Most insomnia is not an illness or a physical condition so much as a

not so much X, but Y~ is idiomatic.

Among C, D, and E, only C correctly uses a parallel noun comparison

an illness...a symptom

(C) is our winner.

1:02

Can the "not so much ...as...", be "not....so much as"?

Hey Kaja,

As far as I know, yes.

-t

Idiom NOT X BUT Y - X & Y need to be parallel.

Most insomnia is not an illness or a physical condition so much as a symptom of another problem that may simply be a reaction to certain medications, anxiety about travel, or stress before a job interview.

A. an illness or a physical condition so much as a symptom of another problem that may simply be a reaction to certain medications - BUT is missing
B. an illness or a physical condition so much as symptomatic of another problem that may be a simple one, like a reaction caused by certain medications - BUT is missing
C. so much an illness or a physical condition but a symptom of another problem that may be as simple as when certain medications cause a reaction - illness - symptom are parallel
D. so much an illness or a physical condition, but it is a symptom of another problem, maybe a simple one like certain medications causing a reaction - illness - it is an illness - not parallel
E. so much an illness or a physical condition but symptomatic of another problem, maybe simply a reaction to certain medications - illness - symptomatic - not parallel
Answer - C

Hey Kaja,

It's actually about how the meaning changes based on the change in the modifier:

A. an illness or a physical condition so much as a symptom of another problem that may simply be a reaction to certain medications

PROBLEM: The modifier here is the relative clause starting with "that." It's modifying "problem". But the problem is not "a reaction to certain medications...". That's supposed to be an example of a similar problem, not the problem itself.

C. so much an illness or a physical condition but a symptom of another problem that may be as simple as when certain medications cause a reaction

ANSWER: See how here, the clause modifying "problem" is COMPARING the problem to these other issues, instead of equating them? That's what we want.

Hope that makes sense!

-t

hi！well....
about A
I think the that clause in choice A could modify "symptom" , as we can hardly break "of another problem" from"a symptom" I mean, if we wanna have a clause modify another sysptom, we can just put it right after "another problem", is it true?
But i agree that readers may think that clause is modifying "problem", where a little ambiguity raised,but we cannot help it.

about C
the when clause is not parallel with the non-underlined part,(anxiety ....,and stress from ....) is this a good choice?

about E
the problem of C is fixed in this choice, however, "systomatic of" is not parallel with "illness"........

Seems every choice has imperfection....which can we tolerate?

Oh, and Munda, that's not quite right. You're thinking of SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT. The main subject of a sentence will never be within any modifier (prepositional phrase, participial phrase, etc.). However, part of a prepositional phrase can ABSOLUTELY be modified. Both of these sentences are correct.

The King of France, who makes fantastic cheese, is handsome.

The King of France, where I was born, is beautiful.

It's just a meaning issue, really. If there's ambiguity, it will be wrong.

-t

A better example:

While living in France, where I was born, I saw David.

"France" is within the prepositional phrase "in France," but obviously it's okay to modify it.

-t

The idiom is "(X is) not so much A as (it is) B". A and B must have the same structure. The meaning is that X is "closer" to B than it is to A.

The idiom implies a comparison/preference. So the "as" is absolutely essential.

The other idiom is "(X is) Not A, but B." Here there is no comparison. The meaning is that X "is" B through and through and is "not A".

So C, D, and E are out. Note that E has faulty parallelism as well. The noun "illness" is not parallel to the adjective "symptomatic".

B is incorrect for this very reason. "Illness" and "symptomatic" are not parallel.

The logical meaning is that Insomnia is more likely a "symptom" than an illness. A gets the idiom and the parallelism right.

--Prasad

but answer here is A

Most insomnia is not an illness or a physical condition so much as a symptom of another problem that may simply be a reaction to certain medications, anxiety about travel, or stress before a job interview.


A. an illness or a physical condition so much as a symptom of another problem that may simply be a reaction to certain medications-> correct

B. an illness or a physical condition so much as symptomatic of another problem that may be a simple one, like a reaction caused by certain medications-> symptomatic is awkward

C. so much an illness or a physical condition but a symptom of another problem that may be as simple as when certain medications cause a reaction-> “when” is wrong here

D. so much an illness or a physical condition, but it is a symptom of another problem, maybe a simple one like certain medications causing a reaction -> “like” is wrong here

E. so much an illness or a physical condition but symptomatic of another problem, maybe simply a reaction to certain medications-> same as B

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