According to his own account, Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor

Hi AndrewN AjiteshArun


If I don't know the correct idiom , do you think this question still can be solved?
Above posts have mentioned modeled like is wrong. Undoubtedly it is wrong, Even if wrong intended meaning, it should be been " modeled as "( action comparison)
But in option A , like is mentioned, so I will look for a noun comparison with mother's . The comparison fits with face of xx like mother's and body like wife's body.

I don't think we should reject on basis of mother's vs that of his mother( marked in red text)

Please give your opinions.

Thanks!

I agree, mSKR, that we should not write off the original sentence simply because of the possessive in the comparison. If you prefer to look at the like issue more from a meaning standpoint than as an idiomatic construct, as Brian from Veritas Prep outlined in an earlier post, you could work through the question that way instead and arrive at the correct answer.

I will continue to urge you to concentrate your preparation on official questions—some of the 1000 Series questions are not from old OGs, even if they are labeled as such—but within this larger pool of questions, focus less on those that are from an older iteration of the test and more on those that resemble questions you might see today. (The older exam tested idioms more frequently, for example.) You can gain more from review than you can from taking on more and more questions. In fact, I would say that the person who can broadly apply lessons learned from a smaller set of questions is one who has a leg up on the test and can expect to earn a top score.

- Andrew

I am sorry if my doubt is lame or nonsensical. I have understood why A is incorrect but i am still not sure how B is correct.
Isn't option B ambiguous here, having two meanings.

"(B) modelled the face of the statue after that of his mother and the body after that of his wife"

Can it not mean that he modelled the face of the statue after modelling the face of his mother and the body of the statue after modelling the body of his wife?

Thanks in advance!

Hello rabjeet,

I will be glad to help you with this one.

The phrase "A modeled after B" means that A has been made similar to B. Yes, it can also mean that A was made after B. However, in the context of this official sentence, it makes no sense to say that Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi first modeled the face of his mother and the body of his wife, then he made The Statue of Liberty. This meaning is illogical. Therefore, we understand that the only logical meaning the sentence presents is that Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi made the face of the statue like the face of his mother and the body of the statue like the body of his wife. Choice B presents the logical meaning through correct grammar.


Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

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