In the Renaissance, painters were so impressed with Leonardo

Question

In the Renaissance, painters   were so impressed with Leonardo Da Vinci that they ignored   their own training and designate as a masterpiece anything he painted.

(A) were so impressed with Leonardo Da Vinci that they ignored
(B) were impressed with Leonardo Da Vinci to such an extent that they were to ignore
(C) were so impressed with Leonardo Da Vinci as to ignore
(D) were so impressed with Leonardo Da Vinci that they had to ignore
(E) were as impressed with Leonardo Da Vinci as to ignore

I don't have an OA.

bigfernhead · Accepted Answer

IMO C)

So as to is also a correct idiom.

If you take a look at A) - it is wrong because  ignored  should be parallel to  designate

In the Renaissance, painters were so impressed with Leonardo Da Vinci that they ignored their own training and designate as a masterpiece anything he painted.

(A) were so impressed with Leonardo Da Vinci that they ignored
(B) were impressed with Leonardo Da Vinci to such an extent that they were to ignore
(C) were so impressed with Leonardo Da Vinci as to ignore
(D) were so impressed with Leonardo Da Vinci that they had to ignore
(E) were as impressed with Leonardo Da Vinci as to ignore

GMATNinja · Answer

Narmadadhruv and RMD007 and rohitmanglik -- ugh, that's not a very easy question. Which makes it a really good question. In general, the GMAT isn't completely clear about the "so...as" idiom. There are very few official GMAT questions that feature this idiom in a correct answer -- and for whatever it's worth, I don't think that the SC question in this thread comes from an official source, either. So don't worry too much about this particular case, but I'll do my best to break down the variations on the idiom so that you can understand it in general. The GMAT is clear about the following: "so as to x" (without any words inserted into the idiom) is considered awkward and unidiomatic; see OG 12 #39 & #65 for examples (also here and here, though the official explanations aren't usually included in the GMAT Club threads) "so x that y" can be correct, as rohitmanglik mentioned in #4 above: "I drank so many shots of espresso that my heart exploded... ; see OG 12 #37 (here on GMAT Club) Taking the other three variations one at a time: I don't think that "so X as Y" is really an idiom that you need to worry about. The question in the link is OG 12 #76, and the correct answer looks like this: The "so bad as" isn't really an issue at all. The key here is the comparison, "as much because X as because Y". It's coincidence that there's a "so" inside the comparison in this particular question. If you're treating "so bad as" as an idiom in this example, you're missing the heart of the question. I don't think this is ever correct, but maybe I'm just not being creative enough -- perhaps there's a way to tweak "X" and "Y" to make it work. At the very least, I can't think of many official GMAT questions that really test this. The link is to an irrelevant quant question... but check out this one instead: https://gmatclub.com/forum/often-major- ... 74856.html. In the OA, "so gradual as to be indistinguishable" is in the correct answer. So it seems that "so X as to Y" can be OK. The only trouble is, here's an OG question (OG 12 #37, OG 13 #39) with the same construction: https://gmatclub.com/forum/although-sch ... 99143.html. And here's a direct quote from the OG explanation: So... yeah, the GMAT is confused about it's own rules here. I'd be wary of the "so X as to Y" construction, but the GMAT can't decide what it thinks about it, so there's no hard-and-fast rule. To summarize: "so x that y" can be correct; the others are suspect at best. And this is way less important than some other things in SC!

spriya · Answer

Idiom is  so that  !!!!
Whats the answer anyone !!
hence A is the best bet of all !!!

vbalex · Answer

Idiom is "so...that", so i think that the best choice is A.

ritula · Answer

GUys , I thnk it should be D. Though A is tempting but note the continuation of sentence. A would have been correct if it was designated and not designate. Only D removes the discrepancy by saying they  had to ........i gnore ....and  designate ....
Any takers?

amitdgr · Answer

Yes .. ignored and designate don't seem to parallel .. ignore and designate should be right ....

in D .. it says "they had to ignore ..." seems like a compulsion on the painters ... is that right ??

Can anyone tell me the difference between "So .... as to ..." and "so...that.." ?

Thanks

soul123 · Answer

My answer choice was also C but i choose little different strategy for elimination. "That" as modifier cannot modify people and so as to is the correct idiom..

correct me ppl if im wrong on that usage??

Thanks in advance!!
Soul

gautammalik · Answer

I didn't see designate.
Trapped into A.

DeeptiM · Answer

so as to is the correct idiom however, it's usage is generally barred...hence, i ruled out C..

Can anyone confirm when to use "so as to" and if at all it can be used??

kat1983 · Answer

ME TO worried about.... So x as y ...i missed tense and chose A...but if it is finally C ..then under what circumstances it has to be accepted.

sandeep1756 · Answer

fell for A didn't noticed designate as...

rohitmanglik · Answer

Hi DmitryFarber , Are following idioms correct? 1) so X as Y(saw at retailers-reported-moderate-gains-in-their-november-sales-70500.html) 2) as X as to Y( in this question) 3) so X as to Y(saw at martha-obtained-an-average-score-of-y-in-a-total-of-x-mandat-151918.html) 4) so X that Y (obviously this one is correct) Do we have any rule in their usage? Is anyone of them is incorrect?

manasdash1 · Answer

(A) were so impressed with Leonardo Da Vinci that they  ignored -- and designate are not in the same page.
(B) were impressed with Leonardo Da Vinci to such an extent that they were to ignore-- so...that..they were to ignore is not correct
(C) were so impressed with Leonardo Da Vinci as to ignore
(D) were so impressed with Leonardo Da Vinci that they had to ignore --so...that they had to? doesn't sound right
(E) were as impressed with Leonardo Da Vinci as to ignore -- as....as to is not correct in its usage.

C seems to be ok.

narmadadhruv · Answer

Hi Expert,

Can you please help me understand why the usage of "so--as to" is preferred in this question?

Regards.

kivalo · Answer

In the Renaissance,  painters   were so impressed with Leonardo da Vinci that  they ignored   their own training  and designate  as a masterpiece anything he painted.

Ignore and designate have to be parallel. 'that they ignored and designate' in A is clearly incorrect.

RMD007 · Answer

GMATNinja , Even I have the same doubt as above, can you please clarify?

I knew the parallelism error in choice A, but I thought so X that y is the only correct idiom..

dabhishek87 · Answer

In the Renaissance, painters   were so impressed with Leonardo Da Vinci that they ignored   their own training and designate as a masterpiece anything he painted.

(A) were so impressed with Leonardo Da Vinci that they ignored  so x that y but ignored is not parallel to designate 
(B) were impressed with Leonardo Da Vinci  to such an extent  that they were to ignore 
(C) were so impressed with Leonardo Da Vinci as to ignore   so x as y, correct and ignore is parallel to designate, correct choide 
(D) were so impressed with Leonardo Da Vinci that they  had  to ignore 
(E) were  as  impressed with Leonardo Da Vinci as to ignore

AkshdeepS · Answer

No answer choice seems correct in the given ones. A has //ism issue but C also has an awkward structure.
Using "so .... as to" seems to incorrectly convey the meaning.

menonrit · Answer

Hey ,

I think the OA should be A as the idiom is so.....that

In the Renaissance, painters were so impressed with Leonardo

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In the Renaissance, painters were so impressed with Leonardo

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