpretation, no matter how illogical or unlikely, is the enemy of correct grammar.

Otherwise it sounds like you could possibly talking about a different friend, not extending your original thought. I know it's complicated, but it's possibly to simply memorize the rule rather than try to make sense of it, as I am doing. Sometimes the most important aspect of English grammar is understanding the importance of idioms: "that's just how you say it." That being said, this particular rule does have some logic behind it.

IN SUM:

"I think of you not as an enemy, but a friend" = incorrect but accepted
"I think of you not as an enemy, but as a friend" = better for clarity[/size]

'Think of X as' is the right idiom. C and E are out.

'Not x but y' must maintain parallelism.

not as an expense, but as an investment. D is the right answer

With babuvgmat

Answer will be (D)

In her presentation, the head of the Better Business Bureau emphasized that companies should think of the cost of conventions and other similar gatherings not as an expense ,but as an investment in networking that will pay dividends.

In her presentation, the head of the Better Business Bureau emphasized that companies should think of the cost of conventions and other similar gatherings not as an expense ,but as an investment in networking that will pay dividends.

In her presentation, the head of the Better Business Bureau emphasized that companies should think of the cost of conventions and other similar gatherings as not an expense, but as an investment in networking that will pay dividends.

The structure is Not X but Y and X and Y should be parallel.

A) as not an expense,but as

If I break it down,
X as
not an expense
but as an Investment

If I remove but -> there are two "as" -> Incorrect

B) as not expense,but

We have an investment, we require an expense

C) not an expense,rather
Not X but Y is the structure

D) not as an expense,but as
Correct

E) not in terms of expense,but
We require in terms of Investment to make it parallel but we don't have that so incorrect

In her presentation, the head of the Better Business Bureau emphasized that companies should think of the cost of conventions and other similar gatherings as not an expense, but as an investment in networking that will pay dividends.

A) as not an expense,but as
B) as not expense,but
C) not an expense,rather
D) not as an expense,but as
E) not in terms of expense,but

The correct idiom is Not as X, but as Y. X and Y should be parallal to each other.

The only choice which shows this use is D and hence D is the correct choice.

These are some commom parallelism markers. It is always better to know them very well as it can save a lot of time on the test day. I was able to solve this question in 33 seconds only because I knew that marker.

1 More A than B.
2 As many A's as B's.
3 As much A as B.
4 Not only A, but also B.
5 The more the A, the less the B.
6 No less was A than was B.
7 A is to X as B is to Y.
8 To A is to B.
9 Not A, but rather B
10 A instead of B.
11 The same to A as to B.
12 Range from A to B.
13 Both A and B.
14 Neither A, nor B.
15 Either A, or B.
16 Mistake A for B.

Thank you!
Please press kudos if my post has helped you.

Correct Idiom: Not X but Y
Where X must be parallel to Y.

A-- Not (an expense) but (as) -- Not parallel
B-- Not (expense) but an investment -- Not parallel
C-- Not (an expense), rather -- Correct idiom is Not X, but rather Y
D-- Not (as an expense), but (as an expense) -- Parallel
E-- Not (in terms of expense), but (an investment) -- Not parallel

First, let's review the parallelism in the correct choice (D):


The two items in the list certainly LOOK parallel--both have the form, "as an [noun]". But to be sure, let's imagine what the sentence would look like if we only had one or the other:

1) "... companies should think of the cost of [X] as an expense."
2) "... companies should think of the cost of [X] as an investment in networking."

Grammatically, these are both fine. That's because both items in the parallel list ("as an expense" and "as an investment") can logically follow "cost of conventions and other similar gatherings".

Now let's check choice (B):


The first red flags is that the two items in the list do NOT have the same form: the first is a noun without an article (a/an/the), and the second is a noun with an article ("an"). But to be sure, let's do the same test with choice (D):

1) "... companies should think of the cost of [X] as expense."
2) "... companies should think of the cost of as [X] an investment in networking."

The second one is okay, but notice that the first option doesn't work because it's missing an article for "expense"! Choice (D) avoids that problem by putting an article ("an") in front of each item in the parallel list. That makes (D) a better choice.

And if you want a long-winded on special parallelism triggers (both/and, either/or, not/but), here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXRz0RBLNus.

I hope that helps!

In her presentation, the head of the Better Business Bureau emphasized that companies should think of the cost of conventions and other similar gatherings as not an expense, but as an investment in networking that will pay dividends.

A) as not an expense, but as
B) as not expense, but
C) not an expense, rather
D) not as an expense, but as
E) not in terms of expense, but

Of course, happy to help and flex the grammar muscles a bit.

A) not bad. However, it's not perfect, because of the incorrect order of the words "as" and "not". For example, there is a reason why we say "not bad", and not, "bad not". The "not" is the more important word in this sentence and thus should come first, for clarity.
B) missing the 2nd "as" (in addition to the "an")
C) the mystery of the disappearing "as"s
D) correct
E) same as C

The first "as" is there, but the second "as" is not. The correct expression is "not as A, but as B." Thus, two "as"s are necessary. In addition, one does not think of something "as expense"--one thinks of something "as an expense", since "expense" is a noun and not an adjective / adverb, and thus requires "a" or "an" (indefinite article).

