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555-605 Level|   Comparisons|   Pronouns|               
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While Jackie Robinson was a Brooklyn Dodger, his courage in the face 25 Aug 2018, 06:59
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joshnsit
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If there is a choice between a weird clause using ‘not unlike’ but without any other flaws and another one with 'like' but with other ostensible errors, then the ‘not unlike’ version is acceptable.

Of course, if the comparison marker ‘like’ were to replace ‘not unlike’, then the replacement would certainly be for better.

I found a beautiful explanation for usage of "not unlike". It explains where "not unlike" could overpower normal and precise "like".
Check for the comments given by sunnyjohn


Hey Guys,

there is a good concept here, if you see Option A
unlike : not like
so it means : was not not like...
that really confused me, but there is no other option here which matches the answer.

Here is some information i found on internet on the usage of 'not unlike':

It is quite common to use such a structure in English, and it's not considered a double negative. For example, we say things like "the new law is not unfair," "the car was not inexpensive," or "his comments were not unrelated."

We usually do this, as I explain in class (almost everybody asks the same question about this SC), when we want a little "wiggle room," i.e., some room for error in our sentence. Think of an adjective as having three degrees of quality, rather than only two. Things are not often "like" or "unlike;" they often fall in the middle--not quite "like," but not quite "unlike," either.
Let's take the above example of a car--if I told somebody I'd just bought, say, a new Honda Accord, some people (who can afford BMW's or Mercedes') might say that that car is an inexpensive one. I might respond that, to me, it's "not an inexpensive car."

In this case, I'm saying that the Accord falls into the middle area, between expensive and cheap.
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1. Isn't not unlike in the OA a double negative?

2.Also, in the below

"the new law is not unfair," -- does this mean the new law is fair(polar opposite) or does this mean that the new law is anything but unfair(a kind of logical opposite) ?

"the car was not inexpensive," -- this is explained in BTG quote as highlighted above

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While Jackie Robinson was a Brooklyn Dodger, his courage in the face 25 Aug 2018, 19:26
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1. Isn't not unlike in the OA a double negative?

2.Also, in the below

"the new law is not unfair," -- does this mean the new law is fair(polar opposite) or does this mean that the new law is anything but unfair(a kind of logical opposite) ?

"the car was not inexpensive," -- this is explained in BTG quote as highlighted above

AjiteshArun , GMATNinja , mikemcgarry , egmat , RonPurewal , DmitryFarber , MagooshExpert , ccooley , ChiranjeevSingh, GMATGuruNY , VeritasKarishma , daagh ,other experts-- please enlighten
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From a practical standpoint, I'm not sure that any of this is worth much of your brainpower, but... well, I'm married to a former attorney, and we had a long conversation once about double negatives when we were driving across the United States. So I guess I'm qualified to respond to this?

(Related: the United States is really, really large. Try driving across the whole thing with an attorney, and you'll end up talking about weird s#!t, too. :idontknow:)

Anyway...

  • "The new president is not unintelligent." --> Sure, it's a double-negative, but it's not quite the same as saying the precise opposite. If the president is "not unintelligent", there are actually two possibilities: he could actually be intelligent, or he could be in some grey zone between "intelligent" and "unintelligent." In other words: "not unintelligent" does not necessarily mean "intelligent."
  • "Chipotle burritos are not unhealthy." --> Again, the double-negative does not necessarily mean the exact opposite. The burritos could actually be healthy, or they could be in some grey zone that is neither "healthy" nor "unhealthy."

Personally, I'm not a fan of double-negatives, because they confuse the reader. Unless you're an attorney, please avoid using them.

But technically speaking, they do exist for a reason. (Double-negatives, I mean. I'm still trying to figure out why attorneys exist.) If you're trying to say that a certain item definitely isn't cheap, but it might not explicitly be expensive either, then it's reasonable to say that it's "not inexpensive." There might be better ways to explain what you mean in that case, but the structure has its own meaning, and it definitely isn't the same as the polar opposite of "inexpensive."

I hope this helps!
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While Jackie Robinson was a Brooklyn Dodger, his courage in the face 26 Aug 2018, 21:49
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GMATNinja
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1. Isn't not unlike in the OA a double negative?

2.Also, in the below

"the new law is not unfair," -- does this mean the new law is fair(polar opposite) or does this mean that the new law is anything but unfair(a kind of logical opposite) ?

