... (S) owning and living ... (V) is ... (Mod) a goal ... of young adults, like that of earlier generations.


(A) like that of earlier generations
(B) as that for earlier generations
"that" is used to compare two different things, we need to use "it" to compare the antecedent "owning and living" to itself.

(C) just as earlier generations did
Not parallel to first clause, makes no sense... what did earlier generations do?

(D) as have earlier generations
Not parallel to first clause

(E) as it was of earlier generations
Parallel to first clause,
"owning and living" = it
"is" = was
"a goal" = (omitted)
"of young adults" = of earlier generations

AjiteshArun generis VeritasKarishma GMATNinjaTwo

Cab Experts please shed light on why the singular verb is
correct for subject : owning and living ?
I assume owning and living are verb-ing acting as subjects (gerunds)
E.g. Singing is my hobby.
Singing: Verb-ing acting as noun
Main Verb: Is

What is the correct structure for:
Singing and traveling ARE my hobbies.

Whenever we see AND before the main verb (e.g. in OA = IS)
do not we ALWAYS use a plural verb?
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What you are saying is clearly logical and correct. When a subject consists of a list constructed via the use of "and," such as "the wolf and the bear," that subject should be paired with a plural verb.

So, what's going on in the sentence in this question?

What's going on is that the writer has taken some poetic license and is considering "owning and living in a freestanding house on its own land " a single thing, a single goal,as in, "What is your goal?" "My goal is to own and live in a freestanding house on its own land."

You can see that this stance makes some sense, as it doesn't really make sense to say that this person has two separate goals, owning a house and living in it.

So, whether the use of a singular verb or the use of a plural verb makes more sense is not clearly defined, and the writer has made the call that using a singular verb in this particular case makes more sense.

Now, you can use this example to enhance your SC performance, because, while in this case, the debatable choice of verb appears in the non-underlined portion of the sentence, in other questions, such questionable use of language can appear in OAs. So, by seeing that a somewhat nonstandard use of language might be considered acceptable, you may keep yourself from eliminating choices that SC question writers feel are, while sketchy or debatably wrong, the best.
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Obvious error: Can't find any. Let's go for the choices

B: for kills parallelism. Rejected
C: kills parallelism. Rejected
D: kills parallelism. Rejected
E: as with a clause. E is for sure better than A

IMO E

Dear AtlanticGMAT,

Why can't it be the case that we were omitting the verb from the second half?
Another SC sentence also omits something:

Traffic safety officials predict that drivers will be as likely to exceed the proposed speed limit as they are the current one.

In order to omit something it has to be earlier in the sentence. I guess I'd ask you: what verb from earlier in the sentence would work in the end (and have the correct meaning)?


In your example it looks like "to exceed" is omitted from the second half. That's a different situation from the SC discussed in this thread because "to exceed" is in the first half of the sentence. Hope that is helpful!

A.
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Dear Andrew AtlanticGMAT,

Thanks for your response. The missing verb here is "was". Is "was" unacceptable since it's in a different tense from "is"?

Owning and living in a freestanding house is still a goal of of a majority of young adults like owning and living in a freestanding house WAS a goal of earlier generations.

Whatever you're inserting later in the sentence has to be present in the sentence and you can't modify it. How would anyone know what word needs to be inserted if not already present in the exact form needed? That would create ambiguity. Hope that is helpful!

A.
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Hi Andrew AtlanticGMAT,

I actually just found an OG question that used a verb with not in the exact form with the already present one:

Of all the wild animals in their area, none was more useful to the Delaware tribes than the Virginia white- tailed deer: it was a source of meat, and its hide was used for clothing, its antlers and bones were used for tools, and its sinews and gut were used for bindings and glue

So it looks like it only boils down to tense? Thanks!

I think this one is a bit different in that you have a list with the verbs was, was, were, and were. That's OK. You can change the # of a verb (plural/singular) in a list. In the original example the issue is that you lack a verb in the second half of the sentence, a situation that can also be OK, but in the example there is nothing to fill in the blank with from the first half.

If you use something from one part of a sentence in another you generally cannot modify the thing you use (change the verb tense or anything else). Hope that is helpful.

A.
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After like there must be a noun/pronoun/noun phrase.

Hi @Sayantac2k, @e-gmat, GMATNinja, AtlanticGMAT

X is still a goal of present generation, like a goal of earlier generation. If this is wrong, I wanted to understand how the below sentence in one of the OGs is correct.

X is goal of present generation and X is also a goal of earlier generation. May I please know what is wrong in this?
X is a goal of majority of younger generation, like that of earlier generation.
I understand that this sentence is wrong for the reason that we can't replace "that" with goal here as "that" can also refer to majority of younger generations

Genes jump up and down, like pearls moving from X to Y - Even in this case the portion before "," is a clause and we are comparing only pearls and genes
I also believe that the following sentence is correct
Genes jump up and down, just as pearls do

LINK to above question here - https://gmatclub.com/forum/more-than-30-years-ago-dr-barbara-mcclintock-the-nobel-prize-winner-79611.html

So we are comparing clause with a clause and noun with a noun. So why not apply similar thought process to the given question?

Please let me know what I am missing
Many thanks!

Can be solved in 30-45 seconds with decent boiling of the answer choices:

First element I was able to check was the long clause in between, which must be linked with another dependant clause, which means that we must use one of the FANBOYS, which is displayed with "as", so answer choices A and C are eliminated!


Second element, meaning can bring us to E very easily: it is to me the only construction which purely respects the structure of the sentance and conveys the full meaning!

Here it is!

Hi there,

Could anyone explain me about (E)'s accuracy?

In my opinion,its the goal(Noun) & not any clause(verb) that is getting compared here,that means "like" is required in best answer choice(for comparing noun),thereby, forces us to Pick (A) as the best answer, is n't it?

I think this post will address your question. If you're still having trouble, let us know!
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We are comparing the fact that ‘owning and living in a freestanding house on its own land’ is still a goal of a majority of young adults, as ‘owning and living in a freestanding house on its own land’ was a goal of earlier generations.
‘That’ cannot stand for the entire - owning and living in a freestanding house on its own land - but ‘it’ can. Moreover, we need to compare the action ‘is still a goal’ and need to use ‘as’ followed by a clause. E is the answer.
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thank you . from your posting I find some point

"like" preposition phrase following comma, mofifies the subject. "like" preposition phrase without comma modifies the near noun. compare

I like the girl, like you
I like the girl like you
I like the girl near you.

the first means
like you, I like the girl. both men like the girl
the second means
I like the girl who is like you. we dont use comma if a preposition follow a noun

I like the girl next to you. not " I like the girl , next to you"
I like the girl without long hair. not , " I like the girl, without long hair".

if seem that if comma goes before a preposition, the preposition phrase become adverb of sentence, not adjective of the preceding noun.

in choice A, "like that of .." refer/modifies "owning and living...". this is not logical.

am i correct?

According to a recent poll, owning and living in a freestanding house on its own land is still a goal of a majority of young adults, like that of earlier generations.

SV Pair – Owning and living … is
We are comparing O and L

(A) like that of earlier generations
Like is incorrectly sed to compare the goals.

(B) as that for earlier generations
For is incorrect here

(C) just as earlier generations did
Just as… did is incorrect

(D) as have earlier generations
As have is incorrect.
(E) as it was of earlier generations
Here it refers to O and L . This is the correct choice.

Can't "it" refer back to freestanding house" also, making a pronoun ambiguity?