Samuel Sewall viewed marriage, as other seventeenth-century colonists

E with everyone.
As Matt would say, gmat likes:
like
rather than

Straight E......Idiom as x rather than y is tested inn this question.

Can somebody tell?
If we faced such option instad of E, would it be correct?

Samuel Sewall, as seventeenth-century colonist, viewed marriage as a property arrangement rather than

or, regarding this, it is wrong?

It would probably be wrong as the meaning changes. You want to show similarity between sewall and seventeenth-century colonist, hence " like " is preferred.
For comparing nouns use " Like "
For comparing actions use " as "

Samuel Sewall, as seventeenth-century colonist, - could imply that Samuel Sewall disguised as seventeenth-century colonist, viewed marriage ......."

Samuel Sewall, as seventeenth-century colonist, - also could imply that Sewall is representative of seventeenth-century colonist,..

Both of these are not very appropriate in the context of the sentence.

Hope the explanations help to some extent.

Thank you for your reply!

That is exactly what I am trying to say!

Samuel Sewall, as seventeenth-century colonist, - also could imply that Sewall is representative of seventeenth-century colonist,..

All seventeenth-century colonists viewed marriage as a property arrangement rather than.
Samuel Sewall was one of them. And he thought also so.
Why can not this be true?

It is like next 2 examples.
1. John like a manager does this and that (John is manager's assistant). It is correct construction.
2. John as a manager does this and that (John is a manager and his duties are ...). And it is correct consruction too.

(E) Samuel Sewall, like other seventeenth-century colonists, viewed marriage as a property arrangement rather than
(E new) Samuel Sewall as seventeenth-century colonist, viewed marriage as a property arrangement rather than

So it makes me think that options E and E new are identical in their sense.
like other = as?

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For comparing nouns use " Like "
For comparing actions use " as "
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It is true for sure. But maybe we can not use it here.

I desided to separate two thes posts.

Do I understand you right?
You think that my option E new will be wrong because it carries two meanings. (And it has to carry only one)
E new. Samuel Sewall, as seventeenth-century colonist, viewed marriage as a property arrangement rather than
1. Samuel Sewall, as seventeenth-century colonist, - could imply that Samuel Sewall disguised as seventeenth-century colonist, viewed marriage ......."
2. Samuel Sewall, as seventeenth-century colonist, - also could imply that Sewall is representative of seventeenth-century colonist,..

And the original E contains only one meaning.
E. Samuel Sewall, like other seventeenth-century colonists, viewed marriage as a property arrangement rather than
Samuel Sewall was seventeenth-century colonist, and like all of them viewed marriage as a property arrangement rather than/

Maybe my problem with final understanding is because this meaning "2. Samuel Sewall, as seventeenth-century colonist, - also could imply that Sewall is representative of seventeenth-century colonist,.." is not cleat to me. Why is he disguised - where does it come from?

Can somebody explain Why option D is incorrect ?

Samuel Sewall viewed marriage, as other seventeenth-century colonists, like a property arrangement rather than an emotional bond based on romantic love.

(A) Samuel Sewall viewed marriage, as other seventeenth-century colonists, like a property arrangement rather than

(B) As did other seventeenth-century colonists, Samuel Sewall viewed marriage to be a property arrangement rather than viewing it as

(C) Samuel Sewall viewed marriage to be a property arrangement, like other seventeenth-century colonists, rather than viewing it as

(D) Marriage to Samuel Sewall, like other seventeenth-century colonists, was viewed as a property arrangement rather than

(E) Samuel Sewall, like other seventeenth-century colonists, viewed marriage as a property arrangement rather than


Hi sambit140,

Let’s first understand what is the intended meaning of the sentence.
The original sentence starts with “Samuel Sewall viewed marriage…”. That means, the sentence is trying to convey thoughts of Samuel Sewall on the topic of “marriage”…

Now, even though the original sentence has some other errors as explained by many members in this forum, let’s look at option D.

The option D starts with “Marriage to Samuel Sewall,….”. In my opinion, this is skewed and does not convey the original meaning. Option D, perhaps, could also be interpreted as “ The act of getting married to Sewall” is viewed as ……

The original sentence is talking about Sewall’s views on marriage, and not about Sewall getting married.

i hope this explains why D is not a good option.

Thanks,
———————————
Give Kudos even if you don’t agree

Can somebody explain Why option B is incorrect ?
though I chose E but I have this doubt at the back of my head.

Thanks in advance.

Hi bratbg,

One reason to remove option B is that "viewed marriage to be a property arrangement" is not correct. We cannot say view X to be Y (view X as Y is possible).

AjiteshArun so the use of "AS" is used correctly in order to compare. Right?

No. This as is not used to introduce a comparison. This as is used to tell us what someone thought ("viewed" ~ "thought") something was.

As soon as we see the phrase ‘as other 17th century…’ we know that its placement is off.
It seems to be modifying ‘marriage’ in Option A when it should be modifying ‘Samuel Sewall’.

The quickest way is to look for the option that places this phrase correctly next to what it intends to modify.

We have Options D and E from the mix.

But the subject in Option D is ‘marriage’ and not ‘Samuel Sewall’. This is the wrong comparison. Therefore, eliminate Option D.

Option E is the best choice.

Hope this helps!

Samuel Sewall viewed marriage, as other seventeenth-century colonists, like a property arrangement rather than an emotional bond based on romantic love.

(A) Samuel Sewall viewed marriage, as other seventeenth-century colonists, like a property arrangement rather than

(B) As did other seventeenth-century colonists, Samuel Sewall viewed marriage to be a property arrangement rather than viewing it as
- Can we say that rather than also has an issue of parallelism? The two parts before and after rather than should be parallel - Samuel Sewall viewed..... rather than viewing . It should have noun after rather than.
(C) Samuel Sewall viewed marriage to be a property arrangement, like other seventeenth-century colonists, rather than viewing it as - Same error as B

(D) Marriage to Samuel Sewall, like other seventeenth-century colonists, was viewed as a property arrangement rather than - Changes the meaning. We are not saying the marriage to Samuel Sewall. We are talking about the view of samuel sewall on marriage.

(E) Samuel Sewall, like other seventeenth-century colonists, viewed marriage as a property arrangement rather than - Seems to be correct on all the account.

Hi AjiteshArun @

I understand that option C is wrong for other reasons, but just wanted to understand, whether the use of Like to compare Samuel and other colonists is correct?

Had the sentence been written ''Like other seventeenth-century colonists, Samuel Sewall viewed marriage'' comparison would have been perfect(right?), but does shifting the ''Like'' to end of the sentence change anything? would comparison still be the same?

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Question: Samuel Sewall viewed marriage, as other seventeenth-century colonists, like a property arrangement rather than an emotional bond based on romantic love.

Option C: Samuel Sewall viewed marriage to be a property arrangement, like other seventeenth-century colonists, rather than viewing it as
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Thanks!

Hi ashutosh_73,

That's an interesting point. Let's take a shorter example:
1. Like my brother, I play cricket.

2. I, like my brother, play cricket.

3. I play cricket, like my brother.

(1) and (2) are very similar, but (3) puts the word like right next to cricket. This is not impossible, but it reduces meaning clarity, because now we can't be sure whether like refers to cricket or to I play cricket. Here's another example:

4. I follow the greats, like my brother. ← Does my brother follow the greats, or is he one of the greats?

So to answer your question, although most readers would (probably) understand what "Samuel Sewall viewed marriage to be a property arrangement, like other seventeenth-century colonists" means, we can make the sentence clearer by moving the like-phrase away from the noun property arrangement and closer to the noun Samuel Sewall.