papgust wrote:The voluminous personal papers of Leonardo Da Vinci 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 slowly evolved
D. did not spring to life in an inspirational flash, but evolved slowly
E. did not spring to life in an inspirational flash, and slowly evolved

OA soon.

not ....but also construction should be parallel.

A: not in a flash ... but evolved is not parallel.

B: not in flash ... but were... is not parallel

C: did not spring to life ... but slowly ... not parallel

D: did not spring to life... but evolved .... Bingo, got it

E: Awkward construction

D it is

not x but y ....

Hence D

Would someone mind explaining what's wrong with A?

How does one distinguish between 'evolved slowly' and 'slowly evolved'?

zonda12 wrote:Would someone mind explaining what's wrong with A?

How does one distinguish between 'evolved slowly' and 'slowly evolved'?

In parallel items parts of speech should be matched. Though evolved slowly and slowly evolved may have some other conceptual issues based on context, in reference to this questions, sprang is a verb so second part should match with a verb evolve rather than an adverb slowly.

maihuna wrote:

papgust wrote:The voluminous personal papers of Leonardo Da Vinci 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 slowly evolved
D. did not spring to life in an inspirational flash, but evolved slowly
E. did not spring to life in an inspirational flash, and slowly evolved

OA soon.

not ....but also construction should be parallel.

A: not in a flash ... but evolved is not parallel.

B: not in flash ... but were... is not parallel

C: did not spring to life ... but slowly ... not parallel

D: did not spring to life... but evolved .... Bingo, got it

E: Awkward construction

D it is

"Flash of inspiration" is a far more better usage than "inspirational flash". So, it should not be D or E.

IMO C

IMO C

papgust wrote:The voluminous personal papers of Leonardo Da Vinci 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 slowly evolved
D. did not spring to life in an inspirational flash, but evolved slowly
E. did not spring to life in an inspirational flash, and slowly evolved

OA soon.

D is better in terms of Idiom not... but.

But inspiration flash is wrong. D and E are out.

A and b are wrong. parallelism error.

Of all the answer choices, C is better.

Umaa, that's a perfect justification.

OA is indeed C

I'm curious to know the difference b/w "evolved slowly" and "slowly evolved". Ron/Stuart, pls help!

papgust wrote:Umaa, that's a perfect justification.

OA is indeed C

I'm curious to know the difference b/w "evolved slowly" and "slowly evolved". Ron/Stuart, pls help!

Yep, the answer is C.
The general rule is adverb first than verb. so slowly evolved is correct. Not the same concept, but on similar lines is OG12 Que 40.

Eg1> He drank the milk quickly ---->Incorrect in GMATLand
Eg2> He quickly drank the milk --->Correct in GMATLand

however as happens in English there is one exception to this rule. I don't have the problem handy, but the overall we need to make sure that adverb is placed close to and ideally before the word it modifies.

hope that helps