think of x as y is correct idiom. Also in this sentence not x but y parallelism is employed.

A.not an .. is not parallel to but as
B. not expense but as -- not parallel
C. think of x as required
D. correct
E. same as c, in terms of is wrong.

'Think of X as' is the right idiom. C and E are out.

'Not x but y' must maintain parallelism.

not as an expense, but as an investment. D is the right answer
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With babuvgmat

Answer will be (D)

In her presentation, the head of the Better Business Bureau emphasized that companies should think of the cost of conventions and other similar gatherings not as an expense ,but as an investment in networking that will pay dividends.

In her presentation, the head of the Better Business Bureau emphasized that companies should think of the cost of conventions and other similar gatherings not as an expense ,but as an investment in networking that will pay dividends.
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In her presentation, the head of the Better Business Bureau emphasized that companies should think of the cost of conventions and other similar gatherings as not an expense, but as an investment in networking that will pay dividends.

The structure is Not X but Y and X and Y should be parallel.

A) as not an expense,but as

If I break it down,
X as
not an expense
but as an Investment

If I remove but -> there are two "as" -> Incorrect

B) as not expense,but

We have an investment, we require an expense

C) not an expense,rather
Not X but Y is the structure

D) not as an expense,but as
Correct

E) not in terms of expense,but
We require in terms of Investment to make it parallel but we don't have that so incorrect

Correct Idiom: Not X but Y
Where X must be parallel to Y.

A-- Not (an expense) but (as) -- Not parallel
B-- Not (expense) but an investment -- Not parallel
C-- Not (an expense), rather -- Correct idiom is Not X, but rather Y
D-- Not (as an expense), but (as an expense) -- Parallel
E-- Not (in terms of expense), but (an investment) -- Not parallel

The official sentence's only issue is the position of "not" relative to "as". Answer choice D correctly flips these words.
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D
parallelism of 'not as... but as...'

New OG 2017 questions are easy!

Can anyone explain why B is incorrect?

In her presentation, the head of the Better Business Bureau emphasized that companies should think of the cost of conventions and other similar gatherings as not an expense, but as an investment in networking that will pay dividends.

A) as not an expense,but as
B) as not expense,but
C) not an expense,rather
D) not as an expense,but as
E) not in terms of expense,but

Replacing the original sentence with (B)

In her presentation, the head of the Better Business Bureau emphasized that companies should think of the cost of conventions and other similar gatherings as not expense, but an investment in networking that will pay dividends.

Is the missing "an" the only problem?

mcelroytutoring, HanoiGMATtutor: Any views?

In her presentation, the head of the Better Business Bureau emphasized that companies should think of the cost of conventions and other similar gatherings as not an expense, but as an investment in networking that will pay dividends.

A) as not an expense, but as
B) as not expense, but
C) not an expense, rather
D) not as an expense, but as
E) not in terms of expense, but

Of course, happy to help and flex the grammar muscles a bit.

A) not bad. However, it's not perfect, because of the incorrect order of the words "as" and "not". For example, there is a reason why we say "not bad", and not, "bad not". The "not" is the more important word in this sentence and thus should come first, for clarity.
B) missing the 2nd "as" (in addition to the "an")
C) the mystery of the disappearing "as"s
D) correct
E) same as C

With respect to option B, in my humble opinion, I don't see a missing "as". If I replace the original sentence with what is written in option B, the sentence will look like below:

In her presentation, the head of the Better Business Bureau emphasized that companies should think of the cost of conventions and other similar gatherings as [ not expense, but investment in networking] that will pay dividends.

I only see the missing "an" as the problem. Please help me in understanding that where am I going wrong mcelroytutoring

The first "as" is there, but the second "as" is not. The correct expression is "not as A, but as B." Thus, two "as"s are necessary. In addition, one does not think of something "as expense"--one thinks of something "as an expense", since "expense" is a noun and not an adjective / adverb, and thus requires "a" or "an" (indefinite article).

