Judith Martin writes that the answering machine is to the contemporary

Question

Judith Martin writes that the answering machine is to the contemporary middle-class household  just the same as butlers had been  to the rich in earlier times: it is the gatekeeper that screens welcome visitors from unwanted intruders on the privacy of the family.
 
A. just the same as butlers had been
 
B. just like a butler was
 
C. as has been a butler
 
D. what the butler was
 
E. what the butler is

Please help me out eliminate the options with suitable reasoning.

goalMBA1990 · Answer

A,B, and C are out because contemporary means "same as". So use of just same as, as or like is redundant. E is wrong because of tense. Portion after underline talks about past. So past tense is required.

Correct answer is D.

Correct answer is D.

swatygi · Answer

But i think contemporary is being used as an adjective modifying the middle class. Please correct me if I am wrong.

niks18 · Answer

A. just the same as butlers  had been -----had been is redundant here as time indicator "earlier times" is already mentioned in the non-underlined part of the sentence
 
B. just  like  a butler was -----incorrect "like" is not used to present examples
 
C. as  has been  a butler ------present perfect tense incorrect for a past event
 
D.  what the butler was  - correct comparison between the nouns "the answering machine" & "the butler" followed by the helping verbs "is" & "was". "the   answering machine   is to.........what   the butlers   was to...."
 
E. what the butler  is ------incorrect tense for a past event

Hence option  D

pra1785 · Answer

It is testing idoms here I believe.

The idiom is X is to Y what A is to B.

Option A , B and C are out.

Between D and E, we need was because it is talking about past tense (earlier times). Hence option D is correct.

Hope this helps.

sandysilva · Answer

Judith Martin writes that the answering machine is to the contemporary middle-class household just the same as butlers had been to the rich in earlier times: it is the gatekeeper that screens welcome visitors from unwanted intruders on the privacy of the family.

A. just the same as butlers had been

B. just like a butler was

C. as has been a butler

D. what the butler was

E. what the butler is

Hi look it this way. All other choices can be right away eliminated, but choices D and E. Because the question contains a commonly known idiom .     X is to Y, What A is to B

You can easily narrow it down to D and E , and rest remains the game of correct tenses . Was is the correct tense .

Hope it helps !  (:

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Judith Martin writes that the answering machine is to the contemporary

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Judith Martin writes that the answering machine is to the contemporary

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