Most nations regard their airspace as extending upward as high as an

Skywalker18 , the OE writer is not very clear about the issue you caught (and as usual, it's a good catch).



• Adverbs can modify verb-ING (verb forms). Adverbs cannot modify nouns.

The OE writer means to say that in their use of the idiom Regard X as Y, B, C, and D are improperly modified
because all three list "Y" as a noun, which cannot be followed by an adverbial phrase.

In the sentence, Y is modified by the adverb phrase upward as high as an aircraft can fly

A noun cannot be modified by an adverb.

The OE states that "a verb form such as extending" is needed.
In other words, option A has that "verb form": extending.
A participle, a verbING, CAN be modified by an adverb.

• The idiom is Regard X as Y

The idiom has this construction:

regard + object + AS + noun/noun phrase OR adjective/adjective phrase OR gerund/(verbING)

• Errors in B, C, and D

B, C, and D list Y as a noun
-- An adverb/adverbial phrase cannot modify a noun.
-- An adverb can modify an adjective.
-- An adverb can modify a gerund/participle (because a gerund/participle, a verbING, retains verb qualities)

(An adverb can modify many more parts of speech; the three listed are the three that Y can be in Regard X as Y)

Correct answer A) Most nations regard their airspace as extending (verbING) upward as high as an aircraft can fly (adverbial phrase) . . .

So, on one hand, (B) correctly follows Regard X as Y. (B uses "as.")
On the other hand, (B) fails because Y= the noun extent, and extent cannot be modified by an adverbial phrase

(C) and (D) violate Regard X as Y.
In addition to that error, (C) and (D) contain the same error as that in B.

In (C) and (D) the Y part of the idiom is extent and extension, respectively, both of which are nouns.

The rule that adverbs cannot modify nouns is needed to eliminate B.
We don't need the rule for C and D.
The author included C and D in that part of the OE because they contain the same error as B does.

Hope that helps.
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"To regard" just means "to consider" or "to appraise", so it's perfectly reasonable to follow this construction with either a noun or an adjective. For example, I can write "I regard my daughter's tendency to eat egg shells out of the garbage as problematic." Here, I'm regarding a tendency as "problematic," which is an adjective. That's fine.

Or I could write, "I regard my daughter's tendency to eat egg shells out of the garbage as a problem." Now I'm regarding the tendency as a "problem," which is a noun. That's okay too. So we're not basing our decision on whether whether we need an adjective or a noun. We're basing it on what makes more sense in this context.

In (B) we have "Most nations regard their airspace as the extent upward as high as an aircraft can fly." Nations see their airspace as an "extent upward?" The "extent" is as high as the aircraft can fly? This is illogical. It makes far more sense to write that the airspace is extending upward as high as the aircraft fly.

I hope that helps!
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Correct idiom is Regard as , so C D E are out .
Out of A and B , B is the correct answer

Most nations regard their airspace as extending upward as high as an aircraft can fly; no specific altitude, however, has been officially recognized as a boundary.

(A) as extending

(B) as the extent

(C) to be an extent

(D) to be an extension

(E) to extend

This is pretty tough because it basically tests idioms.
I like to say "X regard Y as something
So, I am going to eliminate (C), (D) and (E)

That something should be a noun.
I pick (B)

Ans: (B)

Official Explanation:

Choice A is best because it is idiomatically correct; regard, when its meaning indicates seeing, looking at, or conceiving of something in a particular way, is paired with as in the idiomatic construction regard X as y, Choices C, D, and E violate the regard, , , as construction, In choices B, C, and D, the nouns extent and extension cannot be modified by the adverbial phrase that follows: a verb form such as extending is needed,

In choices B, C, and D, the nouns extent and extension cannot be modified by the adverbial phrase that follows: a verb form such as extending is needed -- Can someone explain this part of the OE?


