Adam Smith’s two major books are to democratic capitalism

[RonPurewal]

I have a question I need to ask, why "Marx's Das Kapital is to socialism" is to the book, not to the person.????

i don't really understand this question.
... unless you're not aware that Das Kapital is the title of a book. if you weren't aware of that, then there you go. if you did know that, then, sorry, i can't tell what you are asking.

Pls answer me quickly, thank you!!!

we answer posts in chronological order.

[puneet1.aggarwal]

Thanks Manhattan staff for patiently answering almost all questions no matter how silly the questions might be.

I have a doubt on this question. Consider the same sentence without the initial noun modifier:

Adam Smith’s two major books are to democratic capitalism what Marx’s Das Kapital is to socialism

Now instead of using 'what', can you use 'just as'??

OG says the use of 'just as' here is ungramattical( the Option C explanation). I am not sure why the use of 'just as' would be wrong here.

Thanks in Advance.
Puneet

[vijay19839]

Hello Instructors
Can someone please explain how 'What' is introducing a clause in the Option E? As per one of the posts from Stacey for OG12 Qn#50, Stacey tells that 'What' can either be an interrogative pronoun or an interrogative adjective.

sc-according-to-some-analysts-the-gains-t10338.html

Thanks
Vijay

[tim]

Thanks Manhattan staff for patiently answering almost all questions no matter how silly the questions might be.

I have a doubt on this question. Consider the same sentence without the initial noun modifier:

Adam Smith’s two major books are to democratic capitalism what Marx’s Das Kapital is to socialism

Now instead of using 'what', can you use 'just as'??

OG says the use of 'just as' here is ungramattical( the Option C explanation). I am not sure why the use of 'just as' would be wrong here.

Thanks in Advance.
Puneet

just think of "just as" as unidiomatic. in other words, you should just memorize that it is wrong..

[tim]

Hello Instructors
Can someone please explain how 'What' is introducing a clause in the Option E? As per one of the posts from Stacey for OG12 Qn#50, Stacey tells that 'What' can either be an interrogative pronoun or an interrogative adjective.

sc-according-to-some-analysts-the-gains-t10338.html

Thanks
Vijay

these are not the only uses of "what". "what" will often introduce a new clause; in fact, i suspect that's probably the primary use of the word in SC questions..

[baixuesong221]

Can some one explain what the expression :X is to Y what P is to Q means ? Thank you.

In this sentence, does it mean: Smith's two books are democratic capitalism while Marx's book is socialism ?

I am confused about "to democratic capitalism and to socialism" what is the meaning of "to" here??

[RonPurewal]

Can some one explain what the expression :X is to Y what P is to Q means ? Thank you.

It's an analogy. Thing X serves the same function with regard to Y as thing P does with regard to Q.
A puck is to hockey what a ball is to soccer.
Provinces are to Canada what states are to the U.S.
Etc.

[baixuesong221]

Can some one explain what the expression :X is to Y what P is to Q means ? Thank you.

It's an analogy. Thing X serves the same function with regard to Y as thing P does with regard to Q.
A puck is to hockey what a ball is to soccer.
Provinces are to Canada what states are to the U.S.
Etc.

thank you !!

[RonPurewal]

You're welcome.

[HemantR606]

Hi Ron,

Option 'C' is clearly wrong, but I have a doubt regarding the use of 'just as'.

If we place 'just as' in the place of 'what' in option 'E' (the right answer), is the sentence still correct?


---------------
Thanks,
Hemant

[RonPurewal]

If we place 'just as' in the place of 'what' in option 'E' (the right answer), is the sentence still correct?


---------------
Thanks,
Hemant

no.

in this sentence, "what ..." plays the role of a noun (as it always does, in any sentence that isn't a question). "just as xxxx" can't play the role of a noun.

the sentence is in a "weird" order only because the what-phrase is really, really long.
e.g.,
You are everything to me.
You are to me what sunshine is to plants.
these sentences have exactly the same grammar, but the latter sentence is totally unreadable (...what sunshine is to plants to me) unless we reverse the "usual" order of the red and blue things.

[RonPurewal]

"just as", on the other hand, should link two complete sentences--each of which, by itself, is already a complete thought.

e.g.,
You light up my days just as the sun lights up the sky.

note that "you light up my days" and "the sun lights up the sky" make sense individually (though of course the analogy is lost if we only consider them one at a time).

by contrast, "adam smith's books are to democratic capitalism" is not a complete sentence on its own, nor does it make any sense. you need to say "adam smith's books are (SOMETHING) to democratic capitalism".
the role of that "SOMETHING" is filled precisely by the phrase that starts with "what".

[ZoeZ42]

by the way, take a look at (d) when it is inserted back into the sentence -- if you do so, you get something like a triple run-on sentence

hi RON, please clarify it

A leading figure in the Scottish Enlightenment, Adam Smith wrote two major books that are to democratic capitalism similar to Marx’s Das Kapital is to socialism.

"similar to" links two noun + prep phrase

i have no idea about "run-on" you mentioned above... please help

thanks a lot

have a nice day.
>_~

[RonPurewal]

"...similar to X" is a thing, if X is a noun.

"...similar to X is to Y" is clearly not a thing.

[ZoeZ42]

"...similar to X" is a thing, if X is a noun.

"...similar to X is to Y" is clearly not a thing.

sorry for my humble question,

i am still confused.

would you please give some examples ..

thanks a lot

have a nice day