Sentence Correction

An increasing number of scientists now believe that the next destructive earthquake in
Africa could probably not strike the northern belts but instead the densely populated,
highly industrialized, and poorly prepared southern regions.

A. probably not strike the southern belts but instead
B. probably not strike in the southern belts but rather
C. probably strike not in the southern belts so much as in
D. well strike not the southern belts but instead in
E. well strike not in the southern belts but in

I will post my query and the OA after discussions.

Hi!

I think the right answer is A.

B is not disobeys the rule of paralellism. C/D/E sound weird.

I am looking forward to the right answer.
Benni.

'But instead '/ 'But Rather' -- are they not redundant ?

gmatdriller wrote:An increasing number of scientists now believe that the next destructive earthquake in
Africa could probably not strike the northern belts but instead the densely populated,
highly industrialized, and poorly prepared southern regions.

A. probably not strike the southern belts but instead
B. probably not strike in the southern belts but rather
C. probably strike not in the southern belts so much as in
D. well strike not the southern belts but instead in
E. well strike not in the southern belts but in

I will post my query and the OA after discussions.

A. probably not strike the southern belts but instead (best. Supports parallelism )
B. probably not strike in the southern belts but rather (breaks parallelism )
C. probably strike not in the southern belts so much as in(awkward)
D. well strike not the southern belts but instead in (awkward)
E. well strike not in the southern belts but in(awkward)

**but instead and but rather are correct grammar usage.

Waiting for OA.

gmatdriller wrote:An increasing number of scientists now believe that the next destructive earthquake in Africa could probably not strike the northern belts but instead the densely populated, highly industrialized, and poorly prepared southern regions.

A. probably not strike the southern belts but instead
B. probably not strike in the southern belts but rather
C. probably strike not in the southern belts so much as in
D. well strike not the southern belts but instead in
E. well strike not in the southern belts but in

NOT STRIKE X BUT Y (x and y should be parallel).

Y = the densely populated, highly industrialized, and poorly prepared southern regions (or we can simply say THE REGIONS, a noun); so we want A NOUN in place of X.

A/D - the southern belts (ok);
B/C/E - in the southern belts (prepostional phrase); not ok

In D use of IN THE REGIONS makes Y a prepositional phrase, so not OK.

IMO A

Hi patanjali.purpose
I think the correct parallelism should be drawn between

NOT X, BUT Y: in this case,
X = strike northern region -Verb noun
Y = the densely populated, highly industrialized, and poorly prepared southern regions0 simply stated "southern region" - noun

OA is E "could well strike Not in X, but in Y (X and Y are prepositional phrases)

In a,b&c, in addition to parallelism issue, "could probably" creates redundancy.
In D, "Not X, but in Y " has parallelism issue.

I'll vote for E.