AjiteshArun , GMATNinja , MagooshExpert , GMATGuruNY , VeritasPrepBrian , MartyMurray , daagh , generis , others - please enlighten
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GMATNinja

Please can you help out in this

I was sure about "Regard as" to be the right usage and got stuck b/w A & B

According to me, I thought "airspace" should be followed with a noun form such as "as an extension " or similar phrase

Thanks

If we change the sentence to use 'to the extent', how should we modify the sentence so that its grammatically/logically correct?

A is the correct choice. This question is a test on idioms and A is the only one that follows the proper idiomatic structure. When the meaning of the sentence indicates that understanding something through one’s senses or conceiving of it in a specific way, the correct idiom structure is “regard x as y”. C D and E fail to utilize this structure. Now, option B is wrong because “extent” ( a noun ) can’t be modified by an adverb (upward as).



Thus, the right answer is A.

Hi GMATNinja
Are you saying that "extending" is adjective in this OA? It seems more like a verb.
Can you elaborate?
Tks

extend and fly are special verbs, which can go with adjective. inhere, "as high as" is adjective, not adverb. not all verb can go with adjective this way.

extending is a kind of doing which have some, but not all, characteristics of a verb, so, it can go with adjective

genesis

How do I realize that "upward as high as an aircraft" is an adverbial phrase?
Is it because it is clear that it describes an action in this case?
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Most nations regard their airspace as extending upward as high as an aircraft can fly; no specific altitude, however, has been officially recognized as a boundary.

The correct idiom is 'regard X as Y' -- C, D, E can be eliminated.

John is regarded as a great student.

John is regarded to be a great student

B is incorrect because we can't have 'upward as', which is an adverb, modify 'extent'.

(A) as extending

(B) as the extent

(C) to be an extent

(D) to be an extension

(E) to extend
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The ‘ing’ form of a verb is called either a participle or a gerund.

The participle form can act as a verb when it is preceded by a helping/auxiliary verb.
E.g.: The college is extending the summer break. (Here, the combination of the helping verb 'is' before the 'ing' form makes the 'ing' form a verb.)

The participle form can also act as an adjective. When it is used as such, it is not preceded by a helping/auxiliary verb.
E.g.: The building has a beautiful spire extending upward from the high roof. (here, the participle form ‘extending’ describes the spire.)

‘Extending’ is thus the participle form of the verb ‘extend' that acts as an adjective in the given sentence.

Jayanthi Kumar.
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AjiteshArun

CAN you please elaborate the meaning of the sentence . I am unable to choose between A and B .

Hello ankitbagla,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the meaning of the crucial part of this sentence is that most nations believe that the upper boundary of their respective airspace is the maximum height at which an aircraft can fly.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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How do we know that "upward as high as an aircraft can fly" is an adverbial phrase and not an "adjective". I thought "upward" can act as adjective, and so can modify a "noun", ie "extent".

Example: The upward trend in revenue this year looks promising.
=> "upward", which is adjective, modifies "trend", which is a noun.

Similarly, in the given sentence, "upward" should be able to modify the noun "extent", and the phrase "as high as an aircraft can fly" should modify "upward".

What am I missing here?

There are a couple of issues with this. First of all, a nation's airspace isn't, itself, an "extent". You could refer to the extent of the airspace, but the airspace does not equal the extent. In other words, the "extent" is a quality or characteristic of the airspace -- it isn't the airspace itself.

Second, even though something like a trend can in fact be upward, it doesn't make sense for an extent to be upward. Again, the extent is a quality of the airspace -- the area or space that it includes. The area of the airspace it isn't moving in an upward direction -- the area of the airspace is fixed (right above the nation itself), and that airspace isn't really moving, changing, or growing (barring any border changes).

Similarly, you wouldn't say that the extent of a skyscraper IS upward; instead, you would say that the skyscraper EXTENDS upward. By the same token, you could describe a skyscraper as EXTENDING upward -- and that's pretty much what we have in (A).

I hope that helps!
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