Sentence Correction

A leading figure in the Scottish enlightenment, Adam Smith's two major books are to democratic capitalism what Marx's Das Kapital is to socialism.
A. Adam Smith's two major books are to democratic capitalism what
B. Adam Smith's two major books are to democratic capitalism like
C. Adam Smith's two major books are to democratic capitalism just as
D. Adam Smith wrote two major books that are to democratic capitalism similar to
E. Adam Smith wrote two major books that are to democratic capitalism what

Answer is E
Here the non-underlined part "A leading figure in the Scottish enlightenment" is ideally modifying Adam Smith. Coz a leading figure cannot be cannot be compared to books. So, this rules out A to C.
I prefer E to D given the flow of the sentence (dont know what the exact grammer rule is) but that seems more logical.

Who is a leading figure ? Adam smith . correct.
So then why options A B and C are talking about his books ?

ELIMINATE A , B and C ASAP

B/w D and E ,

D is unindiomatic. ELIMINATE

E uses the correct idiom -what x is to y . Hence CORRECT

Hope this helps

If not , then refer to https://www.beatthegmat.com/adam-smith-t28000.html

mgmt_gmat wrote:A leading figure in the Scottish enlightenment, Adam Smith's two major books are to democratic capitalism what Marx's Das Kapital is to socialism.
A. Adam Smith's two major books are to democratic capitalism what
B. Adam Smith's two major books are to democratic capitalism like
C. Adam Smith's two major books are to democratic capitalism just as
D. Adam Smith wrote two major books that are to democratic capitalism similar to
E. Adam Smith wrote two major books that are to democratic capitalism what

yes my answer is E too... i cringed when I read this, I was like "no no this doesn't even make sense because books can't be leading figures.

mgmt_gmat wrote:A leading figure in the Scottish enlightenment, Adam Smith's two major books are to democratic capitalism what Marx's Das Kapital is to socialism.
A. Adam Smith's two major books are to democratic capitalism what
B. Adam Smith's two major books are to democratic capitalism like
C. Adam Smith's two major books are to democratic capitalism just as
D. Adam Smith wrote two major books that are to democratic capitalism similar to
E. Adam Smith wrote two major books that are to democratic capitalism what

(A) (B) & (C) are incorrect - Modifier Error

D is wrong because it does not follow the idiom:

X is to Y what P is to Q.

Which is correctly followed in E...

Hence (E) is correct