The first question is a matter of conversational preference, but they are both acceptable.

I went to the store today.
I went today to the store.

The word "today" is an adverb that describes when I went, and "to the store" is an adverb saying where I went. As we know, it is perfectly acceptable to put a modifier adjacent to the thing it is modifying.

Your second question is interesting in terms of parallelism. Generally, you would be right, that you would not want to put a seemingly arbitrary article i front of the last item on a list. (e.g. "I like the beach because I enjoy water, sand, shells, and the beautiful views.")

But in the case you wrote, "the arts" is actually an entity. You can study "government" or you can study "the arts" as courses of concentration. If the sentence were changed to:

Students at Carver High School are encouraged to pursue extracurricular activities such as student government, sports and arts."

Then, there would be a meaning shift. Rather than pursuing "the arts," which is a word describing a course of study, the sentence would mean the students could pursue many different types of art: visual, performance, etc.

thank you so much Jose. Now I see its perfectly understandable. Didnt know "the arts" is a subject like "greek history" . thanks!!

Hey,

One query.
Can you please give me the link from where i can download Manhattan GMAT prep SC guide -- latest version.

Or if you have can you please e mail me?