From a Manhattan GMAT Test:

Like many entertainers, members of an advocacy association of musicians said that they no longer wanted to be tax evaders but instead wanted to begin paying into Social Security and building good credit histories.

a) Like many entertainers, members of an advocacy association of musicians said that they no longer wanted to be tax evaders

b) Like many other entertainers, tax evaders and members of an advocacy association of musicians said that they no longer wanted to be that

c) Members of an advocacy association of musicians said that they no longer wanted to be tax evaders like many entertainers

d) Members of an advocacy association of musicians said that they no longer wanted to be like tax evaders and many other entertainers

e) Like many other entertainers, members of an advocacy association of musicians said that they no longer wanted to be tax evaders


I feel like punching a hole through my monitor because the correct answer is E and I selected C.

I get so frustrated with these sentence correction problems where sometimes its correct to over analyze the sentence and sometimes its incorrect. To me, E is grammatically correct but it distorts the original meaning of the sentence which is a big no-no.

We're talking about a group of musicians who don't want to evade their taxes and comparing their tax evasion habits to a group of entertainers. By putting in the word "others" we assume that these musicians are entertainers but its not our place to make that assumption. If "zookeepers" was used instead of "entertainers" would E still be correct?

:x

In C, "be tax evaders like many entertainers" is kind of saying that "tax evaders" are like "many entertainers".
"Like X, Y..." is a popular GMAT comparison structure.
E is right although the meaning seems to be distorted a little bit. But musicians can really be considered entertainers. I have seen that many GMAT SC questions want the exam takers to be more precisely expressing the real meaning of the sentences by adding "other"...
If "zookeepers" instead of "entertainers" is used, then A would be correct.
Anyway, we can wait for the ManhattanGMAT staffs to clarify ;-)

a couple of things.

* important point: the meaning of the original sentence is sacrosanct. you are not allowed to change the original meaning, unless it is absurd and/or ambiguous. (also note that you will NEVER be given an ambiguous original unless one of the two possibilities is ridiculous; all SC sentences will have a clear meaning.)

the original (choice a), while flawed, CLEARLY indicates that BOTH the musicians and the other entertainers desire NOT to evade taxes, and that both have said so. (the 'like...' construction implies this similarity; read that answer choice again if you don't understand this)

choice c completely alters the meaning: the construction 'tax evaders like many entertainers' implies that many entertainers ARE tax evaders, the total opposite of the original meaning. that is very, very bad.

choice e, on the other hand, keeps the same 'like...' structure, and therefore the same semantic meaning. that's good.

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* it is definitely 'your place' to categorize properly (i.e., musicians = subset of entertainers). you MUST categorize one way or the other, to resolve the issue of whether to include the word 'other':
- if you say 'like many entertainers', you've decided that musicians are not entertainers;
- if you say 'like many other entertainers', you've decided that musicians are entertainers.
there is no way you can opt out of the decision - both versions require you to come down on one side of the fence - so the claim that 'it's not your place to decide' doesn't make sense. you HAVE to decide. so pick the more logical decision (i.e., musicians are entertainers).

many real gmat problems have required such categorizations. it is your place to decide that lions really are animals; that susan b. anthony really was a woman; and so forth. don't be shy.

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* finally, don't punch holes in your computer screen. this material is difficult, but, if you persevere through enough sample problems, you'll improve your ability to notice the little things they nitpick. also, it will be much more difficult for you to study online if your screen is broken. :)

Thanks for your in depth response.

It seems like every time I pick a side of the fence to go on, I'm wrong! I will keep working on this stuff. Thanks again!

i dont see what is wrong with A. I chose A because E seemed more wordy!

I wouldn't call E more wordy - it only has one additional word, and that word does impart specific meaning that is not redundant, so that doesn't qualify as wordy. But I've also sent an email to our curriculum director because the one thing I do think I could quibble with is whether the official GMAT would require us to make this choice between A and E based only on the absence / presence of the word "other." I'm happy to accept his word as gospel, so I'll let you know what he says - if he has support for this from OG or GMATPrep, we'll just have to live with it!

See, even we argue with each other sometimes. In fact, at least once per official GMAT, I find a verbal question for which I think - really? That's your question? :)

p.s. please remember to follow protocol. The subject of your post should be the first 5-8 words of the question itself. Thanks!

Hi, guys - I've talked to our curriculum director and he agrees that it's a little too nitpicky to have the right answer hinge solely on that word, so he's pulled the question and we'll rework it before putting it back in the pool. Thanks!