Sentence Correction

Like Edvard Grieg, whom the Scandinavians long refused to recognize, the Italians’ disregard for Verdi persisted for a decade after his critical acclaim in France and Austria.

(A) Like Edvard Grieg, whom the Scandinavians long refused to recognize,
(B) Like Edvard Grieg, who the Scandinavians long refused to recognize,
(C) Just as Edvard Grieg was long refused recognition by the Scandinavians,
(D) Just as the Scandinavians long refused to recognize Edvard Grieg, so
(E) Like the Scandinavians’ long refusal to recognize Edvard Grieg,


Till now I was thinking that Like is use only for comparing nouns. What is wrong with D.

Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 7:11 am Post subject: Like

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Like Edvard Grieg, whom the Scandinavians long refused to recognize, the Italians’ disregard for Verdi persisted for a decade after his critical acclaim in France and Austria.

(A) Like Edvard Grieg, whom the Scandinavians long refused to recognize,
(B) Like Edvard Grieg, who the Scandinavians long refused to recognize,
(C) Just as Edvard Grieg was long refused recognition by the Scandinavians,
(D) Just as the Scandinavians long refused to recognize Edvard Grieg, so
(E) Like the Scandinavians’ long refusal to recognize Edvard Grieg,

I pick E because it uses the comparision (or parallelism) correctly. Here we are comparing the disregard of the italians for Verdi with that of the Scandinavians' for Edvard Grieg.

The reason D doesn't suit well and it reads awkward. For ease of trying, I am applying D in your original sentence:
(D) Just as the Scandinavians long refused to recognize Edvard Grieg, so
the Italians’ disregard for Verdi persisted for a decade after his critical acclaim in France and Austria.

There should be something to follow (preferrably the word "is") the word so. Hope I made it clear.

I think you should refer to this thread where some of our GMAT folks have done a good job explaining why they pick E and not D. Hope this helps.

Not clear as to why D is wrong. 'Like' must be used to compare nouns. While 'As' need to be used to compare clauses, actions. Is E correct?

Just as ... so ... seems incorrect in D

IMO E

gmatv09 wrote:Just as ... so ... seems incorrect in D

IMO E

In E, LIKE is used to compare actions here..is it correct?

What's the OA? I am not convinced by D or E.

crackgmat007 wrote:

gmatv09 wrote:Just as ... so ... seems incorrect in D

IMO E

In E, LIKE is used to compare actions here..is it correct?

I suppose LIKE is used here to compare Refusal and Disregard.
I'd choose E because it is the only parallel sentence.

Like is not used to compare Idioms here... it is being used to give an example ... which is correct.

IMO --- E

IMO E.

LIKE is a preposition. Why E is correct? A clause can't follow the preposition. Please explain!!

agganitk wrote:LIKE is a preposition. Why E is correct? A clause can't follow the preposition. Please explain!!

"the Scandinavians' long refusal to recognize Edvard Grieg" is a noun phrase, not a clause.

LIKE can be used to compare nouns and noun phrases.

Hope that helps..

arorag wrote:Like Edvard Grieg, whom the Scandinavians long refused to recognize, the Italians� disregard for Verdi persisted for a decade after his critical acclaim in France and Austria.

(A) Like Edvard Grieg, whom the Scandinavians long refused to recognize,
(B) Like Edvard Grieg, who the Scandinavians long refused to recognize,
(C) Just as Edvard Grieg was long refused recognition by the Scandinavians,
(D) Just as the Scandinavians long refused to recognize Edvard Grieg, so
(E) Like the Scandinavians� long refusal to recognize Edvard Grieg,


Till now I was thinking that Like is use only for comparing nouns. What is wrong with D.

E is the best response here.

"Scandinavians' long refusal to recognize" plays as a NOUN and compared with "Italians' disregard for Verdi"

arorag wrote:Like Edvard Grieg, whom the Scandinavians long refused to recognize, the Italians� disregard for Verdi persisted for a decade after his critical acclaim in France and Austria.

(A) Like Edvard Grieg, whom the Scandinavians long refused to recognize,
(B) Like Edvard Grieg, who the Scandinavians long refused to recognize,
(C) Just as Edvard Grieg was long refused recognition by the Scandinavians,
(D) Just as the Scandinavians long refused to recognize Edvard Grieg, so
(E) Like the Scandinavians' long refusal to recognize Edvard Grieg,


Till now I was thinking that Like is use only for comparing nouns. What is wrong with D.

Like Vs As:

Like is used to compare nouns.

As is used to compare clauses.

In this type of comparison, we should look at the non-underlined portion of the sentence. If the non-underlined portion has noun, we should make the underlined portion into noun form etc.

In the non-underlined portion, we can see " the Italians' disregard", which is a noun. We need another noun to compare with this noun.

Now look for the options.

A and B use person, which has been wrongly compared with "Italians' disregard". So, they are out.

Options C and D use just as, which is used to compare clauses. So, they are out.

Clearly the answer is E.

according to the thread some one has stated that the udnerlined portion of the sentence the

"Like the Scandinavians' long refusal to recognize Edvard Grieg" is a noun phrase but I would be thankful if you could let me know if a noun phrase can actually consist of a verb because to me "TO" AND " RECOGNISE" seem as verbs and hence converting the noun phrase into a clause

Please also shed some light how to disntiguish between a noun phrase and a noun clause