Comparison "as" or "like"

Question

I came through a question that is given below

In comparison, We use "like" for noun and noun phrase and "as" for preposition phrase and clause that has a verb. So the word "as" is followed by "bacon," which is a noun. Can anyone help me? Thanks in advance.

Incorrect: Many are confused that the Atkins Diet, which permits such seemingly less healthy foods like bacon, forbids bread.

Correct: Many are confused that the Atkins Diet, which permits such seemingly less healthy foods as bacon, forbids bread.

Answer 1

Both as and like can be used as a preposition or a conjunction. In this sentence, we need a preposition because it is followed by the noun bacon.

As or like - . The prepositions as and like have different meanings. As + noun means ‘in the role of’, like + noun means ‘similar to’ or ‘in the same way as’.

In your example, we need a word that means 'similar to', so like is the correct choice:

Many are confused that the Atkins Diet, which permits such seemingly less healthy foods like bacon, forbids bread.

Alternatively, we can use such as which also means "similar to'.

Many are confused that the Atkins Diet, which permits such seemingly less healthy foods such as bacon, forbids bread

Answer 2

GMAT is indeed correct, but it is not a simple use of as. It's a split form of such as. Note that JavaLatte's second version uses such twice. In other words, "...which permits such less healthy foods as bacon..." is correct and has the same meaning as "...which permits less healthy foods such as bacon..."