Pack 20 Q2: As with the music of the Romantic period, the concepts...

As with the music of the Romantic period, the concepts of individualism, anti-conformity, and emotion which metal music is built on includes the use of bass, rhythmic patterns, and lyrical themes dominating and the bass, tenor, alto, and soprano are blended rather than layered.

A. As with the music of the Romantic period, the concepts of individualism, anti-conformity, and emotion which metal music is built on includes the use of bass, rhythmic patterns, and lyrical themes dominating
<incorrect> As is used incorrectly for comparision. As should be followed by clause except when it defines a role. the comparison between music and other details is incorrect
B. As with the music of the Romantic period, metal music is built on the concepts of individualism, anti-conformity, and emotion, which includes the use of bass, rhythmic patterns, and lyrical themes to dominate
<incorrect> As is used incorrectly for comparision. As should be followed by clause except when it defines a role. The usage of which is incorrect again and changes the meaning
C. Like the music of the Romantic period, metal music is built on the concepts of individualism, anti-conformity, and emotion in which the use of bass, rhythmic patterns, and lyrical themes dominates
<correct>Correct comparison between music of romantic period and metal music
D. Like that of the music of the Romantic period, metal music is built on the concepts of individualism, anti-conformity, and emotion, including the use of bass, rhythmic patterns, and lyrical themes that dominate
<incorrect>The usage of "that" in the first part of comparison makes this sentence incorrect. It should be comparision between the musics
E. Just as with the music of the Romantic period, metal music is built on the concepts of individualism, anti-conformity, and emotion, including the use of bass, rhythmic patterns, and lyrical themes for dominating
<incorrect>Here again the comparision is incorrect. There is no clarity of what does "with" refer to. Meaning is incorrect as the use of instruments is considered as concept

Official Explanation

As with the music of the Romantic period, the concepts of individualism, anti-conformity, and emotion which metal music is built on includes the use of bass, rhythmic patterns, and lyrical themes dominating and the bass, tenor, alto, and soprano are blended rather than layered.

A. As with the music of the Romantic period, the concepts of individualism, anti-conformity, and emotion which metal music is built on includes the use of bass, rhythmic patterns, and lyrical themes dominating
B. As with the music of the Romantic period, metal music is built on the concepts of individualism, anti-conformity, and emotion, which includes the use of bass, rhythmic patterns, and lyrical themes to dominate
C. Like the music of the Romantic period , metal music is built on the concepts of individualism, anti-conformity, and emotion in which the use of bass, rhythmic patterns, and lyrical themes dominates
D. Like that of the music of the Romantic period , metal music is built on the concepts of individualism, anti-conformity, and emotion , including the use of bass, rhythmic patterns, and lyrical themes that dominate
E. Just as with the music of the Romantic period , metal music is built on the concepts of individualism, anti-conformity, and emotion , including the use of bass, rhythmic patterns, and lyrical themes for dominating

After a quick glance over the options, there are a few key differences we can focus on to narrow down our choices:

1. Like vs. As with (Idioms)
2. “, the concepts” vs. “, metal music” (Comparisons & Parallel Structure)
3. “includes” / “, which includes” / “in which” / “,including” (Construction & Meaning)
4. dominating / to dominate / dominates / that dominate / for dominating (Verb Choice)

Since #1 is an “either/or” split, let’s start there. No matter which way we go, we’ll eliminate 2-3 options rather quickly. This is an idioms issue. Whenever we are comparing the similarities between two noun items, we use “like.” “As with” is not considered idiomatically correct on the GMAT, so let’s eliminate any that use this formatting:

A. As with the music of the Romantic period, the concepts of individualism, anti-conformity, and emotion which metal music is built on includes the use of bass, rhythmic patterns, and lyrical themes dominating
B. As with the music of the Romantic period, metal music is built on the concepts of individualism, anti-conformity, and emotion, which includes the use of bass, rhythmic patterns, and lyrical themes to dominate
C. Like the music of the Romantic period, metal music is built on the concepts of individualism, anti-conformity, and emotion in which the use of bass, rhythmic patterns, and lyrical themes dominates
D. Like that of the music of the Romantic period, metal music is built on the concepts of individualism, anti-conformity, and emotion, including the use of bass, rhythmic patterns, and lyrical themes that dominate
E. Just as with the music of the Romantic period, metal music is built on the concepts of individualism, anti-conformity, and emotion, including the use of bass, rhythmic patterns, and lyrical themes for dominating

We can eliminate options A, B, & E because they use the unidiomatic “as with” for a comparison. Now that we have it narrowed down to only 2 options, let’s focus on the rest of the list to see if we can find which option is the better choice:

C. Like the music of the Romantic period, metal music is built on the concepts of individualism, anti-conformity, and emotion in which the use of bass, rhythmic patterns, and lyrical themes dominates
This is our CORRECT choice! The comparison uses the idiomatic “like,” and the comparison itself is parallel (comparing music to music).

D. Like that of the music of the Romantic period, metal music is built on the concepts of individualism, anti-conformity, and emotion, including the use of bass, rhythmic patterns, and lyrical themes that dominate

This is INCORRECT because it’s not a parallel comparison! This is comparing some aspect of Romantic period music to metal music in general, which isn’t parallel.

There you have it – option C is our winner!


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Another great explanation Gmat410! Kudos to you! Looking forward to seeing how you tackle Question 3!

Great job, prateekchugh! Kudos to you! See you back here for Question 3!

You cracked the code on this one winterschool! Kudos to you! See you back here for Question 3!

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