doubt 34

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doubt 34

by aditya8062 » Mon Oct 13, 2014 11:14 am
The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteen Amendment (1868) had been originally adopted in order that blacks in the post-Civil War South be given the full benefit of citizenship, but over the past century and a half they are expanding it to include all categories of civil rights.


A.had been originally adopted in order that blacks in the post-Civil War South be given the full benefit of citizenship, but over the past century and a half they are expanding it to include

B.was originally adopted to give blacks in the post-Civil War South the full benefit of citizenship, but over the past century and a half it has been expanded to include

C.had been originally adopted to give blacks in the post-Civil War South the full benefit of citizenship, while over the past century and a half was expanding it to include

D.had been originally adopted to give blacks in the post-Civil War South the full benefit of citizenship, and over the past century and a half has expanded to include

E.had been originally adopted by giving blacks in the post-Civil War South the full benefit of citizenship, and over the past century and a half they have been expanding it to include


my doubt: i have a little issue with the answer choice B. i feel that the usage of "BUT" is not right somehow. the requisite contrast, which is required for the usage of "BUT", is missing in the SC.

the first part of the SC before "BUT" is "The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteen Amendment (1868) was originally adopted to give blacks in the post-Civil War South the full benefit of citizenship"
AND the second part of the SC is "but over the past century and a half it has been expanded to include all categories of civil rights".

WHERE is the CONTRAST if initially the the EPC intended to give blacks "full benefit of citizenship" AND later if extended to include "all categories of civil rights"?

shouldn't the better answer would have been: was originally adopted to give blacks in the post-Civil War South the full benefit of citizenship, AND over the past century and a half it has been expanded to include

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by [email protected] » Mon Oct 13, 2014 6:54 pm
Hi aditya8062,

Yes, Answer B could have been written with the word "and" instead of the word "but", but that would have changed the meaning of the sentence. To be fair, either meaning (yours or the author's) is functionally correct.

Your version of this sentence would provide a bit of a "history lesson" about the 14th amendment and when certain rights were granted. The author's version contrasts the original purpose of the 14th amendment with ALL of the various benefits that it now provides today.

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by GMATGuruNY » Tue Oct 14, 2014 2:29 am
aditya8062 wrote:my doubt: i have a little issue with the answer choice B. WHERE is the CONTRAST[/i]?
B: The Equal Protection Clause was ORIGINALLY adopted to give blacks the full benefit of citizenship, but OVER THE PAST CENTURY AND A HALF it has been expanded.
Here, what ORIGINALLY happened is being contrasted with what has happened OVER THE PAST CENTURY AND A HALF.
Hence, the usage of but is justified.
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by kutlee » Sun Mar 29, 2015 8:28 am
The usage of BUT is necessary since the amendment deviated from the original purpose.