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Question Stats:
63% (01:28) correct
37%
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wrong
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During an ice age, the buildup of ice at the poles and the drop in water levels near the equator speed up the Earth’s rotation, like a spinning figure skater whose speed increases when her arms are drawn in.
(A) like a spinning figure skater whose speed increases when her arms are drawn in
(B) like the increased speed of a figure skater when her arms are drawn in
(C) like a figure skater who increases speed while spinning with her arms drawn in
(D) just as a spinning figure skater who increases speed by drawing in her arms
(E) just as a spinning figure skater increases speed by drawing in her arms
SC30561.01
(A) like a spinning figure skater whose speed increases when her arms are drawn in
(B) like the increased speed of a figure skater when her arms are drawn in
(C) like a figure skater who increases speed while spinning with her arms drawn in
(D) just as a spinning figure skater who increases speed by drawing in her arms
(E) just as a spinning figure skater increases speed by drawing in her arms
SC30561.01
1:05 , E is my ans.
Here like is used as a conjunction. This is not preferred/correct usage of like.
I have copied this from a website :
Here is the rule:
Always use "like" as a preposition, never as a subordinating conjunction.
Historically, "like" has often been used as a subordinating conjunction, but in formal modern usage it is considered a definite no-no. The use of "like" as a conjunction had pretty nearly disappeared among the educated public, until a famous cigarette ad declared, "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should!"
The media have so popularized this once forbidden usage that one now hears it (and reads it) almost everywhere. But although it has become generally accepted in colloquial speech and informal writing, it is still considered questionable in formal writing. Anyone who wishes to be taken seriously as a writer needs to be very careful about unnecessarily violating this particular shibboleth, because it is seen by most teachers and editors not only as an error, but as another one of those really big errors.
Here are some examples of "like" used as a subordinating conjunction, along with corrected versions of the sentences.
EXAMPLES:
~My face felt like it had been set on fire.
My face felt as if it had been set on fire.
My face felt as though it had been set on fire.
~In college the teachers don't spoonfeed you the material like the teachers in high school do.
In college the teachers don't spoonfeed you the material, as the teachers in high school do
In college the teachers don't spoonfeed you the material the way the teachers in high school do.
~When I was a freshman I studied like my life depended on it.
When I was a freshman I studied as if my life depended on it.
When I was a freshman I studied as though my life depended on it.
~Some people with only a modest income try to live like they were millionaires.
Some people with only a modest income try to live as if they were millionaires.
Some people with only a modest income try to live as though they were millionaires.
The same goes for using "like" as a conjunction. It has a respectable history of being used as a conjunction, and it is commonly used that way in informal speech and writing today. But it is not commonly used that way in the formal writing of educated people, and so I will not risk my reputation for it. The fact is, it is quite simple to avoid using "like" as a conjunction, just as it is to avoid comma splices.
HTH
Here like is used as a conjunction. This is not preferred/correct usage of like.
I have copied this from a website :
Here is the rule:
Always use "like" as a preposition, never as a subordinating conjunction.
Historically, "like" has often been used as a subordinating conjunction, but in formal modern usage it is considered a definite no-no. The use of "like" as a conjunction had pretty nearly disappeared among the educated public, until a famous cigarette ad declared, "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should!"
The media have so popularized this once forbidden usage that one now hears it (and reads it) almost everywhere. But although it has become generally accepted in colloquial speech and informal writing, it is still considered questionable in formal writing. Anyone who wishes to be taken seriously as a writer needs to be very careful about unnecessarily violating this particular shibboleth, because it is seen by most teachers and editors not only as an error, but as another one of those really big errors.
Here are some examples of "like" used as a subordinating conjunction, along with corrected versions of the sentences.
EXAMPLES:
~My face felt like it had been set on fire.
My face felt as if it had been set on fire.
My face felt as though it had been set on fire.
~In college the teachers don't spoonfeed you the material like the teachers in high school do.
In college the teachers don't spoonfeed you the material, as the teachers in high school do
In college the teachers don't spoonfeed you the material the way the teachers in high school do.
~When I was a freshman I studied like my life depended on it.
When I was a freshman I studied as if my life depended on it.
When I was a freshman I studied as though my life depended on it.
~Some people with only a modest income try to live like they were millionaires.
Some people with only a modest income try to live as if they were millionaires.
Some people with only a modest income try to live as though they were millionaires.
The same goes for using "like" as a conjunction. It has a respectable history of being used as a conjunction, and it is commonly used that way in informal speech and writing today. But it is not commonly used that way in the formal writing of educated people, and so I will not risk my reputation for it. The fact is, it is quite simple to avoid using "like" as a conjunction, just as it is to avoid comma splices.
