In no other historical sighting

[xiaonvhai123]

Ron,
reading the thread, I've alreadt understood that the scentence is trying to compare " in no other historical sighting" VS "in its returen of 1910-1991".

However, I have another question on the comparision. According to your lecture, if the parallel TAG only have one component, we should read from right to left.
Example:
Most fossils were found in T or in K-correct
Most fossils were found in T or K -also correct
we can omit the second "in" before K.

So, In this question, Can I also omit the preposition in the second part of the comparision structure?
like this:
in no other historical sighting as its returen of 1910-1991 ?

So I choose E finally...T T
Would you like to explain this..?

the problem with choice (e) is that it's also open to interpretation as a different (and, in fact, more compact) structure -- namely, the form such a/an X as Y.
e.g., i have never met such a hard worker as your brother.

under this interpretation, choice (e) -- such a worldwide sensation as its return... -- acquires an incorrect meaning.

Thanks Ron!! I finally understand..It's about the meaning, not about the grammer.

I'm not a native speaker so that the "meaning thing" seems very difficult to me. I will try to overcome this!

I'm your big fan:)

[tim]

let us know if there are any other questions on this one..

[ghong14]

choice (e) is written with "such a worldwide sensation as its return..." -- implying that the return was the worldwide sensation.
that's not the correct; the intended meaning is that the comet caused a sensation IN its return, a sensation that was greater than any of the sensations that it caused IN its previous returns.

Ron you mention that the difference between c and e is a matter of a meaning issue. However I don't seem to see what is the difference with and without the in. Are you saying there is a difference between in its return vs. its return?

I am still not sure I see the difference in meaning here:( Can you elaborate a little more on the difference. Thanks !

[ghong14]

Ron,

When you say such a worldwide sensation as its return is that saying that the the comet actually returned

vs.

in its return meaning that it is just returning

Is that the distinction between C and E.

[RonPurewal]

i don't think i can do any better than the explanation i've already given above, so here's an analogy.

In no other concert did Susan sing as many songs as in her 1998 New Year's Eve show.

--> if you understand why the "in" is necessary here, then try to transfer that understanding onto the current example.

[ghong14]

In no other concert did Susan sing as many songs as in her 1998 New Year's Eve show.

Ron, in this sentence "as in her 1998 New Year's Eve show" would be an Example of many songs? From one of your previous posts it seems the answer is NO. Since as is not used in the "such as" manner.

In no game this season has Harold made such a spectacular play as last year's championship game --> incorrect; the intended comparison is between the two games, but the sentence mistakenly classifies last year's championship game as "a spectacular play"

I think I am not getting how AS is functioning here. Are you saying that AS creates a subordinate clause (what you mean by classified...?) therefore last's year's championship becomes a subordinate of the game? IS this a specific use of as? I just never seen as used in this way? In so can you give one or two more examples of this AS use?

so ... if you had "[some other sighting] DID", or "IN [something else that caused a sensation]", then that would be an error -- not necessarily a grammar error, but a meaning error because it'd be nonsense.
on the other hand, if you saw "IN [some other sighting]", or

[something else that caused a sensation] DID", then that would create a valid comparison.
this, by the way, is the reason why choices (a) and (d) are wrong. they aren't grammatical errors; they just set the wrong things up to be compared.

Based on this reasoning wouldn't E be also a logical vs. a grammar error? Can did be dropped?

Thanks Ron!!!!!

[mps8085]

Question 41 OG 13
In correct answer construction is ...........argued FOR equal political and legal rights FOR women .....and for changes...

1st and 3rd use of FOR is related to parallelism
But 1st and 2nd is of the type ....for X for Y

On few questions I noticed that this construction is wrong.

Ron,

The only reason I felt uncomfortable with the OA on this question is because of the 'of' in "in its return of 1910-1911". Isn't "return in" the correct way of saying it? Even in the OG explanation it says "Grammatically, the items being
compared are parallel prepositional phrases
beginning with the preposition in: in no other
sighting and in its return in 1910-1911."

