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28 Aug 2021, 20:53
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D
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
5%
(low)
Question Stats:
82% (00:53) correct
18%
(01:05)
wrong
based on 191
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
In a company memo, the head of the organization warned that employees should regard contributions to their 401ks or other similar retirement funds as not a luxury item but as a necessary monthly payment similar to car or bill payments.
A) as not a luxury item but as
B) as not a luxury item but
C) not a luxury item, rather
D) not as a luxury item but as
E) not a luxury item but
28 Aug 2021, 20:55
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OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
THE PROMPT
→ Parallelism. AS . . . AS
If you see the word as being used in a comparison, start looking for another as.
Idiom
→ The general idiom, AS ... AS
→ Another general idiom, Not X But Y
→ A specific idiom that you could infer from either of the other two: Not As X, But As Y
• Parallelism?
Elements X and Y must be parallel—must be the same part of speech and logically function the same way.
Look for the parallelism marker.
In this case, it is NOT AS.
→ the appropriate structure is Not As X But As Y
→ as not ... but as does not maintain parallelism
After Not: a luxury item [noun]
After But: as [not a noun]
ELIMINATE A
→ you cannot use as in a comparison without another as
• another parallelism error (or idiom error)
→ as not . . . but as are not parallel
ELIMINATE B
→ the verb regard takes the word as
(Careful: the verb consider does not take as, and GMAC writers like to test the difference between regard and consider.)
→ the word as is missing twice: once after not and once after but rather [You can emphasize but by using the word rather and still maintain parallelism and idiomatic construction.]
• unidiomatic.
→ Because the word as is entirely gone, we end up with the unidiomatic Not . . . Rather . . .
Now, rather is not always wrong (in fact, rather is often correct), but in this case, we would need but rather.
ELIMINATE C
• Parallelism is maintained in the comparison
Not As: a luxury item [noun]
But As: a necessary monthly payment [noun]
• idiom is maintained
→ AS . . . AS is maintained.
→ The more specific idiom, Not as X but as Y, is also maintained.
KEEP
ELIMINATE E
The answer is D.
COMMENTS
Lenel , welcome to SC Butler.
These answers are interesting.
I see an encouraging amount of critical thinking—excellent!
For example, some of you were not sure whether you could drop as in this kind of construction.
To decide correctly, you fell back on details you knew: that the verb regard, for example, takes as.
Great work.
Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC2)
THE PROMPT
Quote:
In a company memo, the head of the organization warned that employees should regard contributions to their 401ks or other similar retirement funds as not a luxury item but as a necessary monthly payment similar to car or bill payments.
• Issues?→ Parallelism. AS . . . AS
If you see the word as being used in a comparison, start looking for another as.
Idiom
→ The general idiom, AS ... AS
→ Another general idiom, Not X But Y
→ A specific idiom that you could infer from either of the other two: Not As X, But As Y
• Parallelism?
Elements X and Y must be parallel—must be the same part of speech and logically function the same way.
Look for the parallelism marker.
In this case, it is NOT AS.
Quote:
A) as not a luxury item but as [a necessary monthly payment]
• parallelism error/ botched idiom→ the appropriate structure is Not As X But As Y
→ as not ... but as does not maintain parallelism
After Not: a luxury item [noun]
After But: as [not a noun]
ELIMINATE A
Quote:
B) as not a luxury item but AS [a necessary monthly payment]
• parallelism error→ you cannot use as in a comparison without another as
• another parallelism error (or idiom error)
→ as not . . . but as are not parallel
ELIMINATE B
Quote:
C) not AS a luxury item, [but] rather AS [a necessary monthly payment]
• missing AS. In comparisons, we need AS . . . AS→ the verb regard takes the word as
(Careful: the verb consider does not take as, and GMAC writers like to test the difference between regard and consider.)
→ the word as is missing twice: once after not and once after but rather [You can emphasize but by using the word rather and still maintain parallelism and idiomatic construction.]
• unidiomatic.
→ Because the word as is entirely gone, we end up with the unidiomatic Not . . . Rather . . .
Now, rather is not always wrong (in fact, rather is often correct), but in this case, we would need but rather.
ELIMINATE C
Quote:
D) not as a luxury item but as [a necessary monthly payment]
• I do not see any errors• Parallelism is maintained in the comparison
Not As: a luxury item [noun]
But As: a necessary monthly payment [noun]
• idiom is maintained
→ AS . . . AS is maintained.
→ The more specific idiom, Not as X but as Y, is also maintained.
KEEP
Quote:
E) not AS a luxury item but AS [a necessary monthly payment]
• entirely eliminating the word AS creates an idiom errorELIMINATE E
The answer is D.
COMMENTS
Lenel , welcome to SC Butler.
These answers are interesting.
I see an encouraging amount of critical thinking—excellent!
For example, some of you were not sure whether you could drop as in this kind of construction.
To decide correctly, you fell back on details you knew: that the verb regard, for example, takes as.
Great work.
28 Aug 2021, 22:27
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My answer is (D). It took me 33 seconds.
(A) Not a luxury item but as a necessary monthly payment: Eliminated because of the lack of parallelism between A and B in "not A but B".
(B) Can we say "regard contributions as not a luxury item but a monthly payment"? It is a tough one. Ultimately I choose (D) over (B) as (D) is certainly more common and / or more elegant. Besides, assuming both (B) and (D) are ok, can we reject (D) only because it fails to save one word "as" even though it reads better? I guess not. So (B) is probably incorrect.
(C) The idiomatic way is to "regard something as".
(D) "not as A but as B" are parallel. Can we further economize it to be "as not A but B"? I do not think so because (B) and (D) cannot both be right. I myself would always write "not as A but as B".
(E) The idiomatic way is to "regard something as".
(A) Not a luxury item but as a necessary monthly payment: Eliminated because of the lack of parallelism between A and B in "not A but B".
(B) Can we say "regard contributions as not a luxury item but a monthly payment"? It is a tough one. Ultimately I choose (D) over (B) as (D) is certainly more common and / or more elegant. Besides, assuming both (B) and (D) are ok, can we reject (D) only because it fails to save one word "as" even though it reads better? I guess not. So (B) is probably incorrect.
(C) The idiomatic way is to "regard something as".
(D) "not as A but as B" are parallel. Can we further economize it to be "as not A but B"? I do not think so because (B) and (D) cannot both be right. I myself would always write "not as A but as B".
(E) The idiomatic way is to "regard something as".
