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In a company memo the head of the organization warned that employees

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generis
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In a company memo the head of the organization warned that employees [#permalink] New post   28 Aug 2021, 20:53
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Question Stats:

82% (00:53) correct 18% (01:05) wrong based on 191 sessions
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Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC2)


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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
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D
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In a company memo the head of the organization warned that employees [#permalink] New post   28 Aug 2021, 20:55
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OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

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 error
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.
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Re: In a company memo the head of the organization warned that employees [#permalink] New post   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".
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Re: In a company memo the head of the organization warned that employees [#permalink] New post   28 Aug 2021, 22:56
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My POE:
A: Correct idiomatic construction is “Not X but Y”, in which X and Y are parallel. Parallelism is violated in this choice.
B: Possible contender – Grammatically OK. I chose D over B because option C is more rhetoric.
C: Correct idiomatic construction is “regard as…”, which is not used in this option.
D: Correct
E: same as C
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Re: In a company memo the head of the organization warned that employees [#permalink] New post   29 Aug 2021, 00:01
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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 - not X but Y, Here 'not a but as' form, Not Parallel, Eliminate

B) as not a luxury item but - Parallelism is followed but the meaning isn't as clear as in D, It's better to say 'regard not as a luxury item but as a necessary monthly payment' than 'regard as not a luxury item but a necessary monthly payment' - Eliminate

C) not a luxury item, rather - not X but Y, Here 'not a rather', Not parallel form, Eliminate

D) not as a luxury item but as - Parallel, Clear Meaning, Better contender than B, Correct

E) not a luxury item but - Sentence says 'should regard contributions not a luxury item but a...' Not concise, Meaning is not clear - 'Regard as' is the correct usage, Eliminate

Answer : D
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Re: In a company memo the head of the organization warned that employees [#permalink] New post   29 Aug 2021, 01:02
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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 -> Idiom form is Not X but Y, here X and Y are parallel to each other. Incorrect.

B) as not a luxury item but -> I don't see any error. Let's keep it, we shall drop, if we get a better one.

C) not a luxury item, rather -> regard....as is correct form, we don't have "as". Incorrect.

D) not as a luxury item but as -> It is better than B. Let's keep it.

E) not a luxury item but -> Same as C. Incorrect.

So, I think D. :)
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Re: In a company memo the head of the organization warned that employees [#permalink] New post   29 Aug 2021, 02:33
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generis wrote:

Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC2)


For SC butler Questions Click Here



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
not as is the idomatic usage therefore out

B) as not a luxury item but
as not isn't the right usage

C) not a luxury item, rather
as is required and but would be better than rather

D) not as a luxury item but as
This is so good to the ear i was immedialty drwan however only after i eleminated all others i picked it

E) not a luxury item but
The meaning and the idiomatic usage isn't correct

Therefore IMO D
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Re: In a company memo the head of the organization warned that employees [#permalink] New post   29 Aug 2021, 23:33
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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 Incorrect

parallelism error - .........as not............but as......
correct idioms - ............not ......... X........., but..........Y..........

B) as not a luxury item but Incorrect

parallelism error - .........as not............but ......

C) not a luxury item, rather Incorrect

correct idioms - ............not ......... X........., but rather ..........Y..........

D) not as a luxury item but as Correct

E) not a luxury item but Incorrect

same as C
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Re: In a company memo the head of the organization warned that employees [#permalink] New post   29 Aug 2021, 23:33
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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 -As not but as - Incorrect Parallelism
B) as not a luxury item but - As not a , as but a - Incorrect

C) not a luxury item, rather - But would be more suitable here. Not X but Y idiom

D) not as a luxury item but as -Correct

E) not a luxury item but - use of as is required as role has to be shown.
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Re: In a company memo the head of the organization warned that employees [#permalink] New post   30 Aug 2021, 11:50
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D is clear winner

This tests the application of 'Not as..but as'

generis wrote:

Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC2)


For SC butler Questions Click Here



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
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Re: In a company memo the head of the organization warned that employees [#permalink] New post   28 Aug 2021, 23:21
(B) is the answer IMO

Correct idiom is not x but y
Here this idiom is coupled with "regard as" : Regard as not x but y

"Regard as" the correct idiom .

A) as not a luxury item but as

Last "as" is redundant and per syntax not needed

B) as not a luxury item but
Looks fine

C) not a luxury item, rather

Idiom "regard as " is not used appropriately

D) not as a luxury item but as

Syntax do not match as we saw above in our analysis
"B" is concise

E) not a luxury item but
Same issue as in option "C"
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Re: In a company memo the head of the organization warned that employees [#permalink] New post   01 Sep 2021, 03:38
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Re: In a company memo the head of the organization warned that employees [#permalink]
01 Sep 2021, 03:38
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