Like Rousseau, Tolstoi rebelled against the unnatural comple

[titoestrada]

Like Rousseau, Tolstoi rebelled against the unnatural complexity of human relations in modern society.

A. Like Rousseau, Tolstoi rebelled
B. Like Rousseau, Tolstoi´s rebellion was
C. As Rousseau, Tolstoi rebelled
D. As did Rousseau, Tolstoi´s rebellion was
D. Tolstoi´s rebellion, as Rousseau´s, was

The correct answer is A. Could you please explain to me why C and D are wrong. Thank you

Tito

[mschwrtz]

Here is the sentence that would result if you chose C:

As Rousseau, Tolstoi rebelled against the unnatural complexity of human relations in modern society.

The as in as Rousseau here doesn't seem to be a comparison signal. After all, it doesn't relate two clauses, as as must do when it signals comparisons. As has other meanings, though. The one that seems relevant here is in the capacity of, or perhaps considered as. The following sentences are grammatically fine, but clearly distort the meaning of the original sentence.

In the capacity of Rousseau, Tolstoi rebelled against the unnatural complexity of human relations in modern society.

Considered as Rousseau, Tolstoi rebelled against the unnatural complexity of human relations in modern society.

As Rousseau, Tolstoi rebelled against the unnatural complexity of human relations in modern society.

Here is the sentence that would result if you chose D:

As did Rousseau, Tolstoi´s rebellion was against the unnatural complexity of human relations in modern society.

Here, as does seem to be a comparison signal, as it links two clauses: did Rousseau and ...rebellion was.... Unfortunately, it compares what Rousseau did with what a rebellion was. Apart from the obvious gulf between the person and the event, the two clauses are not structurally similar.

If D were something like
As was Rousseau's, Tolstoi´s rebellion was against the unnatural complexity of human relations in modern society.
well, it would still be a pretty shabby sentence, but it would correct those parallelism problems.

[rx_11]

Hi, instructors,

Can you explain why B is not correct? I have no idea what is the difference between A and B.

Hope your reply

Thanks very much!

[ChrisB]

Hi,

Great question on A vs. B because it highlights the core issue of this problem - comparisons. First off, we can tell that we're dealing with a comparison issue due to the presence of the marker word "like." Once we recognize that comparisons are in play we need to make sure of two things:

1. Parallelism - The things we're comparing must be structurally similar
2. Parallelism part 2 - The things we're comparing must be logically comparable. I call this the "apples to apples" clause.

Like Rousseau, Tolstoi rebelled against the unnatural complexity of human relations in modern society.

A. Like Rousseau, Tolstoi rebelled
B. Like Rousseau, Tolstoi´s rebellion was

In A, we're comparing Tolstoi to Rousseau. Structurally, we're comparing a person to a person. This works structure wise and fits the meaning of the sentence. The two authors were similar in that they rebelled against the unnatural complexity of human relations.

In B, we're comparing a person to the rebellion of another person. Right away we can see we're not violating the "apples to apples" comparison clause because a rebellion and a person aren't logically comparable.

In the future remember this "apples to apples" rule and I think you'll be better off.

Thanks,
Chris

[suyash.tiwari]

Hi,
In reference to option C as wrong, will I be correct in stating the following ?

Tolstoi rebelled against the unnatural complexity of human relaitons in modern society as Rousseau.

And will I be correct in stating the following as well ?

Tolstoi rebelled against the unnatural complexity of human relaitons in modern society like Rousseau.

Please explain your reasoning.

[RonPurewal]

Hi,
In reference to option C as wrong, will I be correct in stating the following ?

Tolstoi rebelled against the unnatural complexity of human relaitons in modern society as Rousseau.

this would be wrong, unless tolstoi were pretending to be rousseau (e.g., dressing up in a rousseau costume) at the time.

And will I be correct in stating the following as well ?

Tolstoi rebelled against the unnatural complexity of human relaitons in modern society like Rousseau.

if you put a comma before "like" then this becomes ... not wrong.
it's still not great, because "like rousseau" is unnecessarily far away from "tolstoi" (it should be placed directly in front of "tolstoi" instead), but it's probably not wrong anymore.

[CoraT203]

But the choice A sounds awkward? It seems there is something omit after Rousseau ?

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

It sounds like you're encountering a conflict between the way you use English and the way GMAT uses English. The test often exploits such issues to catch you out. The construction 'Like NOUN, NOUN...' is very common on GMAT: the test follows the rule that the word 'like' is used to compare nouns. That may sound awkward, and your own usage isn't wrong, but get used to following this rule as it's an easy win for GMAT. Perhaps you'd write or say the following sentence (incorrect), but it's a classic trap on GMAT: Like Samit did, Joan went running yesterday. Check out the chapter on Comparisons in the Sentence Correction section of All the Verbal for more on this.