It was not long after the 1930s commenced that such baritone

Question

It was not long after the 1930s commenced that such baritone singers as Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo contributed to  the popularization of a type of romantic, soothing singing that came to be called “crooning.”
• It was not long after the 1930s commenced that such baritone singers as Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo contributed to
• Not long after the commencement of the decade of the 1930s, baritone singers such as Bing Crosby and also Russ Columbo decided to contribute in
• Not long after the 1930s commenced, baritone singers like Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo contributed to
• Not long after the beginning of the 1930s commencement, baritone singers like Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo had contributed to
• It was not long after the 1930s commenced that baritone singers such as Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo had contributed in

MHIKER · Answer

Starting with long after is awkward. so b, c and d are out. simple past required to refer one past event. E is out. 
Ans. E

bschool83 · Answer

This is a great question. What threw me off was “baritone singers”. I never knew that baritone could also be used as an adjective (but it checked the dictionary and it can be used as an adjective, rare though).

This question tests the grammatical usage of like vs. such as.
“like” means similar to, and “such as” means for example. 
Vehicles like trucks (vehicles similar to trucks)
Vehicles such as trucks (truck as an example of a vehicle)
Important to note that with an adjective, usage of ‘such’ is before the noun being modified
Vehicles such as large trucks (incorrect – large truck is not an example of vehicle, truck is an example of a large vehicle)
Such large vehicles as trucks (correct)

Based on this… 
B - baritone singers such as Bing Crosby – incorrect usage of such as when the noun is modified using an adjective
C – like – incorrect (Bing Crosby is not similar to a baritone singer, he is an example of a baritone singer)
D – ditto
E - baritone singers such as Bing Crosby – incorrect usage of such as when the noun is modified using an adjective

Hence A is correct.

ghumanaman · Answer

It was not long after the 1930s commenced that such baritone singers as Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo contributed to the popularization of a type of romantic, soothing singing that came to be called “crooning.”
• It was not long after the 1930s commenced that such baritone singers as Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo contributed to - CORRECT
• Not long after the commencement of the decade of the 1930s, baritone singers such as Bing Crosby and also Russ Columbo decided to contribute in - Redundancy - decade of 1930s & and also
• Not long after the 1930s commenced, baritone singers like Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo contributed to - Incorrect idiom - like cannot be used for examples.
• Not long after the beginning of the 1930s commencement, baritone singers like Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo had contributed to - Same as C.
• It was not long after the 1930s commenced that baritone singers such as Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo had contributed in - Incorrect verb tense - had contributed. Past perfect tense is wrong here.

ghumanaman · Answer

Hi bschool83. You have presented an interesting analysis about the placement of such relative to adjectives. And I was amazed to see that you could use this rule to eliminate quite a few answer choices. Can you please provide more information about this rule. Have you seen this rule tested in official questions and any other reference that I may use to get more information about this. Till now I had just read that such as is used to present examples and like cannot be used to do so. I had not read this intricate rule...

And I have gone through MGMAT SC, Knewton, and now going through e-GMAT SC course. It would be great if you could provide some more information about this one. I mean what you say makes sense but I would like to learn more about it. Thanks, Aman

bschool83 · Answer

ghumanaman,

I would not call it a rule - just 'proper usage' depending on the context.

Consider the following two statements:

1. There is no rule such as this, which defines the usage of 'such...as' when using examples to define the set (non-restrictive)

2. There is no such rule as this that defines the usage of 'such...as' when using examples to define the set (restrictive)

Do you see the difference between the two in terms of context? Both are gramatically correct but the context is slightly different.

Following the same logic:

"...baritone singers such as Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo..." would imply all baritone singers contributed to the popularization of "crooning", whereas, "... such baritone singers as Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo..." does not imply the same.

Given the context, I strongly feel that we are only talking about Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo, and not all the 'baritone singers'.

In general, "such...as" can be split when using examples to define the set and "as" or "such as" when the words preceding the examples sufficed to define the set.

I am always eager and happy to go a layer deeper while explaining a concept. Thanks for your query.

gijoedude · Answer

I am going with A. Jeremy Clarkson used a similar sentence (Citroen DS3 has such qualites as blah blah blah) in the episode of Top Gear last week.

If I didn't watch Top Gear, I would have used MGMAT's flip it technique and would have gotten A as the answer.

It was not long after the 1930s commenced that such baritone

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