Like any star of similar mass would do, once the Sun has

[wangyinwei_2005]

Hi RON, first, thank you for your reply! it's really quick!
[I don't know why I cannot see my original post?]
so,as you said,
1. 'as +prepositional phrases, main clause' , we must have a prepositional phrase of same function in the main clause? if no such prepostional phrase, then the sentence is incorrect.
2. "˜as in the case of..., main clause’. we don't need prepositional phrases in the main clause because the word 'case' can almost paralell to any part of the main clause.
am I correct in these two points?

here are another 2 questions which I post in my original post:
3.why the structure 'as with the case of.., main clause"˜,when main clause does not have 'with...', is wrong? since 'with' is also a preposition and the part after 'as' has 'the case'?.
for this one, you once gave the example:the lawyer made history with the case of X, as with the case of Y
4.When can we use AS WITH...?is AS WITH= AS IS THE CASE WITH?
thank you in advance!

[RonPurewal]

Hi RON, first, thank you for your reply! it's really quick!
[I don't know why I cannot see my original post?]
so,as you said,
1. 'as +prepositional phrases, main clause' , we must have a prepositional phrase of same function in the main clause? if no such prepostional phrase, then the sentence is incorrect.

it's not this rigid -- i.e., you don't need an exact match between grammatical structures. it's quite possible for a prepositional phrase to be parallel to some other construction with the same grammatical role.

e.g.,
adverb || prep phrase acting as adverb:
People often cannot buy the same foods abroad as in their home countries.
As in the wild, cats often go into "hunting mode" indoors upon seeing a bird.

2. "˜as in the case of..., main clause’. we don't need prepositional phrases in the main clause because the word 'case' can almost paralell to any part of the main clause.
am I correct in these two points?

when you see this whole "in the case of..." thing, you should basically take that as your cue to abandon the idea of grammatical parallelism altogether.
you should still make sure that other grammatical things are working as they should -- e.g., you should make sure that the sentence is still a complete sentence, and so on -- but, yes, that sort of "parallelism" can be constructed in pretty much any way whatsoever. in fact, that's the whole point of the "in the case of..." construction.

here are another 2 questions which I post in my original post:
3.why the structure 'as with the case of.., main clause"˜,when main clause does not have 'with...', is wrong?

"with the case of..." is not idiomatic. in fact, i can't think of any construction in which that would be correct, unless you are talking about a fundamentally different meaning of "case" -- i.e., an explicit case presented by a lawyer/professional/whatever, or a "case study".
e.g., Steve was preoccupied for years with the case of his friend Danielle, who lost her ability to recognize voices when she was 16 years old. --> here, we're talking about "case" as in "case study", not the usage above.

in the sense of the original sentence here, in which the "case" is an overall reference to some analogous situation that's not directly mentioned, i don't think that can be used.

for this one, you once gave the example:the lawyer made history with the case of X, as with the case of Y

right, but those are a totally different kind of "case" (see above).

4.When can we use AS WITH...?is AS WITH= AS IS THE CASE WITH?
thank you in advance!

"as with" is not a single construction; it's composed of "as" and the first part of "with X" (prep phrase).
so, you can use it whenever it's appropriate to use "as" to link "with X" to another such construction.
e.g.
With cheese, as with salsa, this chili tastes more flavorful.

by the way, "as with" is used extensively in spoken language, as well as in informal writing (which tends to mimic spoken language more than does formal writing). watch out!

[HanzZ]

(C) As in the case of any star of similar mass, once the hydrogen in the Sun's core is exhausted, it will expand into a red giant, and eventually ejecting

reference[a sentence excerpted from OG key]:
The phrase the more the children should be completed by a parallel phrase that begins with a comparative adjective and a noun phrase, as in the greater their... advantage.

Ron, why the "as in" is ok in reference sentence but not in C?

i don't think there's any problem with "as in" and that choice -- it looks perfectly fine to me.

there are other errors in that choice, most noticeably the pronoun "it" (which is meant to refer to the sun, but can't because the noun "sun" never appears by itself) and the rather blatant lack of parallelism ("will expand ... and eventually ejecting").

not everything in a wrong answer choice is wrong!

---
Hello Ron,

Per post above, could you please help address three questions when you get a chance?

1. What is the implied tense in 'As in the case of' (if there's any), it sounds like whatever case is mentioned here happened already. So I am guessing that substituting 'As in the case of' for 'As would be the case' in the correct choice is still inferior?

2. So basically is there any difference between the use of 'as in the case of' and 'as is/would be' the case of'?

3. Is 'as has been the case' ever used and does it function the same way as 'as is/would be' the case of?

Thanks a million for your reply.

[RonPurewal]

1. What is the implied tense in 'As in the case of' (if there's any), it sounds like whatever case is mentioned here happened already. So I am guessing that substituting 'As in the case of' for 'As would be the case' in the correct choice is still inferior?

No implied tense, but this construction implies that "the case of X" is a real thing that happened (or is currently happening).

E.g.,
As in the case of President Clinton's impeachment hearings...
--> You can write this, because there actually were impeachment hearings against Mr. Clinton.

As in the case of President Obama's impeachment hearings...
--> You can't write this, because (as of the time I wrote this post) there has been no attempt to impeach Mr. Obama.

2. So basically is there any difference between the use of 'as in the case of' and 'as is/would be' the case of'?

"Would be" -- as usual -- represents a hypothetical situation. I.e., either (i) it's uncertain whether the situation will happen, or (ii) it definitely didn't happen but we're speculating about it.

If you're describing something that will definitely happen in the future, then use "As will be the case..."