HTH
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22 Oct 2009, 18:08
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Like is used to compare only nouns. (i.e. use like to say two things are similar, and let the clause that follows tell how they are similar)
The earth, like other planets, spins on an axis.
Like other planets, the earth spins on an axis.
As is used to compare clauses. (i.e. use as if two actions are similar)
A globe spins around an axis, as does the Earth itself.
A few rules of thumb:
(1) you should have two verbs in a sentence with an As comparison, one verb in a sentence with a Like comparison.
(2) Like comparisons work the same way as noun modifiers--make sure the right nouns are touching!
(3) The GMAT tends to use like mostly at the beginning of sentences. It is tough to put like at the end of a sentence and get the meaning right.
During an ice age, the buildup of ice at the poles and the drop in water levels near the equator speed up the Earth’s rotation, like a spinning figure skater whose speed increases when her arms are drawn in.
(A) like a spinning figure skater ...LIKE compares nouns, but the comparison is Earth's rotation = a spinning figure skater. Should be Earth = skater.
(B) like the increased speed of a figure skater...LIKE compares nouns, but the comparison is Earth's rotation = the increased speed. Should be Earth = skater.
(C) like a figure skater...LIKE compares nouns, but the comparison is Earth's rotation = a figure skater. Should be Earth = skater.
(D) just as a spinning figure skater (modifier: who increases speed by drawing in her arms)...AS incorrectly compares nouns. There is no verb in the as phrase, as required.
(E) just as a spinning figure skater increases speed by drawing in her arms. CORRECT. AS correctly compares the verbs speed up and increases speed.
The earth, like other planets, spins on an axis.
Like other planets, the earth spins on an axis.
As is used to compare clauses. (i.e. use as if two actions are similar)
A globe spins around an axis, as does the Earth itself.
A few rules of thumb:
(1) you should have two verbs in a sentence with an As comparison, one verb in a sentence with a Like comparison.
(2) Like comparisons work the same way as noun modifiers--make sure the right nouns are touching!
(3) The GMAT tends to use like mostly at the beginning of sentences. It is tough to put like at the end of a sentence and get the meaning right.
During an ice age, the buildup of ice at the poles and the drop in water levels near the equator speed up the Earth’s rotation, like a spinning figure skater whose speed increases when her arms are drawn in.
(A) like a spinning figure skater ...LIKE compares nouns, but the comparison is Earth's rotation = a spinning figure skater. Should be Earth = skater.
(B) like the increased speed of a figure skater...LIKE compares nouns, but the comparison is Earth's rotation = the increased speed. Should be Earth = skater.
(C) like a figure skater...LIKE compares nouns, but the comparison is Earth's rotation = a figure skater. Should be Earth = skater.
(D) just as a spinning figure skater (modifier: who increases speed by drawing in her arms)...AS incorrectly compares nouns. There is no verb in the as phrase, as required.
(E) just as a spinning figure skater increases speed by drawing in her arms. CORRECT. AS correctly compares the verbs speed up and increases speed.
11 Mar 2010, 14:44
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Bookmarks
Hey All,
I didn't check the other thread, but I thought I'd add a few more details in here. As some have said, it is a comparison issue, but the notion of comparing "actions" versus "things" is a dangerous one. I warn you that the explanations below are complicated, so feel free to ask follow-up questions. First, let's consider a simple comparison example:
Like running, swimming is great.
No one would argue that we aren't comparing actions in that sentence, but these are gerunds (verbal nouns), so we have to use "like". Thus the distinction between "actions" and "nouns" starts to break down. Now watch this:
Like Einstein, Dave was a really smart guy.
You could argue here that we're comparing people (Einstein and Dave) OR actions (they were both smart guys), yet we still need "like".
In reality, we only use AS when comparing CLAUSES (a phrase with a verb in a tense). "Like Einstein" has no verb in a tense, so we use LIKE. Similarly, "Like running" doesn't have a verb in a tense, so we use LIKE. Let's consider the answer choices in this light...
257. During an ice age, the buildup of ice at the poles and the drop in water levels near the equator speed up the Earth’s rotation, like a spinning figure skater whose speed increases when her arms are drawn in.
(A) like a spinning figure skater whose speed increases when her arms are drawn in
PROBLEM: Believe it or not, in this iteration of the sentence, LIKE is more correct. Think of it like this. I could correctly write, "Faster and faster turned the merry-go-round, like a spinning figure skater." In this sentence, the second phrase has NO VERB in a tense, so LIKE is okay (we're comparing the NOUN "merry-go-round" with the NOUN "spinning figure skater" (spinning is an adjective there)).
