While royal governor of New Jersey, William Franklin’s conviction that

Meaning Analysis:
William had a belief different from his father Benjamin regarding the association of colonies with England. However, after a change of heart William played a role in forging America's Independence and helped in crafting the Declaration of Independence.

Error Analysis:
Choice A says that William's opinion was NOT UNLIKE that of his father. Note the double negation here. NOT UNLIKE means NOT different (or similar to). Do we want to convey that William's opinion was similar to that of his father ? I don't think so because the sentence eventually talks about a change of heart !!

Choice analysis:

Option A: Changes the meaning of the sentence by using NOT UNLIKE.
Option B: Again changes the meaning by using NOT UNLIKE
Option C: This choice compares William's conviction with his father !! Hence, Incorrect. Note the use of a co-coordinating conjunction (AND), which again changes the meaning of the sentence. The choice now says that William preferred a continued association with England. This is clearly not what the original sentence wants to say. If this was the case, Father William would have been so happy !!
Option D: Now you have an additional THAT. This makes the comparison correct. However, the part 'for preferring' makes the answer choice incorrect The whole event is in the past and therefore we must use simple past (preferred)
Option E: 'AS' can also be used for comparisons. This option correctly uses the word THAT in order to make the comparison correct (William's conviction with Benjamin's conviction). This option also uses the correct tense ('preferred').

Hence, Option E should be the best choice.

Experts, can you please point out my mistake ?

Hi. I have written a detailed explanation of my reasoning. Could you please point out my mistake ?

does "not unlike" equals to "like"???
can any experts pitch in please

Hey mate, though I'm no expert, let me give my few cents.

'As' is used to compare verbs. Here the comparison is between the conviction(noun) of X and that of Y. So 'like/unlike that of' is preferred here.

A. not unlike that of his father Benjamin Franklin, who initially preferred - Seems correct as I couldn't find any fault here.
B. not unlike his father Benjamin Franklin, who initially preferred - Improper comparison. Franklin's conviction is compared with Benjamin. - Wrong
C. like his father Benjamin Franklin, and his initial preference - Improper comparison. Same as B. - Wrong
D. like that of his father Benjamin Franklin, for preferring - Correct comparison. For preferring xxx - Wrong
E. as that of his father Benjamin Franklin, who initially preferred - As cannot be used to compare nouns. - Wrong

May I know the source of the question please?

Cheers!

Hey Diwakar003,

While I agree that 'As' must be followed by a clause in case of comparisons, Option A changes the intended meaning of the sentence by using NOT UNLIKE. As I have explained, if the opinions of both the father and son are similar, then why does the sentence mention a 'change of heart' at the end ?

Hey mate,

I agree and I too have the same doubts on the meaning of the question. Looks like Benjamin had two convictions: for association with England and for Independence of America after change of his mind, whereas the question compares only one conviction of William with Benjamin's.

The only reason I choose A is because it's grammatically correct, though sounds a bit weird, and other options are grammatically wrong. Hope I haven't misunderstood the question. Even I'm waiting for the experts to pitch in or an OE from the poster.

Cheers!

I agree to you option 'E' seems best for me too.
Experts can you please confirm this.

B and C can be taken out…they compare an opinion to a person (Benjamin Franklin). E is wrong because ‘as’ cannot be used to compare nouns. D uses ‘for preferring’. That phrase is wrong.

So, A is the correct answer. Error free and preserves the meaning.

What's wrong with 'for preferring'?
Doesn't it reflect the reason for the similarity?

We need to compare two person's conviction.
So we need 'that' for conviction.
B and C goes off.
Since we are comparing two nouns which is conviction, we need like not as ( as is to compare actions)
E goes off
I feel not unlike (double negative) = like

D is wrong because of two reasons.
1. Meaning error.
He initially preferred to have colony but later he played a role in forging America's independence.
It implies the conviction was held only initially.
2. For preferring
It is wrong idiom; to prefer is elegant. However you cannot fit to prefer here. You need a modifying clause starting with "who....

A is grammatically correct and conveys the intended meaning.

Posted from my mobile device

While royal governor of New Jersey, William Franklin’s conviction that the colonies should remain part of England was not unlike that of his father Benjamin Franklin, who initially preferred a continued association with England, though he eventually played a role in forging America's independence, helping craft the Declaration of Independence after a change of heart

Firstly, will reduce the sentence to as short as we can by preserving the meaning.

While royal governor of New Jersey, William Franklin’s conviction that the colonies should remain part of England was not unlike that of his father Benjamin Franklin, who initially preferred a continued association with England, though he eventually played a role in forging America's independence, helping craft the Declaration of Independence after a change of heart

The statement has become very short and still preserves the intended meaning. All the striked off part in the above sentence is either redundant or modifying someone in the non-striked off part of the sentence.

William Franklin’s conviction was not unlike that of his father Benjamin Franklin. -- This sentence is perfectly fine and I don't see any error in this sentence. Let's evaluate the answer choices.


Only correct choice, preserving the intended meaning. CORRECT

comparison error. William Franklin’s conviction is being compared with his father Benjamin Franklin. Irrelevant. ELIMINATED

comparison error. William Franklin’s conviction is being compared with his father Benjamin Franklin. Irrelevant. ELIMINATED

Modifier error. The last part of the sentence is just modifying Benjamin Franklin but is not adding any value to the intended meaning of the sentence. But in this choice by using "for preferring" makes this essential information. This is not the intended meaning. ELIMINATED

In this choice, we can replace "that" with "conviction". Let's replace and see if the meaning of the sentence is conveyed or not.
William Franklin’s conviction was as conviction of his father Benjamin Franklin.
Is this statement really making sense? I don't think so. As is used to compared two actions or ideologies but that is not the case her. So ELIMINATED.

OPTION: A

Official Explanation

Correct Answer: A

The best answer is A. Choices B and C present faulty comparisons, comparing William’s conviction with Benjamin Franklin himself. Choice D does not make clear whether is was the father or the son who helped craft the Declaration of Independence.
_________________

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.
_________________