[RonPurewal]

3. Is 'as has been the case' ever used and does it function the same way as 'as is/would be' the case of?

Thanks a million for your reply.

Sure.
As has been the case with countless other artists over the years, Pablo Picasso became a master of many traditional painting techniques before he began to innovate.

Like "As in the case of..." and "As is the case with...", this construction can only describe things that have actually happened.

As mentioned above, "as would be the case..." is for hypothetical situations. You shouldn't group it with "as is the case"; the meanings are different and, in fact, mutually exclusive.

[SC312]

Hi Ron,

Can you help me understand the structure of the correct choice E) :

As would be the case with any star of similar mass, once the Sun exhausts the hydrogen in its core, it will expand into a red giant and eventually eject its outer envelope of gases to become a white dwarf.

Here the sentence has the following structure
As <CLAUSE>, modifier, <CLAUSE>

Can the modifier modify the clause before it ?

Thanks

[SC312]

Any update on my query. I hope I am not being rude .. :)

[RonPurewal]

in this context, the modifier clearly describes the stuff after it.

[RAHULS852]

oh, and then there's in the case of... -- which is used to manufacture, somewhat artificially, a parallel structure in contexts that don't already provide anything to which the phrase can be parallel.
note the use of this phrase in this sentence (about the sun).

you should basically just remember "the case of X" as a unique construction -- it's like "forced parallelism", so to speak.

Hi Sage/ Manhattan Expert,

I would like to confirm that whether "As would be/was/is the case........, " is also same construction like "As in the case of" ?
I should not look for comparison indicator after "As would be the case"
"As in the case of any star of similar mass, once the hydrogen...... " is right construction
"As would be the case with any star of similar mass, once the hydrogen" is OK
"As would be the case with any star of similar mass, once the Sun" is OK

Kindly check my understanding.

Regards,
Rahul Singh

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

A tricky issue. Some comparison errors are easier to spot, such as 'Like NOUN, NOUN...'. However, the phrases 'as is the case' etc, the rules are not so clear. Importantly, note how answer C has simpler errors to spot - the pronoun and the parallelism issue.

I would say, with caution, that the phrase 'as in the case of ...' in answer C is incorrect because we'd need a parallel phrase 'in the case of the Sun' or similar. However, in answer E, the verbs 'would' and 'will' are parallel. Take a look at SC 906 from OG2020 for a similar tricky example.

[RAHULS852]

Ok. It means that i won't have to select an answer choice based on 'as in the case of '.

Yeah (C) has parallelism error (easy to identify).

SC 906 from OG2020 ( This one is GMAT Prep prob- https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... t5814.html)
In no other historical sighting did Halley's comet cause such a worldwide sensation as did its return in 1910-1911.
Historical sighting = case1 return=case2
in no other case1 did Haley's comet cause such a worldwide sensation as in case2 of 1910-1911.

Thanks Sage !

Regards,
Rahul Singh

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

You're welcome.

[JbhB682]

Hi Experts - is my understanding of the structure for the initial modifier accurate in each option

(A) Like any star of similar mass would do, once the Sun has exhausted the ...

Subject noun : Any star of similar mass
Verb : would do

Like + <clause>, eliminate

(B) Like any star of similar mass, once the hydrogen in the Sun's core is exhausted,

Subject noun : Any star of similar mass
No Verb

Like + <noun> keep

(C) As in the case of any star of similar mass, once the hydrogen in the Sun's core is exhausted,

Subject noun : in the case of any star of similar mass
No Verb

As + <noun> , eliminate

(D) As any star of similar mass would, once the hydrogen in the Sun's core is exhausted

Subject noun : any star of similar mass
Verb : would

As + <clause>, keep

(E) As would be the case with any star of similar mass, once the Sun exhausts the hydrogen in its core,

Subject noun : be the case with any star of similar mass
Verb : would

As + <clause>, keep

[esledge]

Nothing you wrote is wrong, but I'm going to suggest that your process ignored something that should be considered while you did the thinking above.

(A) correct reason to eliminate. (If the first part of the comparison is wrong on its own, it doesn’t matter what the second part of the comparison is.)

(B) Once you note the “Like X, Y” structure, don’t just look at the first part. You might as well check for the second part while you are already here, which is “it” (=hydrogen) after the second comma, since you must skip over the “once” modifier to find the main subject. The opening modifier is wrong because that comparison illogically equates two very different things: “like any star, …it (=the hydrogen) expands.”

(C) correct reason to eliminate. (If the first part of the comparison is wrong on its own, it doesn’t matter what the second part of the comparison is.)

(D) Again, once you note that you have a complete “As [clause],” modifier, check for the second part of that comparison, i.e. find the “[other clause],” again skipping over the “once” modifier to find it. Putting it together, this opening modifier is wrong because again it’s illogically equating the actions of a star and of hydrogen: “As any star would, …it (the hydrogen) will expand and eventually eject…”

(E) Again, once you note that you have a complete “As [clause],” modifier, check for the second part of that comparison, i.e. find the “[other clause],” again skipping over the “once” modifier to find it. Putting it together, this opening modifier is RIGHT because this time it equates the actions of a star and of the sun (another star): “As would be the case with any star …, …it (the sun) will expand and eventually eject…”

In short, Like and As modifiers are modifiers, but they are also something more specific: Comparisons, which have two parts! Thus, it’s most efficient if you check the first and second part of the comparison as you go, not just the first part in isolation.

[JbhB682]

Hi Emily -In in the initial modifiers specifically

In option A) is would do a verb ?

In option D) Is the verb "Would+Do" in option D (and "Do" happens to be ellipsed) ?

In option E) is "Would be" a verb ?