For example:

I think of him warmly (adverb) = correct
I find him annoying (adjective) = correct
I think of it as expensive (adjective) = correct
I think of it as expense (noun) = incorrect
I think of it as an expense (noun) = correct

I got the a/an part very clearly but I am still not able to understand the case you have presented for "as". Please bear with my ignorance but can you tell me where should the additional "as" come in the below sentence (option B basically)

In her presentation, the head of the Better Business Bureau emphasized that companies should think of the cost of conventions and other similar gatherings as [ not expense, but investment in networking] that will pay dividends.

The reason why you need two "as"s is idiomatic--it's just the way the expression works, and it creates parallel structure. Since there are two ways to think of something, there should be two "as"s.

I think of you not as a co-worker, but a friend. = incorrect
I think of you not as a co-worker, but as a friend. = correct

The same holds true for prepositions in general, when used in a similar way.

I am going not to Yale, but Harvard. = incorrect
I am going not to Yale, but to Harvard. = correct

Let's discuss it more generally, in terms of templates, and then again with specific examples:

"Subject + Verb/Predicate + Preposition + Any Objects of the Preposition" = correct (you don't have to repeat the preposition for additional objects)

For Example: "I like to go to the beach and the mountains." (Don't have to repeat "to" because the "to" is already established as the preposition of that verb.)

However,

"Subject + Verb/Predicate + Preposition + comma + BUT + no preposition..." is less correct, though people do so all the time in everyday speech. The reason why is that a punctuation/word such as ", but" serves as a possible "pivot point" in the sentence and thus requires a new preposition to confirm that the second clause is modifying the first, and not moving on to a whole other thought.

Ex: "I think of you not as an enemy, but a friend of mine is coming over soon and I need to clean the living room." I know this is a silly example and few would interpret it this way, but that's how grammar works. Any possible misinterpretation, no matter how illogical or unlikely, is the enemy of correct grammar.

Otherwise it sounds like you could possibly talking about a different friend, not extending your original thought. I know it's complicated, but it's possibly to simply memorize the rule rather than try to make sense of it, as I am doing. Sometimes the most important aspect of English grammar is understanding the importance of idioms: "that's just how you say it." That being said, this particular rule does have some logic behind it.

IN SUM:

"I think of you not as an enemy, but a friend" = incorrect but accepted
"I think of you not as an enemy, but as a friend" = better for clarity[/size]

D
idioms and parallelism
not x but y
not as x but as y

In her presentation, the head of the Better Business Bureau emphasized that companies should think of the cost of conventions and other similar gatherings as not an expense, but as an investment in networking that will pay dividends.

A) as not an expense,but as
B) as not expense,but
C) not an expense,rather
D) not as an expense,but as
E) not in terms of expense,but

Vertical Scan reveals that Option A, B, and D have 'as' and option C and E do not have 'as'
The sentence has 'think of the cost.........gatherings'
The correct use is 'think of X as Y'
Therefore, C and E are out

A, B and D have a pair 'not....but....'

This pair demands a parallel construction
A: not an ...,but as not paralle....Out
B: not expense ,but an not parallel...Out

Therefore D (not as ....,but as...)
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D - Parallel structure and correct usage of "Not as X, but as Y"

A & B - Incorrect as not starting with as
C - Usage of rather is incorrect, should be :"but"
E - missing "in terms of" after but

Answer is D IMO
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In Option D,here there is no subject after but.
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"D" is the correct choice - parallel structure and correct usage of ...not.... but...
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In her presentation, the head of the Better Business Bureau emphasized that companies should think of the cost of conventions and other similar gatherings as not an expense, but as an investment in networking that will pay dividends.

A) as not an expense,but as - idiom issue - “think of X not as Y but as Z”
B) as not expense,but - idiom issue
C) not an expense,rather - “Not…rather” is non-idiomatic
D) not as an expense,but as - Correct
E) not in terms of expense,but - parallelism issue - “in terms of expense” and “an investment”

Answer D
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