SC - Requirements of tree

Question

Please explain

Paul · Answer

"Not only X but also Y" is the right idiom. A and B are out. D is best because "like" is a preposition and introduces a prepositional phrase (no verb). C and E have "such as" are conjunctions and should be introducing a clause (with a verb)

gmatblast · Answer

Paul, Did you mean to joke here? :-D

Paul · Answer

Gmatblast, your questions always come with a twist. Upon doing more research, E is a good contender. The reason why I said "like" is used as a preposition only was because "strictly speaking", "like" is more likely to be used as a preposition, not a conjunction:
https://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/conj ... s.htm#like

However, as said a bit later, when listing things that have similarities, the use of "such as" is best. The only thing is I cannot seem to be able to describe why "like" is not appropriate in this case...

venksune · Answer

It should be 'not only'...'but also' construction and hence A and B are out. This is quite obvious. However, between C, D, E ....D is not ETS style. They dislike 'like'. Also, 'like' is supposed to compare two nouns, here it is more of an example - hence 'such as' wins. Now, between C and E - though both sound atrocious, E makes some sense compared to C. Hence E.

Paul · Answer

Well, C was clearly out to me because it was not making the right comparison.
C) ... the soil of a particular forest, air, degree of moisture, and weather condition
It wrongly says that it's the forest's soil, the air's soil, the degree of moisture's soil... you see what I mean
But I believe you are right about usage of "like" Venksune. It compares two nouns whereas "such as" compares a subset of things to a larger group.

gmatblast · Answer

Paul,

Thanks for your explanation of C. I had problem between C and E. But your reasoning explains this. 

But one more question. In E, will the possessive "forest's" be applicable to all the elements subsequent to "soil" In other words, should the sentence be interpreted as "for a particular forest's soils, forest's air, forest's degree of moisture, ...."? 

It seems that your understanding of the usage of "LIKE" and "SUCH AS" is not adequate. I would suggest that you refer to Kaplan for these two usages. This a very comman usage on GMAT (not this question though). You would not have chosen D, if you underastand the Kaplan's explanation.

Bhai · Answer

I think it is between C and E. the plants carry requirements for whatever.....Now how to choose between C and E is difficult. I will go with E.

Paul · Answer

Yes, E's enumeration would pertain to the forest
Ex: The body's arms, legs and fingers --> all belong to the body
Yes, my understanding of like vs such as was a bit unclear. But I think Venksune's explanation was a good reminder :oops:

krish · Answer

Guys, 
I went through the kalpan as suggested by gmatblast. Everything seems to be in favour of E, but I am not still convinced on the word 'for' after such as. Due to this word appearing there, i get a feeling as if the Tree inherits for some reason... But the sentence doesnt reason out anything. All it says is that the tree inherits not only X but also Y. In our case Y is a list which can be surely mentioned in the form of like a forest's soil, air, etc... 

I prefer D, if we have any specific reason to bring in that word 'for', I would be glad to know. 

Thanks

gmatblast · Answer

Remove the content between "not only" and "but also" then read the sentence. "Trees inherit from their parent trees special environ requirements for ....."

In any case after reading the Kaplan explanation, you should not have selected D.

SC - Requirements of tree

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