"the car was not inexpensive," -- this is explained in BTG quote as highlighted above

AjiteshArun , GMATNinja , mikemcgarry , egmat , RonPurewal , DmitryFarber , MagooshExpert , ccooley , ChiranjeevSingh, GMATGuruNY , VeritasKarishma , daagh ,other experts-- please enlighten
From a practical standpoint, I'm not sure that any of this is worth much of your brainpower, but... well, I'm married to a former attorney, and we had a long conversation once about double negatives when we were driving across the United States. So I guess I'm qualified to respond to this?

(Related: the United States is really, really large. Try driving across the whole thing with an attorney, and you'll end up talking about weird s#!t, too. :idontknow:)

Anyway...

  • "The new president is not unintelligent." --> Sure, it's a double-negative, but it's not quite the same as saying the precise opposite. If the president is "not unintelligent", there are actually two possibilities: he could actually be intelligent, or he could be in some grey zone between "intelligent" and "unintelligent." In other words: "not unintelligent" does not necessarily mean "intelligent."
  • "Chipotle burritos are not unhealthy." --> Again, the double-negative does not necessarily mean the exact opposite. The burritos could actually be healthy, or they could be in some grey zone that is neither "healthy" nor "unhealthy."

Personally, I'm not a fan of double-negatives, because they confuse the reader. Unless you're an attorney, please avoid using them.

But technically speaking, they do exist for a reason. (Double-negatives, I mean. I'm still trying to figure out why attorneys exist.) If you're trying to say that a certain item definitely isn't cheap, but it might not explicitly be expensive either, then it's reasonable to say that it's "not inexpensive." There might be better ways to explain what you mean in that case, but the structure has its own meaning, and it definitely isn't the same as the polar opposite of "inexpensive."

I hope this helps!
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GMATNinja - I thought that life as an attorney is awesome, but my perception is based on an American legal drama television series - Suits. :-D
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While Jackie Robinson was a Brooklyn Dodger, his courage in the face 07 Sep 2018, 12:25
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GMATNinja - I thought that life as an attorney is awesome, but my perception is based on an American legal drama television series - Suits. :-D
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generis, nightblade354... just like Suits, yes? :)
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While Jackie Robinson was a Brooklyn Dodger, his courage in the face 08 Sep 2018, 05:55
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GMATNinja, I am not an attorney yet, so I will defer to my brilliant colleague. But I am amazed how many people reference suits!
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While Jackie Robinson was a Brooklyn Dodger, his courage in the face 24 May 2019, 22:31
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why is "for refusing" in option D incorrect?
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While Jackie Robinson was a Brooklyn Dodger, his courage in the face 25 May 2019, 04:31
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why is "for refusing" in option D incorrect?
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That option looks like this:

X was like Y for refusing to move...

There are two major problems here. Firstly, for refusing now seems to refer to X (not Y). Also, in this particular question, X is not a person (instead, X is "his courage").

His courage was like someone else's courage for refusing to move...

This makes it sound as if his courage refused to move. Moreover, the refusing to move bit needs to connect to Rosa Parks, not Jackie Robinson (meaning call).
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While Jackie Robinson was a Brooklyn Dodger, his courage in the face 14 Jul 2020, 06:59
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here we are comparing the courage of Jackie with Rosa the why we are not using AS because we are comparing some characteristic of noun not exactly noun.. Can any one help me with this
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While Jackie Robinson was a Brooklyn Dodger, his courage in the face 14 Jul 2020, 07:14
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here we are comparing the courage of Jackie with Rosa the why we are not using AS because we are comparing some characteristic of noun not exactly noun.. Can any one help me with this
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Hi Pragya, we are comparing the courage of two people and courage is a noun (an abstract noun).

Hence, the usage of like/unlike is correct.
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While Jackie Robinson was a Brooklyn Dodger, his courage in the face 24 Jun 2021, 01:16
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Hi

In Option E, the RHS of "As" should be in ellipsis in which the verb is implied? If so, then I guess faulty noun to clause comparison using "As" shouldn't be the decision point to eliminate E?
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While Jackie Robinson was a Brooklyn Dodger, his courage in the face 24 Jun 2021, 08:46
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Hi

In Option E, the RHS of "As" should be in ellipsis in which the verb is implied? If so, then I guess faulty noun to clause comparison using "As" shouldn't be the decision point to eliminate E?
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Hello Mayank221133,

Although your question is not for me, here are my two cents anyway. ;)


There are some specific rules with regard to the usage of "as". When used for comparison, "as" MUST be followed by a clause or a prepositional phrase. However, when "as" is followed by a noun, it presents the role or the function of a noun entity. For example, John works as a manager in this company. In this sentence, John = a manager in this company. This role of John has been presented by the use of "as + Noun (a manager)".

