OG - SC - #122

[GMAT 2007]

More than 30 years ago Dr. Barbara McClintock, the Nobel Prize winner, reported that genes can "jump", as pearls moving mysteriously from one necklace to another.

(A) Same
(B) like pearls moving mysteriously from one necklace to another.
(C) as pearls do that move mysteriously from one necklace to others.
(D) like pearls do that move mysteriously from one necklace to others.
(E) as do pearls that move mysteriously from one necklace to some other one.

The correct choice is (B). Could you please help to understand how to approach the problem like this?

Thanks
GMAT 2007

[Guest]

To add to the OG Explanation pasted for your reference below.
"that" in C,D,E restricts the meaning of the sentence.
It talks only about a certain category of pearls. We are stressing instead on comparing the jump with something. That descriptive phrase is present in B.
Also C has "others", which is ambiguous. E ends in "some other one"

Choice B, the best answer, correctly and idiomatically uses the preposition like to introduce a comparison that is
expressed , in a prepositional phrase. In A, as is used unidiomatically; in j comparison, as is properly employed
as a conjunction introducing a subordinate clause. Choices C, D, and E are all faulty because the verb do
suggests that the migrating pearls are presented as a real phenomenon, not as a figurative illustration. Also, in D,
like is used ungrammatically to introduce a subordinate clause (pearls do ...); and in E, the phrase some other
one, substituted for another, is awkward and wordy.

[Samy]

That's my explanation on the top.
Forgot the name.

[StaceyKoprince]

The first and most obvious "split" here is between like and as. Like is used to compare nouns; as is used to compare clauses (phrases that include verbs).

In this sentence, we are comparing genes to pearls. These are nouns, so we want to use like, not as. Eliminate A, C, and E.

Between B and D, there are two differences.
1) "pearls moving" vs. "pearls do that move"
If we say "like pearls do that move" - what is the "do" referring to? It could be referring to the "jump" but the rest of the sentence tells us the pearls are moving... We don't need both.

2) "one necklace to another" vs. "one necklace to others"
This is just an idiom issue. When you say "one [something] to..." you finish that up with "another." I moved from one place to another, not from one place to others.