Similar to other Mississippi Delta blues singers, the music of Robert

Question

Similar to other Mississippi Delta blues singers, the music of Robert Johnson arose from an oral tradition beginning with  a mixture of chants, fiddle tunes, and religions music and only gradually evolved into the blues.

A. Similar to other Mississippi Delta blues singers, the music of Robert Johnson arose from an oral tradition beginning with

B. Similar to that of other early Mississippi Delta blues singers, Robert Johnson made music that arose from oral tradition that began with

C. As with other early Mississippi Delta blues singers, Robert Johnson made music that arose from an oral tradition beginning as

D. Like other early Mississippi Delta blues singers, Robert Johnson’s music arose from an oral tradition beginning with

E. Like the music of other early Mississippi Delta blues singers , the music of Robert Johnson arose from an oral tradition that began as

AjiteshArun · Answer

Let's focus on the phrase headed by  like :

Like the music of other early Mississippi Delta blues singers

Here  of other early Mississippi Delta blues singers  is a prepositional phrase that modifies  the music . Taken as one unit though,  the  music  of other early Mississippi Delta blues singers  is a  noun phrase .

What we should watch out for is an option like this one:

Like of other early Mississippi Delta blues singers

Here  like  takes a prepositional phrase as its object (and not a noun). This is unlikely to be correct on the GMAT, and we should try not to mark an option that uses  like  this way.

MAnkur · Answer

Hi Ajitesh
Thanks for the quick reply!
Would it be correct to say that Like can be followed by a prepositional noun phrase as in the Option E?

AjiteshArun · Answer

We aren't really worried about whether there is a prepositional phrase somewhere after the like .

All we need to check is what the entire phrase after like is, as a "unit". So if we see the structure as " like X", we're interested in what the X is as a whole, and not in the individual components of X. Like the music of other early Mississippi Delta blues singers Like that of other early Mississippi Delta blues singers Here I've highlighted the word that determines what the entire "X" phrase will be treated as.

goaltop30mba · Answer

GMATNinja   AjiteshArun

Hi Experts,

Hope you guys are doing well.

I have a doubt.. why can't "arose" be parallel to "evolved" ? I mean the sentence could logically mean, " the music arose from an oral tradition (verb-ing modifier) and only gradually evolved into blues".. This way option C isn't incorrect, even though "like" is preferred to "as with" .

Please help

Regards,

GMATNinja · Answer

Technically, yes, "arose" can be parallel to "evolved."

But notice how in choice (E) we have, " the music {...} arose from an oral tradition that (1) began as {X} and (2) only gradually evolved into {Y}." With this phrasing, we expect both (1) and (2) to refer to the oral tradition: the tradition began as one thing but then evolved into another. The logical flow is perfectly clear.

In (C), we have, "Robert Johnson made music that arose from an oral tradition beginning as {X} and only gradually evolved into {Y}." Again, we are told that the oral tradition began as one thing, so we naturally expect that we are going to be told what it is now (or what it evolved into) -- we expect that "only gradually evolved into the blues" refers to the oral tradition.

But upon analyzing the parallelism, we realize that "only gradually evolved into the blues" CANNOT refer to the oral tradition. Instead, it must refer to the music, and this alters the meaning. The confusing parallel structure makes it very easy for readers to interpret this sentence in multiple ways. In other words, the meaning is unclear.

In (E), however, the parallelism naturally lends itself to a single logical meaning. Does that make (C) incorrect? Maybe not. But it's certainly a vote in favor of (E) over (C).

[/quote]

GMATNinja I don't understand the part of C having multiple ways by which one can interpret the //ism. I tried reading this post and option C umpteen times but in vain. My head is spinning. Could you please elaborate a bit on the //ism in C? To me the //ism just looks fine like E. Curious to know your thoughts. Many thanks

ashutosh_73 · Answer

Hi Experts, please someone explain, what is wrong with ''Similar To''? OA says, its wordy and imprecise form of comparison.

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi  Ashutosh94 ,

Similar to  is different from  like  in such constructions. It emphasizes the nouns much more ( like  used this way is more like  ~  "in the same way"). For example:

1.  Similar to his sister, he took the GMAT.  ← This is close to "being similar to his sister, he took the GMAT". It just means that because he was like his sister, he took the GMAT, but it doesn't necessarily mean that his sister took the GMAT.

