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655-705 Level|   Comparisons|      
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ArupRS
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In its most recent approach, the comet Crommelin passed the Earth at 25 Oct 2020, 22:55
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mikemcgarry
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HI mike,

Could you please provide your comments for option E?

as Halley’s comet will do.

what is the issue with this option.

Regards
Dear PathFinder007,
I'm happy to respond. :-) Here's what I'll say. Some of the GMAT SC practice questions floating around on GC are very good. Magoosh and MGMAT have very good questions, and I have been impressed with many Veritas questions as well. Many others, though, are atrocious. Think about it. Not every car company that says, "We have the very best car on the market" actually has the best car---the claims of advertising often overstep the truth. Well, when a GMAT Prep Company says, "We have high quality SC practice questions," that's also an advertising claim, and you shouldn't just naively take them at their word. Many SC questions I have seen on this site are truly horrible questions. Caveat emptor!

Let's look at this questions. Here's the text again:
In its most recent approach, the comet Crommelin passed the Earth at about the same distance and in about the same position, some 25 degrees above the horizon, that Halley’s comet will pass the next time it appears.
(A) that Halley’s comet will pass
(B) that Halley’s comet is to be passing
(C) as Halley’s comet
(D) as will Halley’s comet
(E) as Halley’s comet will do
Choices (A) & (B) & (C) are abysmally wrong. Choices (D) & (E) are both perfectly correct. There is nothing at all wrong with (E). This question has two correct answers, and three other choices that really wouldn't tempt many test takers. This is an abominably bad question. I would give this question a grade of an F.

My friend, you are perfectly correct ---(E) works just as well as (D). The problem is not in your understanding. The problem lies in the question itself. Doing low quality SC practice questions will only confuse you---it will not build the skills you need to be successful on the GMAT. Here's a high quality practice question:
https://gmat.magoosh.com/questions/3582

Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)
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Hi Mike,

mikemcgarry : This is an official question.

TommyWallach generis daagh Abhi077 ccooley DmitryFarber



I saw in MGMAT SC guide that in comparison, if in the second instance the tense is changed, then the verb should be used. Only using helping verb will not suffice.
I think this is not the case here. Because of this I was tempted to use E. This is from official questions. Request you to change the tag also.

Regards,
Arup
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In its most recent approach, the comet Crommelin passed the Earth at 30 May 2021, 00:59
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AndrewN Hope you are doing good.

I have a doubt in this question.Is option E incorrect or D is better than E??

Option E when rephrased
Quote:

In its most recent approach, the comet Crommelin passed the Earth at about the same distance and in about the same position, some 25 degrees above the horizon, as Halley’s comet will pass[do] the next time it appears.
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I thought E is sounding correct and marked E.

Please elaborate.
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In its most recent approach, the comet Crommelin passed the Earth at 30 May 2021, 06:12
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warrior1991
AndrewN Hope you are doing good.

I have a doubt in this question.Is option E incorrect or D is better than E??

Option E when rephrased
Quote:

In its most recent approach, the comet Crommelin passed the Earth at about the same distance and in about the same position, some 25 degrees above the horizon, as Halley’s comet will pass[do] the next time it appears.

I thought E is sounding correct and marked E.

Please elaborate.
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Hello, warrior1991. It has been a while. I see that there are different views on the correctness of (E). My issue with it is that will, on its own, allows us to understand the action of passing: the comet C passed at about the same distance and position as comet H will [pass] in the future. Thus, we do not need a substitute verb in to do, whose inclusion is extraneous: the comet C passed at about the same distance and position as comet H will [pass] [pass] in the future. Yes, will do in (E) could work on its own, as in will [pass], so it is not grammatically unsound. But (D) conveys the same meaning in fewer words and, as a bonus, places the verb ahead of the noun in the comparison, a stylistic preference of the GMAT™ (e.g., John has more money than does Susan is preferred over John has more money than Susan does). In short, there is no compelling reason to go against (D), whereas I have a doubt about (E), so the former is the safer option.

- Andrew
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In its most recent approach, the comet Crommelin passed the Earth at 03 Oct 2021, 09:49
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TommyWallach
Hey All,

I got asked to take this one on by PM, so here I am!

In its most recent approach, the comet Crommelin passed the Earth at about the same distance and in about the same position, some 25 degrees above the horizon, that Halley’s comet will pass the next time it appears.

This is a comparison question, so you have to make sure you're comparing the right two thing.

(A) that Halley’s comet will pass
PROBLEM: This would lead us to think that Halley's comet will pass the distance and position that Crommelin did. That isn't right. It should be PASSING at the distance and position that Crommelin did.

(B) that Halley’s comet is to be passing
PROBLEM: Same as above, "is to be passing" is not a correct construction. Just gibberish, really.

(C) as Halley’s comet
PROBLEM: You can't use "as" without a clause, and there's no verb after the comma in this choice.

(D) as will Halley’s comet
ANSWER: Now we have a verb, so "as" is correct. It's also now clear that we're comparing CLAUSES (the ACT of passing).

(E) as Halley’s comet will do
PROBLEM: "do" is trying to stand in for the verb "to pass" (because that's the action we're comparing: passing), which doesn't make any sense. You can't say "will do pass," but you can say "will pass" (which is why D is correct).

Hope that makes sense!

-t
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can you please elaborate further? I did not quite follow your explanation of point A
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In its most recent approach, the comet Crommelin passed the Earth at 17 Oct 2021, 22:52
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In its most recent approach, the comet Crommelin passed the Earth at about the same distance and in about the same position, some 25 degrees above the horizon, that Halley’s comet will pass the next time it appears.
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(A) that Halley’s comet will pass
that isn't the right usage therefore out

(B) that Halley’s comet is to be passing

(C) as Halley’s comet
as should be accompained by a verb therefore out

(D) as will Halley’s comet
The meaning is perfect as is followed by a verb therefore let us hang on to it

(E) as Halley’s comet will do
do in the end is trying to stand in for pass which is not right therefore out

Therefore IMO D
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In its most recent approach, the comet Crommelin passed the Earth at 28 Jul 2022, 09:19
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Hello experts,

First of all its a classical official question missing a tag!

Although I got it right, Can you please help me with E?

"as Halley's comet will do"

It sounds like comet will do something intentionally, which is not a logical comparision here. is it wrong because of this?

but "do" is referring to pass. So logically it can take place of pass, saying that -comet will pass.

Why exactly its wrong?
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In its most recent approach, the comet Crommelin passed the Earth at 11 Aug 2023, 11:27
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