Trying to learn some of the basics of programming is the same as to ti

IMO A

here two clauses are compared , and therfore as is correct
trying(VERB) in 2nd clause after as is in ellipse , and hence the structure before and after as is not parallel in all except A
i.e trying to learn.....is same as (trying ) to tinker--------> Choice A is absoultely parallel

(C) is correct

noboru,
I noticed you mentioned the following:

Be careful!
You should not be reading "trying" as a verb. Instead, you can read the entire phrase as:

"[the act of] trying to learn"
is like
"[the act of] tinkering with a car"

So you can use "like" when comparing to acts of doing something, as in this case. The words "try" and "tinker" are verbs by themselves, but once you add the "-ING" and use them in this context where you can mentally add in "the act of" in front of the words, then they are no longer acting as verbs.

Essentially, you are drawing similarities between two ACTIONS.

One action is the act of "trying."
The other is the act of "tinkering."


Answer choice C accurately portrays this concept.

I agree with GMATPill. You can treat the Verb-ing phrases as noun phrases with "act of verbing" in the front.


I think the other answer choices are not wrong in conversational use. Technically and as the GMAT would test it, parallelism would be the best answer choice.

"Trying to learn..is like tinkering with a car"
This answer choice C is the only one that uses the structure "-ING is like -ING"
The others are variations and are not parallel. Conversationally correct but GMAT-wise C will be the best answer. Thanks GMATPill.

First of all, this essence of this question is comparison of comparable things both in logic and form.

A falters at the very outset, because the text tries to compare 'trying to learn’, a gerund, with 'to tinker' an infinitive; this is logically and structurally ungrammatical.


B also indulges in the fatal error of comparing trying with a teenager.

C uses the preposition ‘like’ for comparison. Therefore the preposition ‘like’ should take a noun after it and also compare a process with another process. Trying is a gerund and a process and tinkering is gerund and a process and both are structurally and logically comparable. Hence C ought to be the right choice.

D uses ‘as’ and has the error of using a noun phrase after ‘as’ rather than a clause.

In E, the objection is for using the definite article ‘the’. ‘A teenager’s tinkering’ is different from ‘the teen-ager’s tinkering’.

The official answer being A is not a concern, unless it is an OA or OE from GPRP or OG.

the question is from 1000 series. It is provided that answer is A, but I believe that it is C.

Trying and tinkering are both gerunds. Gerunds are action nouns. Dissimillar nouns are compared using "like" , similar the same as. Do both of the procese are exactly similar or have a degree of dismiliraity?
Try to - is an idiom.
Think about parallelism here. doing smth is like doing smth....

C wins.

IMO answer should be A.
(A) the same as to tinker with a car when one is a teenager (Looks fine, right comparison between learn and tinker)
(B) similar to a teenager tinkering with a car (learning is compared to a teenager, which is wrong comparison)
(C) like tinkering with a car as a teenager (Like is used to compared the nouns, so "Like" is a wrong here)
(D) the same as a teenager tinkering with a car (wrong comparison, learning compared with a teenager)
(E) like the teenager’s tinkering with a car ( Same as C, "Like" cannot be used)

Correct me if I am wrong.

The only possible choice is A. Other choices used the wrong comparison items "Trying to learn some basics of programming" with "teenager", or the wrong usage of the word "like".

I would actually lean towards C. A does not retain parallel verb forms; you have "trying" paired with "tinker". B, D and E, meanwhile, have slightly differing meanings, on account of their having shifted slightly too much of the focus from the act of tinkering to the teenager performing said tinkering.

This leaves C as my preferred response.

The answer must be C. First thing to note is that this is indeed a comparison. As long as we compare a noun or gerund with yet another similar thing, it is ok to use – like -. We must remember that trying or tinkering are not verbs here, but simply gerunds. However, more importantly, we must compare the gerund of trying with yet another similar gerund. We should not compare the process of trying with a human being as a teenager. In addition, the comparison should maintain //ism.

(A) the same as to tinker with a car when one is a teenager - Trying and to tinker is un//; therefore, dropped
(B) similar to a teenager tinkering with a car – compares trying to a teenager; dropped
(C) like tinkering with a car as a teenager – compares correctly trying with tinkering; correct choice.
(D) the same as a teenager tinkering with a car – compares tinkering with a teenager
(E) like the teenager’s tinkering with a car; though trying is compared to tinkering , the intrusion of the possessive teenager’s dilutes the comparison somewhat as if there is something specific as a teenager’s tinkering and it is a universal happening . The straight comparison of trying with tinkering in C is superior and hence, we have to choose that as the best among the lot.


The temptation to think verb+ing as a verb is the Achille's heel in this context

Option c. Since the action of action of studying is compared to the action of tinkering

Posted from my mobile device

Hi Experts, the confusion , Between A & C, in this question still persists.
Kindly help.

Hello, rocky620. I cast my vote for (C). The parallelism is indeed off in (A): trying does not carry over to the second item as an understood element. Comparisons on the GMAT™ are tightly governed. Furthermore, there is an inherent problem in saying that two separate actions, which use separate verbs in to learn and to tinker, are the same. Like is a noun-to-noun comparison marker: the same is not. Consider the following sentences:

1) To say that six of something is the same as half a dozen is accurate.

2) To play poker is the same as to play chess.

3) Playing poker is like playing chess.

In sentence 2, I can draw comparisons between poker and chess as games, but I cannot reasonably call them the same. In the sentence at hand, neither can I reasonably say that learning programming basics and tinkering with a car are the same. They are quite different activities, whatever other similarities they may share.

Finally, what does the stilted when one is a teenager achieve in the way of clarity that as a teenager lacks? This dubious split and the other issues I have pointed out make (A) untenable. My guess is that someone wanted to be clever and design what he or she thought a 700-level GMAT™ question would look like.

If I encounter an official question that incorporates some of the key elements I have argued against above in a correct answer choice, particularly over other options that I have here considered more justifiable, I will be sure to come back and publicly revise my views.

- Andrew

GMATNinja, generis would love to hear your take on this question.

My take on this question
Analysis - we are comparing an action (so use AS) not in a particular way (in this case we use like)
Trying to learn some of the basics of programming is the same as to tinker with a car when one is a teenager: some people end up going to engineering school, and others, twenty years later, remember nothing of the experience.

(A) the same as to tinker with a car when one is a teenager - keep
(B) similar to a teenager tinkering with a car - similar = like . reject as per our pre thinking
(C) like tinkering with a car as a teenager - reject as per our pre thinking
(D) the same as a teenager tinkering with a car - hold
(E) like the teenager’s tinkering with a car - non sense . reject .

lets analyse D & A

(D) the same as (till here both options are same so ignore this part )a teenager tinkering (NOUN) with a car

(A) the same as ....to tinker (to verb ) with a car when one is a teenager - LOGIC we use to verb with as not noun . HENCE A is best choice

But isn't the meaning of tinker attempt to improve, therefore making the usage 'tinkering' parallel?

Posted from my mobile device

You just dont say "is the same as". It is "like" something or "similar to" something, but not "same as". Thats what a child could say.

Posted from my mobile device

Exactly. C is the only choice that makes sense. The two activities aren't actually the same, so we can't possibly choose A. If they really were the same, we'd expect the part after the colon to apply equally well to both, and of course it doesn't.