Was confused between B and C but i guess it should be C after a having a closer look. B has the pronoun 'he' is placed bit far while in C its in the right place. Hence C should be the answer.

Any other thoughts ??

Pls correct me if am wrong.

Ty,
Vaisakh

The answer is B. Here goes the explanation :

This sentence requires a parallelism.'accepting' and 'sent' both are participle and hence parallel. But in order to use 'sent' we need a passive voice. So yeah, active voice with 'accepting' is parallel to the passive voice with 'sent'. The ideal answer would be one where we have both present participle or both past participle. Since we do not have that we look for the nearest form of parallelism that is present participle with past participle.

D.

Rather than over Instead of, whether over if

15 seconds split

1st split: "having been sent by the king and queen of Spain" is confusing. Noun modifier should be put as close as possible to the noun it modifies (Columbus) rather than India (illogical).
=> cross C & D

2nd split: "rather than" vs "instead of"
"Rather than" indicates a preference, while "instead of" indicates a choice.

The use of both are grammatically correct (although the underlined meanings are not exactly the same) => there is no justification for replacing "rather than" with "instead of"

Between A & B, we can make a better parallelism with "accept" (Columbus ... to see)

Hence, choose A

Definitely B! Def not D.

pareekbharat86 wrote:Definitely B! Def not D.

Cannot be "B"...
- "if" has to be used for "if .. then.." constructs.. - use "whether"

theCodeToGMAT wrote:

pareekbharat86 wrote:Definitely B! Def not D.

Cannot be "B"...
- "if" has to be used for "if .. then.." constructs.. - use "whether"

Rahul, kindly elaborate. Also, what according to you, then, is the correct answer?

Thanks.

pareekbharat86 wrote: Rahul, kindly elaborate. Also, what according to you, then, is the correct answer?

Thanks.

The correct construct : if X then(optional) Y , else use "whether" and NOT "if" is not a relative-conditional..

For example:

Relative-conditional
If I go to Paris, then I will visit Eiffel Tower

Usage of whether
I am not sure whether it will rain today

{A} - INCORRECT; "if" usage is wrong
{B} - INCORRECT; "if" usage is wrong
{C} - INCORRECT; "Instead of" should be used against NOUN only
{D} - CORRECT
{E} - INCORRECT; "Instead of" should be used against NOUN only

pareekbharat86 wrote:Definitely B! Def not D.

Here we need "whether" because Columbus has to check whether the common conception was true or not!So here it is a verification on his part. "If" is more like a conditional hypothesis

"If i do this, I win, If not, then I fail"

"Whether you pass or fail you will still remain my beloved" mother to child conversation.

To me option C seems the best.

IMO D

BOTH are okay: "not only X but also Y" and "not only X but Y." The first one is more common, but the second one can also be correct.

You can't, though, use "not only X and also Y" or "not only X also Y" - you need the "but" (but the "also" can go either way!).

Hi Stacey,

Although this is a very old post, I decided to ask you some doubts: (i) Is it okay to write "not just X but also Y"?? I think I have seen that somewhere.
(ii) Is it okay to use comma as in "not only X, but also Y", where X & Y are simple nouns (not long phrases)?

Hope u ll reply. Thnx in advance.

~Binit.

Use "rather than" to express a preference.
CORRECT: "I would prefer nonfat milk rather than
cream in my coffee."

Here no preference is made so discard rather than use instead of....
leaves C and E
So i have doubts about E
Leaving C as the option....

Any further argument would be appreciated

my take.

instead of requires noun . Accepting doesnot act like a noun so c and e are out.

B contains the verb accepting and is using continuous, so B goes out

between A and D, weather is more apt than if as its a conditional phrase.

so I choose D.

Other, please comment if justification looks ok

OA must be C.

instead+doing+ main clause
is correct pattern. some of conjuction and prepostion can go with doing in this pattern in which doing work as a participle.

in D,
accept dose not paralel with "sailED" . so, D is wrong

IMO B.
What is the OA?