As rare as something becomes

[Steve]

As rare as something becomes, be it a baseball card or a musical recording or a postage stamp, the more avidly it is sought by collectors.
(A) As rare as something becomes, be it
(B) As rare as something becomes, whether it is
(C) As something becomes rarer and rarer, like
(D) The rarer something becomes, like
(E) The rarer something becomes, whether it is

OA is E, but I chose D.

I chose "like" because, per MGMATs SC Guide, you use like to indicate similarity.

I am wondering why E is correct as it seems to imply that baseball cards, musical recordings, and postage stamps are the ONLY things that can become rare.

MGMAT staff, can you please clarify! What the modifier have to be in order for "like" to be correct?

[RonPurewal]

As rare as something becomes, be it a baseball card or a musical recording or a postage stamp, the more avidly it is sought by collectors.
(A) As rare as something becomes, be it
(B) As rare as something becomes, whether it is
(C) As something becomes rarer and rarer, like
(D) The rarer something becomes, like
(E) The rarer something becomes, whether it is

OA is E, but I chose D.

I chose "like" because, per MGMATs SC Guide, you use like to indicate similarity.

I am wondering why E is correct as it seems to imply that baseball cards, musical recordings, and postage stamps are the ONLY things that can become rare.

MGMAT staff, can you please clarify! What the modifier have to be in order for "like" to be correct?

"like" is a COMPARISON. golden rule #1 of comparisons is that the elements being compared MUST BE PARALLEL.

let's flip it on its head: what could properly go in the following blank?
____________, like baseball cards, musical recordings, or postage stamps, ...
that's right: you can only fill in the blank with another noun - a noun that's similar to the three already mentioned in some capacity.
"the rarer something becomes" isn't a noun, so it can't form the first part of this "like" comparison.

[rohit21384]

As rare as something becomes, be it a baseball card or a musical recording or a postage stamp, the more avidly it is sought by collectors.
(A) As rare as something becomes, be it
(B) As rare as something becomes, whether it is
(C) As something becomes rarer and rarer, like
(D) The rarer something becomes, like
(E) The rarer something becomes, whether it is

OA is E, but I chose D.

.

Instructors - Are option A and B wrong because..... As rare as something becomes is modifer without any subject...i.e dangling modifier ?

[RonPurewal]

Instructors - Are option A and B wrong because..... As rare as something becomes is modifer without any subject...i.e dangling modifier ?

hmm. i would say that it's incorrect because "as ADJ as" should only be used for actual comparisons. i.e., to say that X is as rare as Y.
that is not what this sentence is doing.

--

rohit: they're testing the incorrectness of a popular form spoken by native english speakers. (if you aren't a native speaker of english, you may actually have the advantage of never having heard this.)

spoken language (formally incorrect): as hot as the weather is, people are still wearing pants outside.
written language: [i]even though the weather is quite hot, people are still wearing pants outside.[/u]

[tankobe]

Shipwrecks are more likely to be found undisturbed at great depths than in shallow coastal waters, which exposes archaeological remains to turbulence and makes them accessible to anyone in scuba gear, whether they be archaeologist, treasure hunter, or sport diver.

(A) than in shallow coastal waters, which exposes archaeological remains to turbulence and makes them accessible to anyone in scuba gear, whether they be
(B) than in shallow coastal waters, where archaeological remains are exposed to turbulence and are accessible to anyone in scuba gear, whether
**source:GMATPrep

in this question, whether it is is OK, but in above question, whether they be is not OK.except for the plural of they,are there any other difference?

[RonPurewal]

Shipwrecks are more likely to be found undisturbed at great depths than in shallow coastal waters, which exposes archaeological remains to turbulence and makes them accessible to anyone in scuba gear, whether they be archaeologist, treasure hunter, or sport diver.

(A) than in shallow coastal waters, which exposes archaeological remains to turbulence and makes them accessible to anyone in scuba gear, whether they be
(B) than in shallow coastal waters, where archaeological remains are exposed to turbulence and are accessible to anyone in scuba gear, whether
**source:GMATPrep

in this question, whether it is is OK, but in above question, whether they be is not OK.except for the plural of they,are there any other difference?

The main problem here is the plural pronoun "they": since anyone is singular, we cannot employ a plural pronoun to stand for it.

As for the subjunctive versus indicative verb, I would wait until we see such an instance in the official problems -- if, indeed, we see such an instance at all -- before passing a judgment on it. I've definitely seen this both ways in credible formal publications, so I'm loath to make a judgment either way.

[tapesh]

Hi Ron,
Can you please help me understanding the structure of correct sentence ?