2.  Like his sister, he took the GMAT.  ← This does  not  mean "because he was like his sister...". Instead, this is read as  ~  "in the same way that his sister took the GMAT, he took the GMAT".

The other problem with A, of course, is that it tells us that some  singers  were similar to  the music of Robert Johnson , which doesn't make sense in this context.

3.  Similar to  other Mississippi Delta blues  singers  ,  the  music  of Robert Johnson ...

Rebaz · Answer

Can anyone please explain what the subject of the verb evolved is in the correct version of the sentence (E)? Is it that, which modifies Tradition or is it the music, the subject of the main clause in choice (E)

Thanks in advance!

Thanks in advance!

DmitryFarber · Answer

Rebaz 
"Evolved" is one of two parallel verbs in the modifier attached to "tradition." The music arose as a  tradition that began  as a mixture  and evolved  into the blues. For that reason, only B and E are parallel, and B does not fix the initial comparison issue.

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi Rebaz,

Yes, the subject of  evolved  is  that , and that  that  modifies  an oral tradition .

1.  ...  an oral tradition   that   began  as a mixture of chants, fiddle tunes, and religions music and only gradually  evolved  into the blues.

The sentence is:

2.  Like X, Y arose from Z.  ←  Y  is the main subject, and  Z  is the same as (1).

Deadpool3 · Answer

Hi  AjiteshArun  ,  GMATNinja  ,  GMATGuruNY ,  DmitryFarber

"As with/preposition" in the context of comparison is giving me chills. Could you please confirm if the comparison in option C is used correctly?
Also you please explain this concept?

(C) As with other early Mississippi Delta blues singers, Robert Johnson made music that arose from an oral tradition beginning as

If option (C) is tweaked a bit (just for understanding the structure), will the below sentence be correct?
(C)' As with other early Mississippi Delta blues singers, Robert Johnson made music that arose from an oral tradition that began as

Also, I have mentioned few sentences( slightly tweaked) from the official questions to understand the structure better, could you please shed some light on the below:

1. As with the social structure of ants, the elaborate social structure of termites includes a few individuals that reproduce and the rest that serve the colony.

2. Just as with ants, termites have an elaborate social structure in which a few individuals reproduce and the rest serve the colony

3. As with Auden's, James Merrill’s language is chatty, arch, and conversational.

P.S: I understand that many times some structures(such as like) will be preferred more and choosing the correct option depends on the other options and context. But thought to develop the conceptual understanding so that I mark a wrong option wrong for the right reasons.

Jainam24 · Answer

Technically, yes, "arose" can be parallel to "evolved."

But notice how in choice (E) we have, " the music {...} arose from an oral tradition that (1) began as {X} and (2) only gradually evolved into {Y}." With this phrasing, we expect both (1) and (2) to refer to the oral tradition: the tradition began as one thing but then evolved into another. The logical flow is perfectly clear.

In (C), we have, "Robert Johnson made music that arose from an oral tradition beginning as {X} and only gradually evolved into {Y}." Again, we are told that the oral tradition began as one thing, so we naturally expect that we are going to be told what it is now (or what it evolved into) -- we expect that "only gradually evolved into the blues" refers to the oral tradition.

But upon analyzing the parallelism, we realize that "only gradually evolved into the blues" CANNOT refer to the oral tradition. Instead, it must refer to the music, and this alters the meaning. The confusing parallel structure makes it very easy for readers to interpret this sentence in multiple ways. In other words, the meaning is unclear.

In (E), however, the parallelism naturally lends itself to a single logical meaning. Does that make (C) incorrect? Maybe not. But it's certainly a vote in favor of (E) over (C).

