Contact between the two great landmasses, Australia and New Guinea was

Question

Contact between the two great landmasses, Australia and New Guinea was restricted to few small groups of Torres Strait Islanders interacting with a few small groups of Cape York Aborigines, just as it had once been between the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers

A. just as it had once been between the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers

B. just like it once had been among the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers

C. just as the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers had once done

D. similar to what the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers had done once

E. like what had been done by the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers

Source-  GMAT  Whiz

NischalP · Answer

Contact between the two great landmasses, Australia and New Guinea was restricted to few small groups of Torres Strait Islanders interacting with a few small groups of Cape York Aborigines, just as it had once been between the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers

A. just as it had once been between the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers
-IMO ( it refers to the contact)
B. just like it once had been among the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers
-Just Like is almost always wrong comparison

C. just as the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers had once done

D. similar to what the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers had done once
-Shifts the meaning of the intended sentence ( the farmers didn't force the situation to occur)

E. like what had been done by the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers
-Like cannot be used to compare clauses.

SiffyB · Answer

Contact between the two great landmasses, Australia and New Guinea was restricted to few small groups of Torres Strait Islanders interacting with a few small groups of Cape York Aborigines, just as it had once been between the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers

A.  just as it had once been between the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers 
  - The usage of 'just as' is perfectly fine. 'as' is followed by a clause here. The usage of between is correct to comapre two entities. There are no errors in this sentence.

B. just like it once had been among the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers -  like can never be followed by a clause. This is incorrect usage. Like must always be followed by a noun. Usage of among to compare two entities is incorrect. Among is always used to compare more than two distinct groups/entities.

C. just as the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers had once done -  Sense of comparison is lost by omitting the word 'between'.

D. similar to what the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers had done once -  'similar to what' is wordy. we already have a concise correct option. Also, once should be followed by done and not the other way around.

E. like what had been done by the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers -  repeats one of the errors of choice (B). Like cannot be followed by a clause. The sense of comparison between the two groups is lost in this choice.

NiftyNiffler · Answer

Contact between the two great landmasses, Australia and New Guinea was restricted to few small groups of Torres Strait Islanders interacting with a few small groups of Cape York Aborigines,  just as it had once been between the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers 
 
This sentence makes an action to action comparison. Hence, between "As" and "Like", "As" is preferable.

A. just as it had once been between the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers -- CORRECT

B. just like it once had been among the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers  -- "Like" doesn't take a clause for comparison

C. just as the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers had once done  -- comparison of passive sentence structure in the first half to active in the underlined portion

D. similar to what the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers had done once  -- same as C

E. like what had been done by the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers  -- same as B

arora1 · Answer

Highlighting in red what makes the wrong answers wrong...
A. just as it had once been between the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers  It refers to contact.. looks correct

B. just like it once had been among the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers between > among

C. just as the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers had once done  done what?

D. similar to what the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers had done once  same as C

E. like what had been done by the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers  like..

Raman109 · Answer

Contact between the two great landmasses, Australia and New Guinea was restricted to few small groups of Torres Strait Islanders interacting with a few small groups of Cape York Aborigines, just as it had once been between the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers

Option Elimination -

A. just as it had once been between the Stone Age hunter-gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers - we are comparing the "contact." "It" logically refers to "contact" and not to "Australia" or "New Guinea." "restricted" is omitted. Ok.

B. just like it once had been among the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers - "like" can't compare clauses.

C. just as the Stone Age hunter-gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers had once done - "done" an action verb has been wrongly used to refer to the helping verb "was." "restricted" is omitted. So the sentence reads as "just as the Stone Age hunter-gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers had once done "restricted." Illogical. We need "been" to replace the helping verb "was" and not the action verb "done."

D. similar to what the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers had done once - same issue as C

E. like what had been done by the Stone Age hunter gatherers of Australia and the Stone Age New Guinea farmers - "like" can't compare clauses.

Shuvojoti · Answer

Is there any difference between the use of "had once been" and "once had been"?

Contact between the two great landmasses, Australia and New Guinea was

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Contact between the two great landmasses, Australia and New Guinea was

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards