SC: Archeological excavations of Roman ruins on

[direstraits007]

Archeological excavations of Roman ruins on
the Greek island of Crete show that securing
control over the maritime trade routes of the
Eastern Mediterranean was a primary goal of
the Romans, as it was of the Greeks in
preceding centuries.

A. as it was of the Greeks
B. like that of the Greeks
C. as that of the Greeks
D. just as the Greeks did
E. as did the Greeks


OA: A
source: TMH

what is wrong with C ? is "that" not referring to "goals" ?

Thanks!

GeeMate.

[sunny.jain]

X shows that Y was a primary goal of Z, as it was of the Greeks in preceding centuries.


It ---> referring to Y

Y was a primary goal of Z AS
it was [primary goal] of the Greeks.


if you use 'that'.

Y was a primary goal of Z AS
-------- that of Greeks.

now 'that' will refer to primary goal..means it will compare primary goal of Z with primary goal of Greeks - its not making any sense...whereas Sentence means to say "both were having the same goal'...!

[RonPurewal]

Archeological excavations of Roman ruins on
the Greek island of Crete show that securing
control over the maritime trade routes of the
Eastern Mediterranean was a primary goal of
the Romans, as it was of the Greeks in
preceding centuries.

A. as it was of the Greeks
B. like that of the Greeks
C. as that of the Greeks
D. just as the Greeks did
E. as did the Greeks


OA: A
source: TMH

what is wrong with C ? is "that" not referring to "goals" ?

Thanks!

GeeMate.

the principal issue with (c) lies in its misuse of "as". since "that of the Greeks" is not a clause, you can't use "as" for the comparison. (this is one of those comparisons that should take "like".)

--

in general, you can't use "that of..." / "those of..." in parallel to a noun that's preceded by an indefinite article (a/an).
i.e., if you have "a goal", you can't use "that of..." to refer to it.
if you have "the goal", on the other hand, you can.

--

for what it's worth, this problem is an obvious ripoff of #73 in the 11th edition OG (#82 in the 12th edition OG). you may get some of your questions answered over there.

[direstraits007]

Archeological excavations of Roman ruins on
the Greek island of Crete show that securing
control over the maritime trade routes of the
Eastern Mediterranean was a primary goal of
the Romans, as it was of the Greeks in
preceding centuries.

A. as it was of the Greeks
B. like that of the Greeks
C. as that of the Greeks
D. just as the Greeks did
E. as did the Greeks


OA: A
source: TMH

what is wrong with C ? is "that" not referring to "goals" ?

Thanks!

GeeMate.

the principal issue with (c) lies in its misuse of "as". since "that of the Greeks" is not a clause, you can't use "as" for the comparison. (this is one of those comparisons that should take "like".)

--

in general, you can't use "that of..." / "those of..." in parallel to a noun that's preceded by an indefinite article (a/an).
i.e., if you have "a goal", you can't use "that of..." to refer to it.
if you have "the goal", on the other hand, you can.

--

for what it's worth, this problem is an obvious ripoff of #73 in the 11th edition OG (#82 in the 12th edition OG). you may get some of your questions answered over there.

OK. So two questions popped now from your answer. Please reply.

Q1. As you said in the above question, use of "as" is wrong, and 'this is one of those comparisons that should take "like".' --> So why is the option B wrong ?

Q2. From your above statements, is it right to infer that in comparison questions "..as that.." usage is generally wrong and should be avoided ? If not then how to make sure if "as that" would be right or wrong.(except in the case wherein articles a/an/the are not given)

Ron please reply.

Thanks!

GeeMate.

[Ben Ku]

Q1. As you said in the above question, use of "as" is wrong, and 'this is one of those comparisons that should take "like".' --> So why is the option B wrong ?

Option B is wrong because the relative pronoun "that" refers to "a primary goal." When you're comparing two things, they have to be of similar structure. So you should compare "a primary goal ... like a ... " so they both have the indefinite article "a". Since the pronoun "that" does not have the article, we are not comparing similar things.

Q2. From your above statements, is it right to infer that in comparison questions "..as that.." usage is generally wrong and should be avoided ? If not then how to make sure if "as that" would be right or wrong.(except in the case wherein articles a/an/the are not given)

If "as" is used as a comparison signal, then "that" should not follow since it starts a noun phrase and not a clause. There are two ways to fix it: (1) use "like" instead of "as" to compare a similar noun, or (2) change the "that" phrase to a clause.