The rarer something becomes, whether it is a baseball card or a musical recording or a postage stamp, the more avidly it is sought by collectors.

Doesn't it a run on sentence ?

Thanks,

[tim]

Just remember this as a valid construction:

the adj clause, the adj clause

For example:

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall"

The "whether" part is all a modifying clause and therefore doesn't make it a run-on sentence..

[saxenankit]

As rare as something becomes, be it a baseball card or a musical recording or a postage stamp, the more avidly it is sought by collectors.
(A) As rare as something becomes, be it
(B) As rare as something becomes, whether it is
(C) As something becomes rarer and rarer, like
(D) The rarer something becomes, like
(E) The rarer something becomes, whether it is

OA is E, but I chose D.

I chose "like" because, per MGMATs SC Guide, you use like to indicate similarity.

I am wondering why E is correct as it seems to imply that baseball cards, musical recordings, and postage stamps are the ONLY things that can become rare.

MGMAT staff, can you please clarify! What the modifier have to be in order for "like" to be correct?

"like" is a COMPARISON. golden rule #1 of comparisons is that the elements being compared MUST BE PARALLEL.

let's flip it on its head: what could properly go in the following blank?
____________, like baseball cards, musical recordings, or postage stamps, ...
that's right: you can only fill in the blank with another noun - a noun that's similar to the three already mentioned in some capacity.
"the rarer something becomes" isn't a noun, so it can't form the first part of this "like" comparison.

Dear Ron,

Please consider the below sentence -

I dance, like Ram, for continuous 8 hours.

I don't think the bold portion is noun.

I also ran across this question while practicing SC. Here's why I didn't choose option D -

The rarer something becomes, like X, Y, Z, the more. ...

I think in the above sentence there is an ambiguity.
Something becomes like X,Y or Z
OR
X,Y,Z are examples of something.

I would appreciate your help here.

Thanks,
Ankit

[RonPurewal]

Dear Ron,

Please consider the below sentence -

I dance, like Ram, for continuous 8 hours.

this would be correct, since you are actually dancing in a way that is typical of Ram.

also see #95 in OG12:
The peaks of a mountain range, acting like rocks in a streambed, produce ripples
... again, behavior that is typical of rocks in a streambed.

the problem is that you have to have a comparison with a noun whose typical behavior is the topic of the comparison.
so, if you say
xxxxxx xxxx, like a baseball card...
... then your sentence has to be describing something that essentially all baseball cards do -- i.e., something that is highly typical of baseball cards.

in this sentence, "becoming rare" is not presented as something that is typical of baseball cards; the sentence is saying that baseball cards that do become rare have certain qualities (even if there are relatively few such cards). therefore, the topic matter is inappropriate for a "like" modifier.

[cristyc401]

Instructors - Are option A and B wrong because..... As rare as something becomes is modifer without any subject...i.e dangling modifier ?

hmm. i would say that it's incorrect because "as ADJ as" should only be used for actual comparisons. i.e., to say that X is as rare as Y.
that is not what this sentence is doing.

--

rohit: they're testing the incorrectness of a popular form spoken by native english speakers. (if you aren't a native speaker of english, you may actually have the advantage of never having heard this.)

spoken language (formally incorrect): as hot as the weather is, people are still wearing pants outside.
written language: [i]even though the weather is quite hot, people are still wearing pants outside.[/u]

Hi Ron,

I was a little confused with the correct answer option which uses "whether". I heard that in GMAT, with Whether "or not" is implied. If we are unable to fit in "or not" with whether, then whether should not be used in that sentence. Similarly, in the correct answer choice, I feel whether or not sounds wrong. Please correct my understanding.

Also, I had posted a few questions as a separate post many days back and got no reply to those. Please let me know if there is some other procedure for posting queries.

Thanks a ton

[RonPurewal]

That's one use of "whether", but not the only one. "Whether" can also be used to distinguish two or more options, as in this problem.

If two or more options are mentioned explicitly—as in this problem—then "...or not" isn't the meaning.

If there's no second option mentioned, THEN the implied meaning is "whether or not". (E.g., I'll go to the movie regardless of whether you come with me.)

[thanghnvn]

Ron,Can I say that

before "like+noun", we need "subject+predicate". So, in choice
D, subject is not at the beginning and is wrong. this problem becomes a hard and fast rule

can I say that? pls, explain

[RonPurewal]

Ron,Can I say that

before "like+noun", we need "subject+predicate". So, in choice
D, subject is not at the beginning and is wrong. this problem becomes a hard and fast rule

can I say that? pls, explain

i don't know what a "predicate" is, but, no.

e.g., Tom, like Beth, is a huge baseball fan.
this sentence is perfectly ok.