While Jackie Robinson was a Brooklyn Dodger, his courage in the face

Hello dabhishek87,

I would be glad to help you resolve your doubt.

Use of as is very specific on GMAT SC.

When as is used to present a comparison, then it must be followed by a clause. However, as is followed by a noun when it is used to present function or role of an entity.

For example:

1. The nurse takes care of me as a mother does. --> Comparison between nurse and mother

2. Tia joined St. Vincent's hospital as a nurse. --> Tia in the role of nurse OR Tia = nurse.


Now let's come back to the official sentence: While Jackie Robinson was a Brooklyn Dodger, his courage in the face of physical threats and verbal attacks was not unlike that of Rosa Parks, who refused to move to the back of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

The context of this sentence makes it absolutely clear that the sentence intends to present comparison between the courage of Jackie Robinson (JR) and the courage of Rosa parks.

Now let's evaluate the usage of as in Choice E: as that of Rosa Parks, who refused

In this choice, as has been followed by a noun entity that of Rosa Parks. This means that as in this choice presents role/function of JR's courage. This is definitely neither logical nor the meaning that the original sentence intends to convey. Hence, use of as in Choice E is incorrect.

Now you may ask that cannot we assume that was after Rosa Parks in Choice E is understood as was has already been used as the verb for the subject his courage?

The answer to this question is straight no because when presenting comparison using as, we cannot keep just the verb understood after the subject in the clause following as. It will then be difficult in certain cases to determine if the sentence intends to present comparison or function.

Various usages of As and Like has been covered in great details in our Sentence Correction course. The concepts are replete with pertinent examples.


The pronoun that in Choices A and E stand for the noun courage because courage of JR can be compared to that (courage) of Rosa Parks.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

Its between A & E,

Standard question between such as and like :

We use like whenever we need to write " similiar to " and such as to give examples .

The pizza at Pizza Parlor tastes like (similiar to ) the pizza sold at The Pizza Cafe.

He likes physical sports such as ( For e.g. ) Soccer, and Rugby.

Also we use like to compare nouns, , and such as when we compare clauses.

In this case we are comparing two individuals , hence A is better.

So the answer should be A

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.

While Jackie Robinson was a Brooklyn Dodger, his courage in the face of physical threats and verbal attacks was not unlike that of Rosa Parks, who refused to move to the back of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

Meaning of the sentence:
While Jackie Robinson was a Brooklyn Dodger -> Contrast that though Jackie Robinson was a Brooklyn Dodger.
Courage of Jackie was not unlike that of Rosa Parks.
Courage is modified by "in the face of physical threats and verbal attacks".
Why the courage is not like that of Rosa Parks because she refused to move back of a bus in XYZ.

1) The comparison is correct as we are comparing courage to courage.
2) who -> is relative pronoun is correctly placed right next to the noun "Rosa Parks" and who + phrase is acting as a noun modifier.

(A) not unlike that of Rosa Parks, who refused -> Correct

(B) not unlike Rosa Parks, who refused
1) Comparing Courage to a person

(C) like Rosa Parks and her refusal
1) Comparing Courage to a person
2) The meaning completely changes. There is a contrast with the "While" and contrast is expressed with "his courage". But now as this sentence is joining another noun "her refusal" with the 1st noun "his courage", the meaning is distorted.

(D) like that of Rosa Parks for refusing
1) For provides the reason and the sentence provides the reason as to why the courage is like that of Rosa Parks. The meaning is not the intended meaning of the sentence.

(E) as that of Rosa Parks, who refused
1) As -> takes a noun only when it is a function otherwise as always takes a clause. Hence As usage is wrong.

While Jackie Robinson was a Brooklyn Dodger, his courage in the face of physical threats and verbal attacks was not unlike that of Rosa Parks, who refused to move to the back of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

We can eliminate easily B C and D because they compare the courage to the person "Rosa Parks", and we are left with:

(A) not unlike that of Rosa Parks, who refused
(E) as that of Rosa Parks, who refused

What is the proper usage of "as"? If we want to make a comparison "as" must be followed by a verb. "as ... was" would be the correct usage to state a comparison using "as".
If you want to know more about like and as refer here : as-vs-like-correct-and-incorrect-usages-133950.html

Bumping for review and further discussion*.

*New project from GMAT Club!!! Check HERE

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. )

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!

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

Dear mrudulp15, Yes, if you replaced “as” with “like” in E, it would be a better answer than A. It would be shorter and less confusing. In comparisons “like” is used with nouns, pronouns and noun phrases. “As” is used in clauses or in prepositional phrases. For example, “she is like you”. “Students in X study a lot for the GMAT, as do students in Y”. “As in 2005, in 2015 the summer was warm”.

We can start eliminating "as" form here. "AS" is used to compare clauses while "LIKE" to compare things, person (noun). So E is INCORRECT.

B & C incorrectly compares courage to Rosa Parks. This is LOGIC error.

We are left with A and D.

D is incorrect because of "for refusing"

not unlike that of Rosa Parks, who refused to move to the back of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. WHO REFUSED is preferred and it simply modifies Rosa Parks

Therefore, A.

generis, nightblade354... just like Suits, yes?

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).

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

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

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

Hi Daag,
I understand D is wrong coz it changes the meaning. In this sentence for refusing to move to the back of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama is a prepositional phrase. Prep phrase can either act as adverbial modifier or adjectival modifier so In this sentence can't we assume that it modifies the subject Jackie Robinson rather than Rosa I dont understand why you think its ambiguous.
for e.g
Though the study is not large, with results that can be generalized, it provides a successful framework that could be used by other pharmacies to develop similar programs.

with results that can be generalized modifies the study. Am I missing sth... Please clarify

IMO, an adjectival modifier that modifies a subject noun must be placed either before the noun it modifies and set off with commas or at least be closer than another potential contender. In D, as you may see, the prepositional phrase is far removed from the subject and more importantly tacked on to Rosa without being set off by a comma, implying that the refusal is an essential feature of Rosa Parks. Can therefore the prep. phrase go out of the way to modify the subject? I think a genuine modifier should be above such infringements


The difference between this quote and the text is that, in the text, there are two contenders for the modifier while in the quote, there is only one study, which doesn’t give any room for ambiguity. To put things more explicitly, let me slightly alter the context of the content and see what happens


Now with an intrusion by another study and with the prepositional modifier unset-off from the intruder, which is study is more eligible to be modified?