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"rather than vs but not" Q 264 OG 10

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"rather than vs but not" Q 264 OG 10

by tanviet » Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:04 am
Scientists believe that unlike the malel of most species of moth, the male whistling moths of Nambung, Australia, call femaile moths to them// by the use of acoustical signals, but not olfactory ones, and they attract //their mates during the day, rather than at night

a,

b,by the use of acoustical signals instead of using oldfactory ones and attracting

c,by using acoustical signals, not using olfactory ones, and by attracting

d,using acoustical signals, rather than olfactory ones, and attract

e, using acoustical signals, but not olfactry ones, and attracting

the OG sait that

the use of "but not" does not clearly convey that most other mothes use olfactory signals. "rather than would be preferable

I do not understand this, pls, explain
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by rs2010 » Thu Mar 12, 2009 7:45 am
Use of rather than is always preferred in GMAT.

Whenever you see any question with answer choices rather than always choose rather than unless it is distoring meaning of the sentence.

This holds true for instead of also.
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by tanviet » Mon Mar 16, 2009 8:49 pm
I still do not understand, pls help to explain the OG explanations
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by kris_hansy » Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:46 am
[quote="duongthang"]I still do not understand, pls help to explain the OG explanations[/quote]
All I know is, for GMAT try to be moderate rather than on an extreme end. Rather than is moderate, not x but y is extreme.
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by gmat740 » Thu Mar 19, 2009 9:39 pm
Hello I can explain each one by eliminating the wrong answers.
by the use of acoustical signals, but not olfactory ones, and they attract //
This is the Option A
Its not parallel, and its wordy and awkward.
b,by the use of acoustical signals instead of using oldfactory ones and attracting

Not Parallel

by using acoustical signals, not using olfactory ones, and by attracting
C. There has to be a logical connector between the parts in Bold
Eg: using acoustical signals, and not using olfactory ones

So this is also Out.


We are left with D and E
d,using acoustical signals, rather than olfactory ones, and attract
using acoustical signals, but not olfactry ones, and attracting


So when we are left with two Options only then we have to give preference to" Rather than." There is no proper explanation as to why is it so, just like there can be no grammar rules for idioms,it can also be taken like that.

Moreover,if you fit the E back into the sentence, the construction becomes awkward, though grammatically correct

IMO D
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