Now before you all get up in arms, obviously this answer choice is in correct. We WANT to compare actions (namely the way that the Earth's rotation speeds up, as well as the skater's rotation). But in this answer choice, if we just threw in AS, we wouldn't have the verb that we need to make this a clause. The verb "increases" is inside a modifying phrase, initiated by the relative pronoun "whose", so we lack an actual action to be comparing. Complicated, I know, but a critical piece of information you must understand to answer these brutal comparison/modifier questions. (I'd also add that the wording of this particular sentence makes it sound like we're comparing "rotation" to "spinning figure skater", which makes it even more wrong.)
(B) like the increased speed of a figure skater when her arms are drawn in
PROBLEM: Comparison logic. It's not the increased speed we want to compare to, though the LIKE is correct (this isn't a clause, as the verb "are drawn in" is within another modifying phrase, initiated by the relative pronoun "when").
(C) like a figure skater who increases speed while spinning with her arms drawn in
PROBLEM: Comparison logic. It's not like a figure skater who increases speed with her arms drawn in, but it's like THE WAY speed increases when the arms are drawn in (as nitya said, we need the clause, not the noun).
(D) just as a spinning figure skater who increases speed by drawing in her arms
PROBLEM: Fragmentary. Just like we saw in A, the "who" phrase is a modifier, so we never get a main verb here, meaning we CANNOT use AS correctly here. It would need to be something like "just as a spinning figure skater who draws in her arms increases her speed". Now we have the verb "increases" as a main verb, so we're allowed to use "as".
(E) just as a spinning figure skater increases speed by drawing in her arms
ANSWER: Voila. We get the AS, and the main verb "INCREASES".
As I said above, I'm happy to answer follow-up questions here. Hope this helped!
-t
I didn't check the other thread, but I thought I'd add a few more details in here. As some have said, it is a comparison issue, but the notion of comparing "actions" versus "things" is a dangerous one. I warn you that the explanations below are complicated, so feel free to ask follow-up questions. First, let's consider a simple comparison example:
Like running, swimming is great.
No one would argue that we aren't comparing actions in that sentence, but these are gerunds (verbal nouns), so we have to use "like". Thus the distinction between "actions" and "nouns" starts to break down. Now watch this:
Like Einstein, Dave was a really smart guy.
You could argue here that we're comparing people (Einstein and Dave) OR actions (they were both smart guys), yet we still need "like".
In reality, we only use AS when comparing CLAUSES (a phrase with a verb in a tense). "Like Einstein" has no verb in a tense, so we use LIKE. Similarly, "Like running" doesn't have a verb in a tense, so we use LIKE. Let's consider the answer choices in this light...
257. During an ice age, the buildup of ice at the poles and the drop in water levels near the equator speed up the Earth’s rotation, like a spinning figure skater whose speed increases when her arms are drawn in.
(A) like a spinning figure skater whose speed increases when her arms are drawn in
PROBLEM: Believe it or not, in this iteration of the sentence, LIKE is more correct. Think of it like this. I could correctly write, "Faster and faster turned the merry-go-round, like a spinning figure skater." In this sentence, the second phrase has NO VERB in a tense, so LIKE is okay (we're comparing the NOUN "merry-go-round" with the NOUN "spinning figure skater" (spinning is an adjective there)).
Now before you all get up in arms, obviously this answer choice is in correct. We WANT to compare actions (namely the way that the Earth's rotation speeds up, as well as the skater's rotation). But in this answer choice, if we just threw in AS, we wouldn't have the verb that we need to make this a clause. The verb "increases" is inside a modifying phrase, initiated by the relative pronoun "whose", so we lack an actual action to be comparing. Complicated, I know, but a critical piece of information you must understand to answer these brutal comparison/modifier questions. (I'd also add that the wording of this particular sentence makes it sound like we're comparing "rotation" to "spinning figure skater", which makes it even more wrong.)
(B) like the increased speed of a figure skater when her arms are drawn in
PROBLEM: Comparison logic. It's not the increased speed we want to compare to, though the LIKE is correct (this isn't a clause, as the verb "are drawn in" is within another modifying phrase, initiated by the relative pronoun "when").
(C) like a figure skater who increases speed while spinning with her arms drawn in
PROBLEM: Comparison logic. It's not like a figure skater who increases speed with her arms drawn in, but it's like THE WAY speed increases when the arms are drawn in (as nitya said, we need the clause, not the noun).
(D) just as a spinning figure skater who increases speed by drawing in her arms
PROBLEM: Fragmentary. Just like we saw in A, the "who" phrase is a modifier, so we never get a main verb here, meaning we CANNOT use AS correctly here. It would need to be something like "just as a spinning figure skater who draws in her arms increases her speed". Now we have the verb "increases" as a main verb, so we're allowed to use "as".
(E) just as a spinning figure skater increases speed by drawing in her arms
ANSWER: Voila. We get the AS, and the main verb "INCREASES".
As I said above, I'm happy to answer follow-up questions here. Hope this helped!
-t
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