Question
In her presentation, the head of the Better Business Bureau emphasized that companies should think of the cost of conventions and other similar gatherings as not an expense, but as an investment in networking that will pay dividends.
Option A
Option B
Option C
Option D
Option E
(This question is from Official Guide. Therefore, because of copyrights, the complete question cannot be copied here. The question can be accessed at GMAT Club)
Solution
Sentence Analysis
- In her presentation, (Prepositional phrase modifying the main verb)
- the head (Main Subject)
- of the Better Business Bureau (prepositional phrase modifying the main subject)
- emphasized that (Main verb – “emphasized”)
- companies should think of (“That” Clause. Subject – “companies”; Verb – “should think”)
- the cost of (X in the structure “Think of X not as Y but as Z)
- conventions
- and other similar gatherings
- the cost of (X in the structure “Think of X not as Y but as Z)
- as not an expense, (“an expense”: Y in the structure “Think of X not as Y but as Z)
- but as an investment (“an investment”: Z in the structure “Think of X not as Y but as Z)
- in networking (prepositional phrase modifying “investment”)
- that will pay dividends. (relative clause modifying “investment”)
- companies should think of (“That” Clause. Subject – “companies”; Verb – “should think”)
The sentence talks about what the head of BBB emphasized in her presentation. She emphasized that companies should not think of the cost of conventions and other similar gatherings as an expense; they should rather think of this cost as an investment in networking.
The error in the sentence is the violation of the idiomatic structure “think of X not as Y but as Z”.
Option Analysis
(A) Incorrect. For the error mentioned above.
(B) Incorrect. The article “an” before “expense” is missing. The article is needed for grammatical reasons, not for maintaining parallelism.
(C) Incorrect. “Not…rather” is non-idiomatic.
(D) Correct.
(E) Incorrect. “in terms of expense” and “an investment” are not parallel. (Point to note: the structure “think of X in terms of Y” is correct.)
Hello CJ
In option B, if ‘an’ were present in the sentence ( as not an expense but an investment ), then would it be correct?
I don’t think so, and the reason is style, not grammar. The sentence would be grammatically correct then, but stylistically, I think we write the way it is written in option D. In other words, ‘not as X but as Y’ is the correct construction while I’m highly doubtful about ‘as not X but Y’.
I had a slightly different error log to this question. Please could you let me know if I am correct. Also I thought that (B) is incorrect simply because of the absence of “an”
(a) As not X, But Y – Incorrect Idiom
(b) As not X, But an Y – Incorrect – An has to come before “expense” in order to be parallel to “an investment
I beleive the idiom usage
“As Not X, but Y is correct” Please could you elaborate or provide any example/link that makes you have your doubts with this construction
(c) Not X, Rather Y – incorrect – The correct idiom is Not X, but rather Y
I also thought we need “as” out here. “The head emphasized that companies should think of cost AS AN EXPENSE and not simply COST AN EXPENSE”
(d) Not as an X, but ax Y
(e) Not in terms of X, but Y – Incorrect
As you mentioned, Not in terms of X, but in terms of Y – correct
Yes. The absence of ‘an’ in option B is also an issue. However, not for the reason (parallelism) you mentioned. In this context, “expense” needs to be preceded by an article.
You’re right. I believe now “as not x but y” should also work.
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