[/quote]

GMATNinja I don't understand the part of C having multiple ways by which one can interpret the //ism. I tried reading this post and option C umpteen times but in vain. My head is spinning. Could you please elaborate a bit on the //ism in C? To me the //ism just looks fine like E. Curious to know your thoughts. Many thanks

GMATNinja I don't understand the part of C having multiple ways by which one can interpret the //ism. I tried reading this post and option C umpteen times but in vain. My head is spinning. Could you please elaborate a bit on the //ism in C? To me the //ism just looks fine like E. Curious to know your thoughts. Many thanks

DmitryFarber · Answer

Jainam24

I'm not sure we need to talk about  multiple  interpretations for C, since there's no valid interpretation available. We can't make "beginning" parallel to "evolved," so what I think GMATNinja is getting at is that we many then try to make it parallel to "arose." But we don't need to do too much analysis of the other choices to throw this interpretation out. If we are saying that the music "arose . . . and evolved," then the modifier "beginning" no longer makes any sense. What would you think if I said "We had a lovely meal beginning with soup and went home?" Isn't that "beginning" modifier odd if we aren't going to continue that part of the story?

In any case, I never get this far in looking at C. The choice starts with "As with," so we need another "with" modifier. "As with X, with Y . . . " If I were doing this question on the GMAT, I would barely see anything past "Robert Johnson" in C!

Taulark1 · Answer

GMATNinja
Request you to help me out here.
I have 2 questions , would really appreciate if you could help me with both -

Question 1)
Lets see the following 2 sentences-
I caught the thief stealing the money.
I am catching the thief stealing the money.
In both the sentences, 'stealing the money' is modifying the noun 'thief'.
Similarly in option C ->
Robert Johnson made music that arose from an oral tradition beginning a mixture of chants, fiddle tunes, and religions music and only gradually evolved into the blues.
The statement in bold is modifying 'oral tradition'. So is considering 'beginning' as a present tense verb correct?
If not , then what is/are the reasons for eliminating option C. (Is it because GMAT doesn't prefer the use of prepositional phrase with 'as' ?)

Question2 -
In option E, the non underlined portion of the question- and only gradually evolved into the blues. -is referring to music of Robert Johnson right ?, because it doesn't make sense to say that the oral tradition gradually evolved into the blues.

Would really appreciate the reply !!

DmitryFarber · Answer

Taulark1

Actually, one of the problems here is that -ing words often don't work well as noun modifiers. It depends a lot on the context and meaning. For instance, you could argue that in your examples, "stealing the money" is really an adverbial modifier. The meaning of the sentence is "I caught the thief while he or she was in the process of stealing the money." So "stealing the money" is really describing the circumstances under which the thief was caught. This works in real English, but the GMAT might actually opt for something clearer and less idiomatic, since in your sentence there is no clear verb for "stealing" to modify. As for the noun modifier option, that would only work if I was trying to distinguish that thief from another: "I caught the thief stealing the money, not the one driving the getaway car."

So getting to "beginning" in C, one problem is that it really doesn't make sense to use "beginning" as a modifier for "tradition" at all. That present participle doesn't correctly show the time element here. Since "beginning" has no tense of its own, we're left to imagine that the tradition began just as Johnson's music arose from it, and that doesn't really work. As for the intended meaning, yes, the tradition evolved. The idea is that there was an old tradition in music. This tradition began with earlier forms of music and gradually evolved into the blues. Johnson's music arose from that tradition. So there's another reason to cut C. We need "began" and "evolved" to be parallel.

Mansha1412 · Answer

Hello Everyone!

Let's tackle this question, one issue at a time, and narrow it down to the correct answer! To begin, here is the original question with any major differences between the options highlighted in  orange :

Similar to other Mississippi Delta blues singers, the music of Robert Johnson arose from an oral tradition beginning with  a mixture of chants, fiddle tunes, and religions music and only gradually evolved into the blues.

A.  Similar to  other Mississippi Delta blues singers,  the music of Robert Johnson  arose from an oral tradition  beginning with 
B.  Similar to  that of other early Mississippi Delta blues singers,  Robert Johnson  made music that arose from oral tradition  that began with 
C.  As with  other early Mississippi Delta blues singers,  Robert Johnson  made music that arose from an oral tradition  beginning as 
D.  Like  other early Mississippi Delta blues singers,  Robert Johnson’s music  arose from an oral tradition  beginning with 
E.  Like  the music of other early Mississippi Delta blues singers ,  the music of Robert Johnson  arose from an oral tradition  that began as

After a quick glance over the options, there are a few key differences we can focus on:

1. How they begin: similar to / as with / like
2. What comes after the modifier: the music of Robert Johnson / Robert Johnson / Robert Johnson's music
3. How they end: beginning with / that began with / beginning as

Since we're dealing with a  comparison  question, the first place to start should always be  parallelism !  We need to make sure that the sentence is comparing 2 similar things (apples to apples, bicycles to bicycles, etc.). Let's focus on that first, and eliminate any options that don't compare similar things:

A. Similar to  other Mississippi Delta blues singers ,  the music of Robert Johnson  arose from an oral tradition beginning with -->  WRONG  ( compares people to music )

B. Similar to  that of other early Mississippi Delta blues singers ,  Robert Johnson  made music that arose from oral tradition that began with -->  WRONG  ( compares music to a person )

C. As with  other early Mississippi Delta blues singers ,  Robert Johnson  made music that arose from an oral tradition beginning as -->  OK  ( compares people to people )

D. Like  other early Mississippi Delta blues singers ,  Robert Johnson’s music  arose from an oral tradition beginning with -->  WRONG  ( compares people to music )

E. Like  the music of other early Mississippi Delta blues singers  ,  the music of Robert Johnson  arose from an oral tradition that began as -->  OK  ( compares music to music )

We can eliminate options A, B, & D because they create a non-parallel comparison.

Now that we have it narrowed down to only 2 options, let's focus on the other two list items to narrow it down to just one option:

C.  As with  other early Mississippi Delta blues singers, Robert Johnson made music that arose from an oral tradition  beginning as

This is  INCORRECT  for a couple reasons. First, starting a noun phrase with "As with" is considered a no-no on the GMAT. The GMAT prefers you use "like" instead because it's clear and to the point. Second, the phrase "beginning as" suggests these events took place in the present tense, but we need to use verbs or phrases that are in the past tense for this to make sense. If his music eventually "evolved" at some point in the past, then it doesn't make sense to say that it "starts" in the present.

E.  Like  the music of other early Mississippi Delta blues singers , the music of Robert Johnson arose from an oral tradition  that began as

This is  CORRECT ! The comparison is parallel, the phrasing is clear and concise, and the meaning is clear thanks to the use of past tense verbs throughout.

There you have it - option E is the correct choice!

-------

DOUBT ---

While Option C is parallel, I am confused why option B isn't (because they both are similar). How in B, it is comparing music to the singer? Isn't singer being compared to RJ (and not music)? Can you please throw some light on the same?

It would help me understand the concept.

It would help me understand the concept.

sarkard · Answer

All the explanations made are wrong. Option C is not correct because it has meaning issue. one can read it as …. Robert Johnson made music…. and gradually evolved into blues. This possible interpretation is absolutely incorrect and hence the option C is incorrect. Other options have comparison problems.

There is no tense issue here as others have mentioned. Beginning as works as present participle (adjective) which modifies oral tradition and as it is working as adjective, it has no role in reflecting tense.

ashutosh_73 · Answer

Hi  DmitryFarber   egmat , @GMATNinja,@mcelroytutoring Please help me out here:
 
If i make a few changes and rewrite the whole sentence as below, would it be correct?
I understand that, as per the below structure,  beginning  and  evolving  will be modifying the verb, arose , but structure makes sense, right?

Like the music of other early Mississippi Delta
blues singers, the music of Robert Johnson
arose from an oral tradition, beginning  as a mixture of chants, fiddle tunes, and
religious music and only gradually  evolving  into the blues.

DmitryFarber · Answer

Ashutosh94

I'm afraid that wouldn't work. As you say, "beginning . . . and evolving" would be adverbial modifiers applying to "the music . . . arose." But it's not Johnson's music in particular that began one way and evolved into the blues. Robert Johnson was working in the blues tradition, and it's the tradition that began one way and evolved into the blues.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  Ashutosh94 ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, this construction is still not correct because "beginning" and "evolving" are incorrectly acting upon "the music of Robert Johnson", but the intended meaning is that the "oral tradition" began as a mixture of chants, fiddle tunes, and religious music and only gradually evolved into the blues; if a "comma + present participle" construction modifies a clause or a sentence it implies that the subject of the sentence took the actions described through the participle.

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

Similar to other Mississippi Delta blues singers, the music of Robert

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