As the always-wise AjiteshArun indicated, the "it" in this case is one of those strange dummy pronouns that don't have a referent. In constructions such as "it is raining" or "it is wrong to laugh at small children when they put legos in their noses," the "it" seems to imply a general state of affairs and doesn't refer to another noun in the sentence.

Two things I want to emphasize in this situation: 1) these constructions are rare on the GMAT, so don't worry about them too much, and 2) when in doubt about a pronoun, look for other, more concrete issues to use as decision points. If there are four concrete errors, and the one remaining option contains a weird pronoun but no other identifiable problems, the latter will be the correct answer.

I hope that helps!
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Hi egmat

I cannot seem to understand why you have rejected option B on the basis of prepositional phrase? As per the "Usage of As" module in your course, As + prepositional phrases can be used to present comparison. The catch is of "ellipsis".

Quoting you:

B) As with the case of traditional pharmacies, online drugstores rely on prescriptions to have success: Incorrect. Since “as” has been used for comparison in this choice, it must be followed by a clause. But “with the case of traditional pharmacies” is a prepositional phrase and not a clause.

After adding ellipsis - As it is with the case of traditional pharmacies....

Also, I thought "it" is the placeholder (dummy) "it". Why is "it" referring to a clause?

Thanks.

Experts i have slight doubt GMATNinja VeritasKarishma egmat

It has 2 roles one as a pronoun and second as a placeholder

my doubt is why can't the pronoun act as a placeholder in option A?

I have the same query egmat GMATNinja daagh can you please share some details about this

As it is with traditional pharmacies, on-line drugstores rely on prescriptions to be successful, since it is primarily prescriptions that attract the customers, who then also buy other health-related items.

(A) As it is with traditional pharmacies, on-line drugstores rely on prescriptions to be successful "It" (some quality of traditional pharmacies) is being incorrectly compared to "on-line drugstores". Eliminate.

(B) As with the case of traditional pharmacies, on-line drugstores rely on prescriptions to have success "As" is followed by a prepositional phrase and not a clause as is required, also being used to compare two nouns incorrectly. Eliminate.

(C) As is the case with traditional pharmacies, prescriptions are the cornerstone of a successful on-line drugstore Correct answer. Above errors are rectified and no new errors are introduced.

(D) As traditional pharmacies, so on-line drugstores rely on prescriptions to be successful Same error as in (B). Eliminate.

(E) Like traditional pharmacies, the cornerstone of a successful on-line drugstore is prescriptions Incorrect comparison of "traditional pharmacies" and "cornerstone of...". Eliminate.

Hope this helps.
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As it is with traditional pharmacies, on-line drugstores rely on prescriptions to be successful, since it is primarily prescriptions that attract the customers, who then also buy other health-related items.

Hi @AndrewN AjiteshArun: Please check my analysis below for B, C and D. I tried this question several times in last 2 days. Still I am not able to reach at the right answer.


Question1: Can we reject it on basis that Since and So are duplicate in meaning together? Is my approach right?
Since XXX , Online drug xxx
Since XX , so Online xx – since and so duplication


Question2: I think I am missing something in my approach to handle B and C. I improved SC efficiency by changing the strategy to seek an option that can provide clear and concise meaning literally. This one I faltered . Here is my analysis:
Need your expertise opinions.


Adding description of case: what case?
As with case of traditional pharmacies to rely on prescriptions to have success, on-line drugstores rely on prescriptions to have success
Meaning wise:
As traditional pharmacies rely on prescriptions to have success, on-line drugstores rely on prescriptions to have success
Comparison wise:
traditional pharmacies rely vs on-line drugstores rely
I choose B.
Note: I didn't want to reject B only because it is prepositional phrase with AS,I don't think i can remember such rules for long. So i kept reasoning based on meaning wise.


As the case is with traditional pharmacies, something is similar with online drugstore
Case = prescriptions are the cornerstone
Reading with whole meaning wise:
As prescriptions are the cornerstone is with traditional pharmacies, prescriptions are the cornerstone of a successful on-line drugstore
Comparison wise:
Case vs prescriptions
But what I am looking for comparison :
traditional pharmacies rely vs on-line drugstores rely
Hence I rejected C

AndrewN AjiteshArun: Please suggest where did I falter in B and C based on literal meaning strategy

Thanks!

Hello, mSKR. I am not sure I can answer your question to your satisfaction, based on the "literal meaning strategy" you wish for me to invoke. I did narrow this one down to (A) and (C) pretty quickly, but then I took a little extra time to qualify each answer choice, and I opted for (C). My take on the answers:


I do not like the double placeholders at all in it (in the underlined portion) and it (right after the underlined portion). The sentence is difficult to follow. I also wonder about the phrase to be successful, which sounds as if the prescriptions themselves are supposed to generate success, rather than the stores that peddle them. That is, if you wrap up the phrase into the single-word adjective successful and place it ahead of the noun it modifies, are we talking about successful drugstores or successful prescriptions? I have two doubts here on the whole, enough for me to seek a safer alternative.


In general, with should warrant caution, as it is used in many reasonable-sounding answers that end up being wrong. Here, as with is improper usage in the idiomatic construct as is the case. To be honest, I eliminated this one right away. But I felt even better about my decision when I saw have at the end instead of be. You can enjoy success, or you can be successful, but to have success? That sounds off, particularly when we had a perfectly reasonable alternative in the original sentence. Finally, to have success repeats the dual meaning issue we encountered at the tail-end of the previous answer choice. We still cannot say for sure whether drugstores or prescriptions are meant to have success.


Now the issues from before have been addressed. The proper idiom is used in the comparison, and successful has finally found a home. After the underlined portion, there is a special emphasis placed on prescriptions in the It is... prescriptions that construct. A simple since prescriptions attract would do, but it would not be as emphatic. Since the underlined portion identifies prescriptions as the cornerstone of pharmacies, the it is... that construct seems fitting. In short, I have no issues with this answer choice.


This is an improper usage of an as X, so [too] Y comparison. Something else needs to be attached to the first part to draw a comparison using as. Otherwise, like would be used to compare a noun to another noun: Like traditional pharmacies, on-line drugstores... The open-ended to be successful only serves to further weaken the viability of this option.


Right idea, wrong execution. In this type of noun-to-noun comparison, similar entities need to be compared—pharmacies and the cornerstone are not similar entities. If we want to compare cornerstones (in a manner of speaking), we can invoke the case, as seen in other options. This should be another straightforward elimination.

I hope that helps you in some way, even if I more or less explained my own approach. Thank you for thinking to ask me, and as always, good luck with your studies.

- Andrew