Just as reading Samuel Pepy's diary gives a student a sense of the sev

Yeah, I don't really like this particular SC question.

Here are (B) and (D) again:


Obviously, the only difference between (B) and (D) is the word "so". Why do we care about it? One (unsatisfying) answer is that "just as (X...), so (Y...)" is an idiom that the GMAT used to like. That's pretty much the end of the explanation of what the GMAT is thinking here. Crappy, right?

And I wouldn't worry about this AT ALL. For starters, I'm not 100% sure that this actually came from OG 11 -- I don't remember this question, but to be fair, I haven't used OG 11 much since 2007, when OG 12 came out (and my copy of OG 11 is literally in storage right now, so I can't check it right now, sadly). Even if it did come from OG 11, it's a really, really old question, and it's hard to find newer questions that test this silly little idiom in the same way. And in general, it's hard to get much benefit from studying the 25,000 or so idioms in English.

Bottom line: don't lose sleep over this one, because you're incredibly unlikely to see this same issue tested in the same way on your actual GMAT.
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just as X so y
or
just as x so too Y

Just as
reading Samuel Pepy's diary gives a student a sense of the seventeenth century—of its texture and psyche—
so
listening to Jane Freed's Guileless Child Narrator takes the operagoertakes the operagoer inside turn-of-the century Vienna.

(A) so Jane Freed's Guileless Child Narrator takes the operagoer – just as X , so Y idiom is needed here just as reading Samuel Pepy’s diary…………. So Jane Freed’s is wrong X and Y must be be equal where X is reading OUT-
(B) so listening to Jane Freed's Guileless Child Narrator takes the operagoer – just as X , so Y idiom just as reading(X) Samuel Pepy’s diary…………. So listening to Jane Freed’s Guileless Child Narrator is right X and Y where X and Y paralel-

(C) so the Guileless Child Narrator of Jane Freed takes the operagoer – just as X , so Y idiom is needed here just as reading Samuel Pepy’s diary…………. So The Guileless Child Narrator of Jane Freed is wrong X and Y must be be equal where X is reading and paralelism also must be constructed between Samuel Pepy’s diary…. And Jane Freed's Guileless Child Narrator -

(D) listening to Jane Freed's Guileless Child Narrator takes the operagoer – just as X , so Y idiom is needed here just as reading Samuel Pepy’s diary…………. Listening to is wrong so is needed OUT-
(E) Jane Freed's Guileless Child Narrator takes the operagoer to her opera– just as X , so Y idiom is needed here just as reading Samuel Pepy’s diary…………. Jane Freed’s….. is wrong so + Y(listening) is needed OUT-

OG Solution: Idiom + Parallelism
This sentence is based on the comparative construction just as x, so y, x and y must be grammatically parallel elements. The underlined portion of the sentence makes up most of the y element, which must be revised to make it parallel to the x element. The first part of the comparison is about reading a diary, and the second part is about listening to a narrator. Reading Samuel Pepys’s diary gives a student… is parallel to listening to Jane Freed’s…narrator takes the operagoer…
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generis
Why can't we consider "so" an elipsis in D ? I don't see anything wrong with it. Please guide.

MikeScarn, GMATNinja, GMATNinjaTwo, hazelnut, generis
Hi, I couldn't find a reason to eliminate D.can someone explain what is wrong with it.

Just as reading Samuel Pepy's diary gives a student a sense of the seventeenth century—of its texture and psyche—so Jane Freed's Guileless Child Narrator takes the operagoer inside turn-of-the century Vienna.

(A) so Jane Freed's Guileless Child Narrator takes the operagoer
The construction is Just as X, So Y.
In X, reading is an action, So in the “so” part it should be parallelly compared to another action.

(B) so listening to Jane Freed's Guileless Child Narrator takes the operagoer.
Best of All.

(C) so the Guileless Child Narrator of Jane Freed takes the operagoer
Reading is compared to Guileless Child Narrator of Jane – Incorrect Parallelism in the Idiom.

(D) listening to Jane Freed's Guileless Child Narrator takes the operagoer
Comparison Marker – Just as X , So Y.

(E) Jane Freed's Guileless Child Narrator takes the operagoer to her opera
To her opera – What is her referring to ? – Incorrect
To her opera is extra info Added. – Incorrect

Parallelism is the name of the game here: Just as so reading...so listening

Just as reading Samuel Pepy's diary gives a student a sense of the seventeenth century—of its texture and psyche—so Jane Freed's Guileless Child Narrator takes the operagoer inside turn-of-the century Vienna.

(A) so (listening to) Jane Freed's Guileless Child Narrator takes the operagoer X

(B) so listening to Jane Freed's Guileless Child Narrator takes the operagoer CORRECT

(C) so (listening to) the Guileless Child Narrator of Jane Freed takes the operagoer X

(D) so listening to Jane Freed's Guileless Child Narrator takes the operagoer X

(E) so listening to Jane Freed's Guileless Child Narrator takes the operagoer to her opera X
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KEY is (1) Just as X So Y, and (2) X and Y shall be maintain parallelism

D & E are eliminated because Just as X So Y structure not maintained

For parallelism Clause X is reading ....... so Clause Y shall be ...ing.....
A & C gone.

Choice B is good
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Clearly, the split is based on the correct usage of the idiom "just as X, so Y" having X and Y as parallel elements

In addition, please also note that the idiom 'just as...so...' is also acceptable with the omission of 'so'.

Here is a link to the official question: https://gmatclub.com/forum/despite-the- ... 99685.html

Does anyone see official Qs that go away from this 'just as ... so' format (example, just using "just as")???

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