The structure of Choice E in this official question is similar to this example sentence. It says, Robinson's courage was as that of Rosa Parks. This choice conveys that Robinson's courage = the courage of Parks. This meaning is illogical. The sentence intends to present a comparison. Therefore, "as" must be followed by a clause or a prepositional phrase, NOT a noun.

Please note that we CANNOT say that the verb is kept understood while the subject "that of Rosa Parks" is mentioned in this choice. Either we write the SV pair or we keep both understood. We cannot mention the subject and omit the verb.


Hope this helps. :-)
Thanks.
Shraddha
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While Jackie Robinson was a Brooklyn Dodger, his courage in the face 24 Jun 2021, 09:03
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Mayank221133
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Hi

In Option E, the RHS of "As" should be in ellipsis in which the verb is implied? If so, then I guess faulty noun to clause comparison using "As" shouldn't be the decision point to eliminate E?


Hello Mayank221133,

Although your question is not for me, here are my two cents anyway. ;)


There are some specific rules with regard to the usage of "as". When used for comparison, "as" MUST be followed by a clause or a prepositional phrase. However, when "as" is followed by a noun, it presents the role or the function of a noun entity. For example, John works as a manager in this company. In this sentence, John = a manager in this company. This role of John has been presented by the use of "as + Noun (a manager)".

The structure of Choice E in this official question is similar to this example sentence. It says, Robinson's courage was as that of Rosa Parks. This choice conveys that Robinson's courage = the courage of Parks. This meaning is illogical. The sentence intends to present a comparison. Therefore, "as" must be followed by a clause or a prepositional phrase, NOT a noun.

Please note that we CANNOT say that the verb is kept understood while the subject "that of Rosa Parks" is mentioned in this choice. Either we write the SV pair or we keep both understood. We cannot mention the subject and omit the verb.


Hope this helps. :-)
Thanks.
Shraddha
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Ok, make sense.
One more thing.

Is this a correct sentence : Peter is as old as Jack. If so, what role is "as" playing in this sentence?

Thanks
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While Jackie Robinson was a Brooklyn Dodger, his courage in the face 24 Jun 2021, 14:32
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Mayank221133

Ok, make sense.
One more thing.

Is this a correct sentence : Peter is as old as Jack. If so, what role is "as" playing in this sentence?

Thanks
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Hello Mayank221133,

Thank you for this question. :-)


While presenting the comparison, the usage of the single word "as" is different from the usage of the phrase "as X as". It is not mandatory to write the SV pair after "as X as", although one may do so. For example: "She is as cool as a cucumber (is)."

The same is the case with the example sentence that you have presented in your post. "Peter is as old as Jack (is)". Both these sentences may or may not explicitly mention "is" in the second part of the intended comparison.


Hope this helps. :-)
Thanks.
Shraddha
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While Jackie Robinson was a Brooklyn Dodger, his courage in the face 02 Jul 2021, 05:06
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First, let us understand the items in comparisons: the sentence is comparing the Courage of Jackie to Courage of Rosa Parks

A. Correct: Correctly comparing Courage of Jackie to that (Courage ) of Rosa Parks
B. Wrong: Comparing Courage to Rosa Parks
C. Wrong Same reason as in B ( and usage of conjunction AND incorrect )
D. Wrong: The sentence is in simple past so, refused is correct usage and not refusing
E. Wrong: as should be used to compare actions and like to compare Nouns
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While Jackie Robinson was a Brooklyn Dodger, his courage in the face 27 Jan 2023, 02:55
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Hello, I have a question regarding the modifier “who”. The sentence states: … like that of rosa parks, who… .
Isnt this modifier incorrect because “who” usually modifies humans and rosaparks courage, refers to an action rather than to a human being.
If someone can clarify, I will be thankful.
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While Jackie Robinson was a Brooklyn Dodger, his courage in the face 27 Jan 2023, 03:29
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Hello, I have a question regarding the modifier “who”. The sentence states: … like that of rosa parks, who… .
Isnt this modifier incorrect because “who” usually modifies humans and rosaparks courage, refers to an action rather than to a human being.
If someone can clarify, I will be thankful.
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who modifies Rosa Parks, a human.
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