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605-655 (Medium)|   Comparisons|         
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MartyTargetTestPrep
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In many upper class Egyptian homes, French was spoken within the 03 Nov 2022, 09:37
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Rickooreo
MartyTargetTestPrep I have two doubts in your explanation

MartyTargetTestPrep
1. So, let's substitute "was spoken" for "had ... done." We get "French was spoken ... just as the Russian aristocracy was spoken."

Shouldn't the construction be
French was spoken within the family, just as the Russian aristocracy had once done
French was spoke within the family, just as the Russian aristocracy had once spoken (french).
You have eliminated the use of "had once" in your explanation and I feel, if we use it, the meaning stands, can you please correct me
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The issue is that that sentence version compares two actions. It says basically the following:

French was spoken as the Russian aristocracy had done.

In essence, that version communicates that the Russian aristocracy had done as French did. In other words, they "had done" basically the same thing French did.

So, what did French do? French "was spoken."

So, in communicating that the Russian aristocracy "had done" as French did, the sentence communicates that what the Russian aristocracy "had done" is "was spoken," communicating that the Russian aristocracy "was spoken."

Quote:
Doubt 2 :

Now, let's look at the sentence created via the use of (A).

MartyTargetTestPrep
In many upper class Egyptian homes, French was spoken within the family, just as it had once been among the Russian aristocracy

I feel it should have been,
French was spoken within the family, just as french it had once been among the Russian aristocracy.
french was spoke within the family is compared with French had once been among the Russian aristocracy ? Not sure what it means

Can you please correct me
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That version means the following:

In the past, in Egyptian homes, French was spoken within the family, as, in the more distant past, French was spoken among Russians.

So, it communicates that what occurred in Egyptians homes in the past, French was spoken, was similar to what occurred in the more distance past among the Russians, French was spoken.
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In many upper class Egyptian homes, French was spoken within the 07 Apr 2023, 18:45
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amritgodofwar
In many upper class Egyptian homes, French was spoken within the family, just as it had once been among the Russian aristocracy.

(A) just as it had once been among the Russian aristocracy

(B) just like it once had been among the Russian aristocracy

(C) just as the Russian aristocracy had once done

(D) similar to what the Russian aristocracy had done once

(E) like what had once been done by the Russian aristocracy
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CrackverbalGMAT , could you please help by sharing the grammatical breakdown for all options along with the relevant major rules?
Looking forward to your response.
Thank you!
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In many upper class Egyptian homes, French was spoken within the 02 Jul 2023, 05:05
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In option A, what does "it" refer to. IMO "it" is trying to modify an action.
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bhavyasinghal
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In many upper class Egyptian homes, French was spoken within the 30 Oct 2023, 07:29
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Elimination of Option (C)

In many upper class Egyptian homes, French was spoken within the family, just as the Russian aristocracy had once done.

In this option we see that at the end its mentioned "ONCE DONE" . In normal english it will mean that the Russian Aristocracy spoke FRENCH ONLY ONCE. But the context of the sentence wants to say that French was spoken in Egypt as was spoken in Russian Aristocracy as a regular language and not just once. So the meaning is totally skewed in option (C).
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In many upper class Egyptian homes, French was spoken within the 28 Nov 2023, 06:42
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In many upper class Egyptian homes, French was spoken within the family, just as it had once been among the Russian aristocracy.

Option Elimination -

(A) just as it had once been among the Russian aristocracy - ok. In essence, it says that French was spoken in both upper-class Egyptian homes and Russian Aristocracy.

(B) just like it once had been among the Russian aristocracy - after "like," we need a "noun" or a "noun phrase." But here we have a full clause after like. Wrong.

(C) just as the Russian aristocracy had once done - ok. Let's expand it to "just as the Russian aristocracy had once spoken." Okay, so spoken what? French? Russian? English? Spanish? Hindi? What? That is why option A uses "it" to refer back to "French" to avoid confusion. I'm afraid that's not right. Moreover, as MartyTargetTestPrep has pointed out, having the same voice on either side of "just as" is preferable to maintaining parallelism. E.g.,

Preferred: "Just as she sings, he dances."
Less preferred: "Just as she sings, dancing is done by him."

(D) similar to what the Russian aristocracy had done once - the same issue as in C. Spoken once what? French? Russian? English? Spanish? Hindi? What? That is why option A uses "it" to refer back to "French" to avoid confusion. Wrong. Moreover, a preferred construction after a preposition is a noun, noun phrase, or gerund and not a noun clause, as in this case, "what the Russian aristocracy had done once."

(E) like what had once been done by the Russian aristocracy - "like," whether used as a comparison or preposition, needs to be followed by a noun or a noun phrase. Noun clause after "like" is not preferred. Moreover, the same issue of Russian aristocracy spoke what?
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