dabhishek87 wrote:
I was stuck between A and E. Chose E (wrong).
Can some one please explain why AS is wrong in E so I do not make similar mistake.
I thought "that" is refererring to complete clause " courage in the face of physical threats and verbal attacks".
Hello
dabhishek87,
I would be glad to help you resolve your doubt.
Use of
as is very specific on GMAT SC.
When
as is used to present a comparison, then it must be followed by a clause. However,
as is followed by a noun when it is used to present function or role of an entity.
For example:
1. The nurse takes care of me as a mother does. --> Comparison between nurse and mother
2. Tia joined St. Vincent's hospital as a nurse. --> Tia in the role of nurse OR Tia = nurse.
Now let's come back to the official sentence:
While Jackie Robinson was a Brooklyn Dodger, his courage in the face of physical threats and verbal attacks was not unlike that of Rosa Parks, who refused to move to the back of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
The context of this sentence makes it absolutely clear that the sentence intends to present comparison between the courage of Jackie Robinson (JR) and the courage of Rosa parks.
Now let's evaluate the usage of as in Choice E:
as that of Rosa Parks, who refusedIn this choice,
as has been followed by a noun entity
that of Rosa Parks. This means that
as in this choice presents role/function of JR's courage. This is definitely neither logical nor the meaning that the original sentence intends to convey. Hence, use of as in Choice E is incorrect.
Now you may ask that cannot we assume that
was after
Rosa Parks in Choice E is understood as
was has already been used as the verb for the subject his courage?
The answer to this question is straight no because when presenting comparison using
as, we cannot keep just the verb understood after the subject in the clause following
as. It will then be difficult in certain cases to determine if the sentence intends to present comparison or function.
Various usages of
As and
Like has been covered in great details in our Sentence Correction course. The concepts are replete with pertinent examples.
The pronoun
that in Choices A and E stand for the noun
courage because courage of JR can be compared to
that (courage) of Rosa Parks.
Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha
_________________