Question
Thai village crafts, as with other cultures, have developed through the principle that form follows function and incorporate readily available materials fashioned using traditional skills.
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
The sentence intends to say that Thai village crafts are similar to crafts of other cultures: both have developed through the given principle and both incorporate readily available materials fashioned using traditional skills.
In my research, I have found out that “as with” is commonly used as an elided form of “as is the case with”. It is used to present similarities between two entities. For example:
- As with other cable-news networks, Fox News has gotten an audience boost from interest in the presidential election. (WSJ.com)
- Means: Just as other cable-news networks have gotten an audience boost from interest in the presidential election, so too has Fox News.
- As with any new potentially therapeutic approach, we must evaluate e-cigarettes based on the information currently available. (WSJ.com)
- Means: Just as we must evaluate any new potentially therapeutic approach on the information currently available, so we must evaluate e-cigarettes.
As can be seen in the second example above, even though the entities that are similar are “therapeutic approach” and “e-cigarettes”, ‘e-cigarettes’ doesn’t appear right after “ as with…” phrase. I have, thus, found the use of “as with” phrase much more flexible in contrast to the use of “like” in which the compared entity must follow the “like” phrase.
The error in the given sentence is that it compares Thai Village crafts with other cultures. The comparison has to be with crafts of other cultures.
Option Analysis
(A) Incorrect. For the reason mentioned above.
(B) Incorrect. The verb “did” is incorrect since it doesn’t go with the verb “have developed” used in the main clause. Even if we change this structure to “as have those of”, it would still be incorrect because of its placement. Since this structure presents similarity using both subject and verb, it needs to appear after the verb of the main clause. The below structure will be correct:
- Thai village crafts have developed, as have those of other cultures, through the principle…
(C) Incorrect. In this structure, “they” seems to refer to “Thai village crafts”, leading to an illogical meaning that Thai village crafts developed in other cultures. Also, the placement of this structure containing both the subject and the verb should be after the main verb in the sentence, as explained in option B. (From my research, I understand that “they” refers to the noun with all its modifiers while “those” can refer to a noun without its modifiers. Thus, while “those” in option E can refer to just village crafts, “they” in this option refers to “Thai village crafts”.
(D) Incorrect. “Like” must always be followed by a noun-phrase and never by a clause or a prepositional phrase.
(E) Correct. This option correctly compares Thai village crafts with the crafts of other cultures.
In options E ..
Like Those of other ….
Those can refer village crafts…how ?? When u wrote in options D that they cant refer village crafts than thai village crafts whole…
Please help!! I am confused a bit here..
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