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Discrepancy between two similar problems

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shivani.magan Rising GMAT Star Default Avatar
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Discrepancy between two similar problems Post Sun Feb 05, 2012 10:50 am
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    Hi,

    I came across two similar problems:

    Proponents of the theory of spontaneous generation argued that simple living organisms sprang to life not through a recognizable reproductive process but came to life independently from non living matter.
    a.sprang to life not through a recognizable reproductive process but came to life
    b.did not spring to life through a recognizable reproductive process and came to life
    c.did not spring to life through a recognizable reproductive process but came to life
    d.sprang to life not through a recognizable reproductive process but
    e.did not spring to life through a recognizable system of reproduction but had come to life

    OA: D

    It looks similar to the below problem:

    The voluminous personal papers of Thomas Alva Edison reveal that his inventions typically sprang to life not in a flash of inspiration but evolved slowly from previous works.
    (A) sprang to life not in a flash of inspiration but evolved slowly
    (B) sprang to life not in a flash of inspiration but were slowly evolved
    (C) did not spring to life in a flash of inspiration but evolved slowly
    (D) did not spring to life in a flash of inspiration but had slowly evolved
    (E) did not spring to life in a flash of inspiration but they were slowly evolved

    OA: C

    Can someone please help me figure out the difference?

    Thanks

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    rijul007 GMAT Destroyer!
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    Post Sun Feb 05, 2012 10:52 pm
    Proponents of the theory of spontaneous generation argued that simple living organisms sprang to life not through a recognizable reproductive process but came to life independently from non living matter.
    a.sprang to life not through a recognizable reproductive process but came to life uses the idiom: not X but Y... X and Y are not parellel
    b.did not spring to life through a recognizable reproductive process and came to life use of "and" doesnt show the contrast correctly
    c.did not spring to life through a recognizable reproductive process but came to life not X but Y-- X and Y are not parellel
    d.sprang to life not through a recognizable reproductive process but Correct usage of "not X but Y"
    e.did not spring to life through a recognizable system of reproduction but had come to life X and Y not parellel in "not X but Y"

    D

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    Post Sun Feb 05, 2012 11:07 pm
    847. The voluminous personal papers of Thomas Alva Edison reveal that his inventions typically sprang to life not in a flash of inspiration but evolved slowly from previous works.
    (A) sprang to life not in a flash of inspiration but evolved slowly not X but Y-- X and Y are not parellel
    (B) sprang to life not in a flash of inspiration but were slowly evolved same as above
    (C) did not spring to life in a flash of inspiration but evolved slowly
    (D) did not spring to life in a flash of inspiration but had slowly evolved wrong use of "had"
    (E) did not spring to life in a flash of inspiration but they were slowly evolved use of "they" is ambiguous

    not quite sure why C is corrrect
    but after eliminating .. we are only left with this

    experts?

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    Post Mon Feb 06, 2012 7:39 am
    shivani.magan wrote:
    Can someone please help me figure out the difference?

    Thanks
    Hi,

    Proponents of the theory of spontaneous generation argued that simple living organisms sprang to life not through a recognizable reproductive process but came to life independently from non living matter.



    This sentence uses an idiom “not X but Y”, where X and Y must be logically as well as grammatically parallel.

    Choice A: X = “through a recognizable reproductive process”, a prepositional phrase, which is grammatically not parallel to “came to life…”, a verb phrase.

    Choice B: Use of “and” leads to incorrect idiom.

    Choice E: Use of past perfect “had come” is incorrect.

    Now between C and D, the latter is preferred because it is more concise. Verb phrases “sprang to life” and “came to life” have the same meaning. Choice D does not repeat the expression and “sprang to life” stands for both, “not through a recognizable process” and “but independently from non-living matter”. Hence, D is the correct answer.

    The voluminous personal papers of Thomas Alva Edison reveal that his inventions typically sprang to life not in a flash of inspiration but evolved slowly from previous works.

    In this OG sentence, we again have the same idiom “not X but Y”, where X = “in a flash of light”, a prepositional phrase, and Y = “evolved slowly…”, a verb phrase. The two entities are grammatically not parallel.

    Choice A: Parallelism error.

    Choice B: Same error.

    Choice C: Correct.

    Choice D: Use of past perfect tense “had slowly evolved” is incorrect.

    Choice E: Parallelism error.

    Notice that in this sentence, there are two verbs in “that” clause”, “did not spring to life” and “evolved” which do not have the same meaning. We need to retain both the verbs in the sentence to convey the intended meaning of the sentence.

    The detailed video solution to this OG problem is available for free in the section OG Solutions. Just register and view the solution.

    The concepts tested in this sentence have been covered in e-gmat concepts:
    1. Level 1 - Parallelism - Identify & Correct
    2. Level 1 - Parallelism - Helpful Tips
    3. Level 1 - verb sequencing

    Hope this helps.
    Shraddha

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    Post Mon Feb 06, 2012 8:13 am
    Proponents of the theory of spontaneous generation argued that simple living organisms sprang to life not through a recognizable reproductive process but came to life independently from non living matter.
    a.sprang to life not through a recognizable reproductive process but came to life - redundant
    b.did not spring to life through a recognizable reproductive process and came to life
    c.did not spring to life through a recognizable reproductive process but came to life - redundant and not parallel
    d.sprang to life not through a recognizable reproductive process but
    e.did not spring to life through a recognizable system of reproduction but had come to life


    The voluminous personal papers of Thomas Alva Edison reveal that his inventions typically sprang to life not in a flash of inspiration but evolved slowly from previous works.
    (A) sprang to life not in a flash of inspiration but evolved slowly
    (B) sprang to life not in a flash of inspiration but were slowly evolved
    (C) did not spring to life in a flash of inspiration but evolved slowly
    (D) did not spring to life in a flash of inspiration but had slowly evolved
    (E) did not spring to life in a flash of inspiration but they were slowly evolved

    vikram4689 GMAT Titan
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    Post Fri Mar 16, 2012 9:57 am
    for not x but y, shouldn't we make sure that verb tense is ||
    not spring to life in a flash of inspiration but evolved slowly

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