Sentence Correction

A new genetically engineered papaya was produced not by seed companies who have been motivated by profit, which was the case with most genetically modified crops previously approved for commercial use, but university and United States Department of Agriculture researchers who allowed growers to use it free of charge.

(A) produced not by seed companies who have been motivated by profit, which was the case with most genetically modified crops previously approved for commercial use, but
(B) produced not by profit-motivated seed companies, the case with most genetically modified crops previously approved for commercial use, but
(C) produced not by profit-motivated seed companies, as was the case with most genetically modified crops previously approved for commercial use, but by
(D) not produced by profit-motivated seed companies, which was the case with most genetically modified crops previously approved for commercial use, but was produced by
(E) not produced by seed companies who have been motivated by profit, the case with most genetically modified crops previously approved for commercial use, but by


Can someone explain to me where I should place the NOT, before or after the verb?
was not produced by sounds better to me than was produced not by

Ans C

needthis wrote:A new genetically engineered papaya was produced not by seed companies who have been motivated by profit, which was the case with most genetically modified crops previously approved for commercial use, but university and United States Department of Agriculture researchers who allowed growers to use it free of charge.

(A) produced not by seed companies who have been motivated by profit, which was the case with most genetically modified crops previously approved for commercial use, but
(B) produced not by profit-motivated seed companies, the case with most genetically modified crops previously approved for commercial use, but
(C) produced not by profit-motivated seed companies, as was the case with most genetically modified crops previously approved for commercial use, but by
(D) not produced by profit-motivated seed companies, which was the case with most genetically modified crops previously approved for commercial use, but was produced by
(E) not produced by seed companies who have been motivated by profit, the case with most genetically modified crops previously approved for commercial use, but by


Can someone explain to me where I should place the NOT, before or after the verb?
was not produced by sounds better to me than was produced not by

Ans C

For this specific sentence u should place the not after verb produced because if u see the latter part of sentence them produced comes in ellipsis form i.e

Produced not by but [produced] by

A and B u can simply reject
D wrong because of the wrong usage of was with which as companies are plural
E wrong bec to refer to companies we shouldnt use who.......

needthis wrote:A new genetically engineered papaya was produced not by seed companies who have been motivated by profit, which was the case with most genetically modified crops previously approved for commercial use, but university and United States Department of Agriculture researchers who allowed growers to use it free of charge.

(A) produced not by seed companies who have been motivated by profit, which was the case with most genetically modified crops previously approved for commercial use, but
(B) produced not by profit-motivated seed companies, the case with most genetically modified crops previously approved for commercial use, but
(C) produced not by profit-motivated seed companies, as was the case with most genetically modified crops previously approved for commercial use, but by
(D) not produced by profit-motivated seed companies, which was the case with most genetically modified crops previously approved for commercial use, but was produced by
(E) not produced by seed companies who have been motivated by profit, the case with most genetically modified crops previously approved for commercial use, but by


Can someone explain to me where I should place the NOT, before or after the verb?
was not produced by sounds better to me than was produced not by

Ans C

Where a modifier is placed changes the meaning.

In D and E:
Not PRODUCED by seed companies.
Not modifies the verb: not THIS VERB but THAT VERB.
For example:
Not PRODUCED by seed companies but CONSUMED by seed companies.
Not PRODUCED by seed companies but OFFERED by seed companies.
Since the SC above is not comparing one action of seed companies to another action of seed companies, the placement of not before PRODUCED is incorrect.
Eliminate D and E.

Produced not BY SEED COMPANIES.
Not modifies the prepositional phrase: produced not BY THIS but BY THAT.
Produced not BY SEED COMPANIES but BY RESEARCHERS.
This is the intended meaning of the SC above.

In A, not by seed companies...but university and United States Department of Agriculture researchers lacks parallelism. Eliminate A.

In B, not by profit-motivated seed companies...but university and United States Department of Agriculture researchers lacks parallelism. Eliminate B.

The correct answer is C.

Only C offers the correct -- and parallel -- comparison:

...produced not by profit-motivated seed companies...but by university and United States Department of Agriculture researchers...

GMATGuruNY wrote: ...produced not by profit-motivated seed companies...but by university and United States Department of Agriculture researchers...

Hi Mitch,

I have one doubt on above i.e is produced after but in second part of the sentence in ellipsis i.e

produced not by profit-motivated seed companies...but [produced] by university and United States Department of Agriculture researchers...[/b]

Makes sense!
Thanks to you both!