Multiple choice

Directions:The following question presents a sentence, part of which or all of which is underlined. Beneath the sentence you will find five ways of phrasing the underlined part. The first of these repeats the original; the other four are different. If you think the original is best, choose the first answer; otherwise choose one of the others.

Just as a writer trying to understand shtetl life might read Shalom Aleichem or Isaac Bashevis Singer, in the same way writers trying to understand Black life in the American South might well listen to records by the Mississippi Delta bluesman Charlie Patton.

  1. in the same way writers trying to understand Black life in the American South might well listen to records

  2. in the same way writers who try and understand Black life in the American South might well listen to a record

  3. so a writer trying to understand Black life in the American South might well listen to records

  4. so do writers try and understand Black life in the American South and might well listen to a record

  5. then writers trying to understand Black life in the American South could well listen to records

Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

The correct idiom for comparing analogous situations is 'Just as X, so Y,' not 'Just as X, in the same way Y.' The sentence compares two writers using different cultural sources to understand different communities. Option C creates proper parallel structure: 'Just as a writer...might read...so a writer...might listen.'

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