Those who come to church with a predisposition to religious

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Those who come to church with a predisposition to religious belief will be happy in an auditorium or even a storefront, and there is no doubt that religion is sometimes better served by adapted spaces of this kind instead of by some of the buildings actually designed for it.

(A) adapted spaces of this kind instead of by some of the buildings actually designed for it
(B) adapted spaces like these rather than some of the buildings actually designed for them
(C) these adapted spaces instead of by some of the buildings actually designed for it
(D) such adapted spaces rather than by some of the buildings actually designed for them
(E) such adapted spaces than by some of the buildings actually designed for it


OA: E

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by fabiocafarelli » Fri Mar 04, 2016 7:18 am
GIVEN SENTENCE: Better served by ...
OPTION E: than by ...
Parallel, and grammatically correct.
Furthermore, BETTER ... INSTEAD OF and BETTER ... RATHER THAN, which are the forms that the sentence ends up using in A, B, C, and D, are all incorrect. (There are other problems to decide on, such as the pronouns at the end, but I think that the form required by the comparison provides the simplest solution.)

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by GMATGuruNY » Sat Mar 05, 2016 3:48 am
RBBmba@2014 wrote:Those who come to church with a predisposition to religious belief will be happy in an auditorium or even a storefront, and there is no doubt that religion is sometimes better served by adapted spaces of this kind instead of by some of the buildings actually designed for it.

(A) adapted spaces of this kind instead of by some of the buildings actually designed for it
(B) adapted spaces like these rather than some of the buildings actually designed for them
(C) these adapted spaces instead of by some of the buildings actually designed for it
(D) such adapted spaces rather than by some of the buildings actually designed for them
(E) such adapted spaces than by some of the buildings actually designed for it


OA: E
Incorrect:
X is better served by Y instead of by Y.
X is better served by Y rather than by Z.
Here, the words in red are considered redundant with better.

Correct:
X is served by Y rather than by Z.
X is better served by Y than by Z.


A: better served by adapted spaces of this kind instead of by some of the buildings
B: better served by adapted spaces like these rather than some of the buildings
C: better served by these adapted spaces instead of by some of the buildings
D: better served by such adapted spaces rather than by some of the buildings
Eliminate A, B, C and D.

The correct answer is E.
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by RBBmba@2014 » Mon Mar 07, 2016 8:24 am
GMATGuruNY wrote:
RBBmba@2014 wrote:Those who come to church with a predisposition to religious belief will be happy in an auditorium or even a storefront, and there is no doubt that religion is sometimes better served by adapted spaces of this kind instead of by some of the buildings actually designed for it.

(A) adapted spaces of this kind instead of by some of the buildings actually designed for it
(B) adapted spaces like these rather than some of the buildings actually designed for them
(C) these adapted spaces instead of by some of the buildings actually designed for it
(D) such adapted spaces rather than by some of the buildings actually designed for them
(E) such adapted spaces than by some of the buildings actually designed for it


OA: E
Incorrect:
X is better served by Y instead of by Y.
X is better served by Y rather than by Z.
Here, the words in red are considered redundant with better.

Correct:
X is served by Y rather than by Z.
X is better served by Y than by Z.


A: better served by adapted spaces of this kind instead of by some of the buildings
B: better served by adapted spaces like these rather than some of the buildings
C: better served by these adapted spaces instead of by some of the buildings
D: better served by such adapted spaces rather than by some of the buildings
Eliminate A, B, C and D.

The correct answer is E.
HI Mitch,
In Option A & C, isn't the following another potential ERROR ?

instead of can't be (IMMEDIATELY) followed by any PREPOSITION.

Correct me please if wrong!

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by GMATGuruNY » Tue Mar 08, 2016 5:54 am
RBBmba@2014 wrote:[HI Mitch,
In Option A & C, isn't the following another potential ERROR ?

instead of can't be (IMMEDIATELY) followed by any PREPOSITION.
This line of reasoning seems valid.
Generally, instead of should be followed by a NOUN or noun phrase serving as the object of the preposition of.
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