Like Haydn, Schubert wrote a great deal for the stage, but he is remem

Question

Like Haydn, Schubert wrote a great deal for the stage, but he is remembered principally for his chamber and concert-hall music.

(A) Like Haydn, Schubert
(B) Like Haydn, Schubert also
(C) As has Haydn, Schubert
(D) As did Haydn, Schubert also
(E) As Haydn did, Schubert also

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https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1980/05/26/heroic-romantic
https://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1980-05-26#folio=112

Musical Events
May 26, 1980 Issue
Heroic-Romantic
By Andrew Porter

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Official Answer

A

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paneer · Accepted Answer

Redundancy spoils B.

In GMAT, try avoiding words that do not modify the meaning of the sentence or the intention. This makes your answer choice  clear and concise , in OG terms.

Try questioning yourself--is also really required?  Like Haydn, Schubert did something  does it all!
 Like Haydn, Schubert also did something... is also required here?    Like   by itself does the job.

option that reads something like  Haydn did something and Schubert also did the same thing  is correct

egmat · Answer

Hi Bhavin,

Like Haydn, Schubert wrote a great deal for the stage, but he is remembered principally for his chamber and concert-hall music.

(A) Like Haydn, Schubert
(B) Like Haydn, Schubert also
(C) As has Haydn, Schubert
(D) As did Haydn, Schubert also
(E) As Haydn did, Schubert also

Choice B is incorrect because of the word “also”. It is actually redundant in the sentence. “Like” already establishes the comparison. When we present the comparison, it is understood that the two entities compared do have something in common and theta is why they are being compared. Using “also” does not make sense in that case.

In fact, we can eliminate Choice D and E on that basis also. Structurally, we can use “as” as well to present the comparison. But in that case “as” should be followed by a clause. Choices D and E both follow that structure.

However, use of “also” makes these choices incorrect.

For more details on “as” and “like”, you can review our article by clicking on the following link:
as-vs-like-correct-and-incorrect-usages-133950.html

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

dennmuch · Answer

Like Haydn, Schubert wrote a great deal for the stage, but he is remembered principally for his chamber and concert-hall music.

(A) Like Haydn, Schubert
(B) Like Haydn, Schubert also
(C) As has Haydn, Schubert
(D) As did Haydn, Schubert also
(E) As Haydn did, Schubert also

A

B - Redundancy
C - wrong tense, 'as' compares actions (verbs)
D - redundancy and action oriented
E - redundancy and action oriented

samdhathri · Answer

You should not START a sentence with "as + HELPING VERB + subject", or with "as + subject + HELPING VERB". in those instances, the sentence is better written with "like + SUBJECT".

Example:
as did his brother, james graduated at the head of his class --> wordy/awkward/inferior
like his brother, james graduated at the head of his class --> better.

you can eliminate all of (c), (d), (e) for this reason.

bhavinshah5685 · Answer

why B is wrong?
I thought that "Like x,Y also" is an idom

venkivety · Answer

RULES:
LIKE is used:
To compare 2 nouns
In Hypothetical situations
When there is no verb following LIKE.

Like followed by a VERB is always wrong...
So if we say, Like I said...this will be wrong usage as per the GMAT... "said" is a verb... it cannot be followed by
LIKE.

AS is used:
To compare actions / verbs / clauses / trends / prepositional phrases
To denote real situations
To denote functions/professions/ designations / jobs / roles etc

In the question we are comparing two nouns, hence LIKE is used...
In option B, also is redundant as LIKE conveys the intent

MayankDimri · Answer

Can someone explain why usage of 'As' is wrong?

EducationAisle · Answer

The usage of  as  is not wrong in D and E.

These options just marginally lose out to option A on the basis of  conciseness ; as pointed out in posts above "also" isn't really needed.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  MayankDimri ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the use of "as" is not incorrect.

The issue here is that since "as" is used to compare clauses and actions, the use of "as" means that the first element in the comparison must be a verb phrase, making Options D and E needlessly wordy.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

MayankDimri · Answer

Thanks for the reply!

Apart from redundancy or conciseness related issues, I wanted to understand meaning wise are we directly comparing the 2 writers i.e. Hayden and Schubert (noun entities, which justifies usage of like for comparison) or the action of 'writing a great deal for stage' (clause, which justifies usage of 'As')?

EducationAisle · Answer

Well, "like" is comparing the two nouns ("Haydn" and "Schubert") while "as" is comparing two actions (the act of "writing").

Both make sense here.

Let's take a simpler example:

i)  Jack swims like Jill.

ii)  Jack swims as Jill does.

Again, both these sentences are valid. In fact, it is important to note that in many cases (such as the one under consideration), both "as" and "like" work well.

p.s. Our book    EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana    discusses   this  aspect of as/like . Have attached the corresponding section of the book, for your reference.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  MayankDimri ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the core meaning here is that Haydn and Schubert are alike in that both wrote a great deal for the stage, and different answer choices convey this differently.

The answer choices that use "Like" directly compare the composers "Haydn" and "Schubert", and the ones that use "as" compare the act of writing a great deal for the stage, as done by Haydn and the same act as done by Schubert.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Hoozan · Answer

Can I say that (C) is incorrect because it uses "has" while we have the verb "wrote" in the sentence? If (C) had "did" then it would refer back to "wrote"?

EducationAisle · Answer

Very nice analysis Hoozan!

In that case, option A would still win  marginally  on the basis of concision.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  Hoozan ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, replacing "has" with "did" would make C grammatically correct; "has" cannot refer to "wrote" because "wrote" is a simple past tense verb, and "has" is used as a helping verb with the present perfect tenses, however, "did" can refer to simple past tense verbs.

We hope this helps.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

achloes · Answer

GMATNinja

How can one eliminate C definitively?

I picked C by reasoning that Schubert's work may have preceded Haydn's and therefore the tenses need not agree.

Appreciate your thoughts!

GMATNinja · Answer

That might make sense logically, but (C) would still be using a present perfect placeholder ("has") to refer to a past tense verb ("wrote"). At best, that's very confusing.

(A) eliminates that point of confusion entirely, making it the better choice. Does that mean that (C) breaks some sacred grammar rule about placeholder verbs? Probably not -- and I wouldn't recommend trying to invent grammar rules on the GMAT. Very few rules apply universally on this exam. All you really need to recognize is that (C) is far more confusing than (A), and that's it.

I hope that helps!

Like Haydn, Schubert wrote a great deal for the stage, but he is remem

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Like Haydn, Schubert wrote a great deal for the stage, but he is remem

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