Please help.

Thanks!

the "of" is used to avoid the construction "X in Y in Z". the gmat writers (like other good writers) generally use constructions that avoid such bothersome repetitions.

i've also written about this topic at the following 3 threads:
post35013.html#p35013
post35020.html#p35020
post36088.html#p36088

[tim]

Do you have a question about this? If so, can you clarify exactly what the question is?

[Suapplle]

sorry to bump up the thread.
I am a little confused after reading all the posts.It seems that the choice(E) has two explanations for its ambiguity.

first, since it omits a helping verb, the return may be compared with the comet,such as the choice(A):

In no other historical sighting did Halley's Comet cause such a worldwide sensation as (did) its return in 1910-1911.

and the return may also be compared with no other historical sighting,such as the choice(C):

In no other historical sighting did Halley's Comet cause such a worldwide sensation as (in) its return of 1910-1911.

second,we can regard the "worldwide sensation as its return......"
as a unity,it is incorrect in meaning.

I am not sure whether I understand the point, Ron,please clarify,thank you very much.

[RonPurewal]

sorry to bump up the thread.
I am a little confused after reading all the posts.It seems that the choice(E) has two explanations for its ambiguity.

first, since it omits a helping verb, the return may be compared with the comet,such as the choice(A):

In no other historical sighting did Halley's Comet cause such a worldwide sensation as [color=#0000BF](did) its return in 1910-1911.
[/color]
and the return may also be compared with no other historical sighting,such as the choice(C):

In no other historical sighting did Halley's Comet cause such a worldwide sensation as (in) its return of 1910-1911.

second,we can regard the "worldwide sensation as its return......"
as a unity,it is incorrect in meaning.

I am not sure whether I understand the point, Ron,please clarify,thank you very much.

Either the purple thing alone or the green thing alone would already be enough to make choice E problematic.
The fact that both of those interpretations are possible makes it, well, even more problematic.

[Suapplle]

sorry to bump up the thread.
I am a little confused after reading all the posts.It seems that the choice(E) has two explanations for its ambiguity.

first, since it omits a helping verb, the return may be compared with the comet,such as the choice(A):

In no other historical sighting did Halley's Comet cause such a worldwide sensation as [color=#0000BF](did) its return in 1910-1911.
[/color]
and the return may also be compared with no other historical sighting,such as the choice(C):

In no other historical sighting did Halley's Comet cause such a worldwide sensation as (in) its return of 1910-1911.

second,we can regard the "worldwide sensation as its return......"
as a unity,it is incorrect in meaning.

I am not sure whether I understand the point, Ron,please clarify,thank you very much.

Either the purple thing alone or the green thing alone would already be enough to make choice E problematic.
The fact that both of those interpretations are possible makes it, well, even more problematic.

Ron,thank you very much,I read a lot of your posts,they are very helpful.you are an excellent instructor,O(∩_∩)O

[RonPurewal]

Thanks.

[rustom.hakimiyan]

Hi,

For some reason, whenever I see "its" I get stuck and have to re-read a few times to grasp the question. In this case, I can see how C is the proper comparison because of "in no other ..." as "in its". In is repeated and therefore I plucked that as a guess.

Is "its" referring to the same thing in these choices?
a) as did haileys commets return in...
b) had haileys commet in...
c) as in haileys commets return of...
d) as haileys commets return ...
e) as haileys commets return in

B makes sense with commet while the rest need commets(possessive?).

Is there any split to be had between this interpretation?

[RonPurewal]

As long as "Halley's Comet" is in the sentence, it's ok to use either "it" or "its".

Same thing with other pronouns. E.g.,
Tom heard that his job might be eliminated
Tom heard that he might be laid off
Both fine.

So, no, there's no split there.

[momo32]

Dear Ron，

May you explain E.

In my mind, comet is parallel to its its return of xxx.

please correct it

THX