To avid video gamers, video games are similar to art in doing

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION



THE PROMPT


• Issues?
→ like vs. as
Like is a preposition, so we use it to compare nouns.

A verb must never be in a comparison phrase that uses like.
Stated differently, like is never followed immediately by a full clause that includes a verb.

(Remember: like is a preposition. Prepositions can be followed only by nouns, pronouns, or noun phrases.)

As is a conjunction used to compare clauses, verbs, or events.

Video games and art are both nouns, so they should be compared using like and not as.

→ semicolons and colons
A semicolon can connect only two independent clauses.
→ Whatever comes before the semicolon must be an independent clause.
→ Whatever comes after the semicolon must also be an independent clause.
No exceptions.

By contrast, whatever comes before a colon must be an independent clause, but whatever comes after a colon does not need to be an independent clause.
Typically, what follows a colon is elaboration on or description of something in the sentence.

I recommend that you read this short overview, here. Its content and examples are easy to understand.

In this case, the part after the colon (which, recall, does NOT have to be an independent clause but can be) is describing video games and not art and so requires the plural verb take. The plural distill that is used later in the non-underlined part of the sentence gives us a clue about this fact.

THE OPTIONS

• Wrong verb tense
→ The singular verb takes does not agree with the plural subject, video games.

• Not parallel
→ Video games do X and Y.
The non-underlined portion contains the plural verb distill.
To maintain parallelism, the conjoined verb should be take, not takes.

• Diction
The use of in doing creates an awkward and confusing sentence.
ELIMINATE A


• Strange meaning, though the error is hard to catch
Saying that video games and art do what all art does makes no sense.

• Punctuation
→ The use of semicolon is incorrect. The part after the semicolon is not an independent clause.
ELIMINATE B


• incorrect use of semicolon
→ the part after the semicolon is not an independent clause and should be.

• strange phrasing/meaning is hard to decipher
→ The phrases video games are and art is do not make much sense.

• verb tense confusion
→ in the non-underlined portion, we are committed to the plural verb distill. The singular verb takes is not parallel.
ELIMINATE C

→ verb tense error
The singular verb takes does not agree with the plural subject video games.
ELIMINATE D


• I do not see any errors

• This options correctly uses similar to, a adjective phrase analogous to like, to compare the nouns video games and art.

• subject/verb agreement
→ this option correctly uses the plural verb take, which agrees with the plural video games.
KEEP

The best answer is E.

COMMENTS

Color me impressed: these posts all display coherent explanations but vary in style and content.
Now we have a nice cross section of approaches.

Well done.