Sentence Correction

Shoppers in sporting goods stores, unlike in department stores, do very little impulse shopping, not buying a pair of skis and a boomerang when they come in for a basketball, but they leave with a basketball only.

A. in department stores, do very little impulse shopping, not buying a pair of skis and a boomerang when they come in for a basketball, but they leave with a basketball only

B. in department stores, shop impulsively very little; someone who comes in for a basketball will leave with a basketball only and not also buy a pair of skis and a boomerang as well

C. those in department stores, do very little impulse shopping, do not buy a pair of skis and a boomerang when they come in for a basketball, but leave with only a basketball

D. those in department stores, do very little impulse shopping; someone who comes in for a basketball will leave with a basketball only and not buy a pair of skis and a boomerang as well

E. department stores, shop impulsively very little; someone will not buy a pair of skis and a boomerang when they come in for a basketball but will leave with only a basketball


I chose D, which is the right answer, because none other made sense.
My Q:
Isn't "as well" a bit awkward at the end of D

The purpose is to choose the best option among the 5 presented, and D clearly is that.

The right answer might not necessarily be the perfect one and you might have a better one in your head, but then its the choices that you need to work with.

In this case "as well" is necessary otherwise it changes the meaning.

Without "as well" it seems the customer will not buy the basketball but the ski and the other.

With "as well" it is clear that we are talking about purchasing the basketball and the other things.

IMO D

IMO:D with POE

sunilrawat wrote:Shoppers in sporting goods stores, unlike in department stores, do very little impulse shopping, not buying a pair of skis and a boomerang when they come in for a basketball, but they leave with a basketball only.

A. in department stores, do very little impulse shopping, not buying a pair of skis and a boomerang when they come in for a basketball, but they leave with a basketball only

B. in department stores, shop impulsively very little; someone who comes in for a basketball will leave with a basketball only and not also buy a pair of skis and a boomerang as well

C. those in department stores, do very little impulse shopping, do not buy a pair of skis and a boomerang when they come in for a basketball, but leave with only a basketball

D. those in department stores, do very little impulse shopping; someone who comes in for a basketball will leave with a basketball only and not buy a pair of skis and a boomerang as well

E. department stores, shop impulsively very little; someone will not buy a pair of skis and a boomerang when they come in for a basketball but will leave with only a basketball


I chose D, which is the right answer, because none other made sense.
My Q:
Isn't "as well" a bit awkward at the end of D

Intended comparison is between shoppers at SS & shoppers at DS. The original sentences falters on wrong comparison. This need to be fixed.

Running a vertical we could see, C & D fits the bill. But C ends up as a Run on sentence . Pick D

Answering your query : usage of "as well" is very much needed to signal the author's intention. HE intends to say that when customers come for X they buy only X and not Y &Z along with X.

HTH!!

"As well" isn't the optimal use -- the author could have cut out one word by using "also" instead -- but it is entirely grammatical and, as others have pointed out, important to the meaning of the sentence.