For example:

I think of him warmly (adverb) = correct
I find him annoying (adjective) = correct
I think of it as expensive (adjective) = correct
I think of it as expense (noun) = incorrect
I think of it as an expense (noun) = correct

Can anyone explain why B is incorrect?

In her presentation, the head of the Better Business Bureau emphasized that companies should think of the cost of conventions and other similar gatherings as not an expense, but as an investment in networking that will pay dividends.

A) as not an expense,but as
B) as not expense,but
C) not an expense,rather
D) not as an expense,but as
E) not in terms of expense,but

Replacing the original sentence with (B)

In her presentation, the head of the Better Business Bureau emphasized that companies should think of the cost of conventions and other similar gatherings as not expense, but an investment in networking that will pay dividends.

Is the missing "an" the only problem?

mcelroytutoring, HanoiGMATtutor: Any views?

With respect to option B, in my humble opinion, I don't see a missing "as". If I replace the original sentence with what is written in option B, the sentence will look like below:

In her presentation, the head of the Better Business Bureau emphasized that companies should think of the cost of conventions and other similar gatherings as [ not expense, but investment in networking] that will pay dividends.

I only see the missing "an" as the problem. Please help me in understanding that where am I going wrong mcelroytutoring

In her presentation, the head of the Better Business Bureau emphasized that companies should think of the cost of conventions and other similar gatherings as not an expense, but as an investment in networking that will pay dividends.

A) as not an expense,but as - idiom issue - “think of X not as Y but as Z”
B) as not expense,but - idiom issue
C) not an expense,rather - “Not…rather” is non-idiomatic
D) not as an expense,but as - Correct
E) not in terms of expense,but - parallelism issue - “in terms of expense” and “an investment”

Answer D

Hello Arpit/ adkikani,

Thank you for the query.

Well, anyone preparing for the GMAT must at least remember such simple idioms as between X and Y, both X and Y, not only X but also Y, not X but Y, etc.

This question is all about idiomatic expression. So we must bear in mind that as not X is incorrect expression. The correct expression is not as X.


Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

Hello teaserbae,

I would like to help you with this one.

On GMAT SC, certain expressions are considered correct and certain expressions incorrect.

So the expression as not X is incorrect,. The correct expression not as X.

The best way to get around these idiomatic expressions is to learn them by heart.


Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

Hello Everyone!

This is a great example of a question that deals with idiomatic structures! Let's take a closer look to determine the correct answer - and do it quickly! To get started, here is the original question with the main differences highlighted in orange:

In her presentation, the head of the Better Business Bureau emphasized that companies should think of the cost of conventions and other similar gatherings as not an expense, but as an investment in networking that will pay dividends.

A) as not an expense, but as
B) as not expense, but
C) not an expense, rather
D) not as an expense, but as
E) not in terms of expense, but

It's clear from looking over the question quickly that we're dealing with an idiomatic structure that also uses parallel structure. The idiomatic structure we're dealing with here is:

not X, but Y

In this case, both X and Y must be written using parallel structure and wording. For example:

The autumn leaves were not a bright yellow, but were a deep golden hue. --> WRONG
The autumn leaves were not a bright yellow, but a deep golden hue. --> RIGHT

To check for idiomatic structure and parallelism, let's go ahead and add in the phrase "an investment" to the end of each one to fully round out the phrase. Once we've done that, it should be pretty clear which options don't follow the idiomatic structure:

A) as not an expense, but as an investment --> WRONG
(The verb "as" needs to be part of both phrases, or not at all. In this case, it's part of one half, but not the other, making in not parallel in format).

B) as not expense, but an investment --> WRONG
(The word "an" needs to be part of both phrases. In this case, the verb "an" is before the word "not," which means it isn't part of the idiomatic structure. This is another example of a non parallel structure.)

C) not an expense, rather an investment --> WRONG
(While this option DOES use parallel structure for the X and Y by saying "an expense" and "an investment," it's still wrong! It doesn't follow the basic idiomatic structure of "not X, but Y." It uses "not X, rather Y" instead, which is wrong.)

D) not as an expense, but as an investment --> CORRECT
(This uses the correct format of the idiomatic structure "not X, but Y." Both X and Y are written in the same format, with the phrase "as an" at the beginning of each one. Therefore, this is the CORRECT choice!)

E) not in terms of expense, but an investment --> WRONG
(Here is another case of the X and Y not being written using parallel structure. They both need to start with the phrase "in terms of" in them, or both need to start with "an" in them to be parallel.)

There you have it! Option D is the correct option because it's the only one that uses the idiomatic structure "not X, but Y" correctly!


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.

As discussed in this post and this long-winded video, overreacting to commas is usually a bad idea. Is that comma entirely necessary? Probably not. Does that make it wrong on the GMAT? Nah. And at the very least, it's far better to look for decision points other than comma usage on official SC questions.


Messing around with answer choices and asking yourself, "what if...?", is not usually a great use of your valuable study time. Answering GMAT questions as written is hard enough, so don't torture yourself by analyzing tweaked versions of the answer choices. If you understand why (B), as written, should be eliminated, then you've done your job.

I hope this helps a bit!