Brand management in the personal care industry, like any industry, is

Question

Project SC Butler: Day 239: Sentence Correction (SC2) 
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Brand management in the personal care industry,  like any industry, is the art of defining consumer perceptions of the utility and value promised by the product line  and the personality projected by the company.

A) like any industry, is the art of defining consumer perceptions of the utility and value promised by the product line

B) similar to how any industry does it, is the art of defining consumer perceptions of the utility and value promised by the product line

C) like brand management in any industry, is the artistic defining of consumer perceptions of the product line’s promises of utility and value

D) as in any industry, is artfully defining consumer perceptions of the utility and value promised by the product line

E) as in any industry, is the art of defining customer perceptions of the utility and value promised by the product line

generis · Accepted Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Project SC Butler: Day 239: Sentence Correction (SC2)

I changed this OE. I originally posted the OE from today's  other  question on both questions.

THE PROMPT  
 
  Meaning?  
The sentence defines what "brand management" is. 
→ Essentially, brand management  is  "the art of defining" how consumers perceive both the product line and the company.

The sentence also sets up a comparison: the options use  like, similar to , or  as in,  all of which are comparison markers.

Comparisons must be logical and parallel.
→ Options A, B, and C are not comparing logically parallel things.
→ Options D and E solve the comparison problem by using  as  to compare how brand management is in one industry to how brand management is in any industry.
Something else is wrong in option D.
 
•  Brand management  should logically be compared to some kind of management, but instead,  brand management  is compared to  any industry. 
• Not parallel.
Eliminate option A.
 
• (B) substitutes  similar to  for  like  but still does not compare  management  to  management .
• the phrase  similar to how any industry does it  is clunky and inelegant. 
• the "how" clause may sound like a parallel comparison, but it is not
→ jargon:  how any industry does it  is called a  nominal  or  substantive  clause (and sometimes a  noun clause ) 
-- the whole thing is noun despite its having subject and a verb
-- the "how" clause is not clean parallelism because  what  brand management  consists of  and  how  brand management  is done (is executed)  are not the same thing
• If you are worried, keep B and compare to E. Option B is inferior to E. OR
ELIMINATE B
 
• (C) starts with  like  as (A) does, but (C) solves the comparison problem by inserting the term
"brand management" into the second part of the comparison.
However, when one thing IS another noun, the two things must be expressed in parallel form.

Brand management  and  the artistic defining  are not parallel.
→ The first,  management , is a dedicated noun. The second,  defining , is a gerund  .Finally, 
ELIMINATE C
 
• As mentioned, Options D and E solve the comparison problem by using  as  to compare how brand management is in one industry to how brand management is in any industry.
• However, option D breaks parallelism after the comma because it states, "brand management . . . is artfully defining."
→ Brand  management " is a regular (dedicated) noun whereas  defining  is a verbal (an ___ING word) acting as a noun.
GMAC prefers dedicated nouns if possible.
KEEP but compare carefully to (E).
 
• Option E uses the same noun form in both parts of the linking verb structure (IS):  brand  management  . . . is the  art  of ...  
•  Management  and  art  are the same kind of noun.

Option E is the best answer.

COMMENTS

I wrote what's below in the OE for today's other question.
In English, when a Very Large and Uncomfortable Topic is hanging around and not being discussed, we say that there is "an elephant in the room."

I think this one is bigger than an elephant.
More like a brontosaurus. 
Wait. I like that kind of dinosaur.
How about a pterodactyl or T-Rex?

Many (most?) of us are under quarantine or stay-in-place orders because COVID-19 is on a rampage.

So I thought I'd include something to balance the scales  just a little  and more importantly, to say thank you.

It is good to remember that even a lethal virus is no match for the human spirit—or at least for the human spirit that rallies by conscious choice rather than by political calculation.

I'm fairly sure that Spain was the first country whose citizens decided to go outside on their balconies at 8 p.m. each night.

The Spaniards bang pots and pans. 
They clap. 
And they shout "¡Viva los médicos!"  
Other countries followed suit.
Take a look  at this short clip, here. 
 
To anyone, anywhere, who is helping:
Thank you.

Be safe, everyone.

thenikhilseth · Answer

My choice is  E  option.

Split- Like vs As.
Intended comparison - We are comparing brand management in personal care industry with brand management in other industries
 Like is ony used to compare nouns, therefore  As  should be used.

Therefore eliminate A and C.

A)  like  any industry, is the art of defining consumer perceptions of the utility and value promised by the product line
 
B) similar to  how any industry does it , is the art of defining consumer perceptions of the utility and value promised by the product line
Comparison is not accurate here.

C)  like  brand management in any industry, is the artistic defining of consumer perceptions of the product line’s promises of utility and value

D) as in any industry, is  artfully defining consumer perceptions  of the utility and value promised by the product line
 Brand management is not consumer perception

E) as in any industry, is the art of defining customer perceptions of the utility and value promised by the product line

eakabuah · Answer

I settled on E.

Brand management like  any industry  is not parallel. It is incorrect to compare  brand management  to  industry . The two entities being compared are not parallel. Brand Management is not parallel to industry. Eliminate A.

Brand management similar to  how any industry does it . Similar to is synonymous to like. Hence the comparison in B is also not parallel. Brand management is not parallel to how any industry does it. Eliminate B for parallelism error in the comparison.

Brand management in the personal care industry like brand management in any industry is parallel. However, there is a parallelism error in the sentence. X is Y. This means that X and Y must be parallel. X, in this case, is management. Y is defining.  management , action noun, is not parallel to  defining , a complex gerund. Note that in brand management,  brand  plays the role of an adjective. Similarly, in the artistic defining,  the artistic  plays the role of an adjective. Once you understand the structure, you can clearly see that the comparison is between  management  and  defining . Eliminate C for parallelism error.

in the personal care industry is parallel to in any industry. Both are prepositional phrases, hence parallel. However, management is not parallel to defining, as already explained above. In artfully defining,  artfully  modifies  defining . Hence management is  defining . Eliminate D.

This is the correct choice. in the personal care industry is parallel to in any industry. In addition,  Management  is parallel to  the art .

generis · Answer

The official explanation is  here .

bowser123 · Answer

Only D and E have the appropriate comparison as in... so you can get rid of A, B and C

Brand management is the subject and only E gives you a detailed description of brand management.

Correct answer is E

VerbalBot · Answer

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Brand management in the personal care industry, like any industry, is

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Brand management in the personal care industry, like any industry, is

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