Repetitive?

[yo4561]

Happy Monday!

I have a question on the following example from Manhattan Prep's All the Verbal book: “John’s hair, like his mother, is red and fiery.”

Manhattan Prep then notes The apostrophe in mother’s refers to hair. Note that it is acceptable for an apostrophe to imply a noun... you don’t have to say “his mother’s hair.”

Would the GMAT deem "his mother's hair" as repetitive then, or could you use either convention?

Thank you

[esledge]

Here's a summary:

Wrong: John’s hair, like his mother, is red and fiery. (John's hair is not like John's mother. His mother is not red and fiery.)
Correct: John’s hair, like his mother's, is red and fiery. (Mother's hair is understood in the 2nd half of the comparison.)
Correct: John’s hair, like his mother's hair, is red and fiery. (Mother's hair is stated, and any repetition that helps clarify meaning is generally acceptable to the GMAT.)

The middle example is preferable, but the GMAT wouldn't make you choose between the two acceptable options above.

True repetition (such as repeating the same word to emphasize parallelism) can be a good thing, and the GMAT uses it in some correct answers to published questions.

On the GMAT, avoid repetition of meaning and repetition that is not justified by parallelism. For example:

It could possibly arrive on Tuesday. (either "could" or "possibly" would convey the meaning alone).
While some clowns wear makeup, some others do not. (The 2nd "some" is not needed either for meaning or to relate the two clauses, which are already linked by a "while clause, main clause" structure.)

But I'd generally not eliminate anything based solely on repetition. I might mark such a choice with a squiggle (on my paper, that means I don't like it, but it doesn't necessarily break a rule), and only eliminate if I find another flaw in the choice (two squiggles = an X to eliminate, for me).