Problems with original sentence
1) "X" rather then "Y", needs "X" and "Y" to be parall
2) Use of "If" normally in GMAT "If" is used to introduce conditional clause.

Both these issues is taken care in "D"

D

eliminate C and E because GMAT likes rather than better than instead of

eiminiate A nd B because have been is needed due to the ongoing nature of the sentence meaning. A and B also change the sentence meaning, making it sound like it was the king and queen, not Columbus, who chose not to accept.

you can also eliminate A,B and E because they use 'IF' instead of 'WHETHER'.

If is used only to introduce a conditional clause as correctly pointed out by amitabhprasad.

imo D

. Rather than accept the conventional wisdom that the earth was flat, Christopher Columbus sailed west...

Dont you guys this there is problem with the form of verb ACCEPT ? Could you please explain the X rather than Y parallelism here.

Cheers!

logitech basically point out my main concern for this question (Thank god I am not the only one, haha). If this question and answer are correct according to GMAC too, then how should I apply the parallelism rules, and how far should I go? Please share your thoughts.

EricLien9122 wrote:logitech basically point out my main concern for this question (Thank god I am not the only one, haha). If this question and answer are correct according to GMAC too, then how should I apply the parallelism rules, and how far should I go? Please share your thoughts.

To quote MGMAT's explanation: This choice uses the construction “X rather than Y” to correctly compare the parallel active verbs “accept” and “sailed.” The uncertainty about reaching India by traveling west is correctly indicated by the word “whether.”

I do think that although the clauses are parallel they are not very "logically" parallel, maybe that doesn't matter for X Rather than Y.

Rather than X than Y

X and Y has to be parallel.

In A
X = Christopher was sent by King..........Rather than accept.......


In D,

Christoper sail to the west.......rather than accept........

I hope this helps

Well I eliminated A, B & E since the pronoun 'he' has two antecedents, the king and Columbus.

Since no one really pointed this point out I want to check is this reasoning right???

On the basis of

1. Rather than is preferred over Instead of

2. Whether is preferred over if


All options except D get eliminated....

EricLien9122 wrote:Rather than accept the conventional wisdom that the earth was flat, Christopher Columbus was sent by the king and queen of Spain to see if he could reach India by traveling west.


A). Rather than accept the conventional wisdom that the earth was flat, Christopher Columbus was sent by the king and queen of Spain to see if he could reach India by sailing west.

B). Rather than accepting the conventional wisdom that the earth was flat, Christopher Columbus was sent by the king and queen of Spain to see if he could reach India by sailing west.

C). Instead of accepting the conventional wisdom that the earth was flat, Christopher Columbus sailed west to see whether he could reach India, having been sent by the king and queen of Spain.

D). Rather than accept the conventional wisdom that the earth was flat, Christopher Columbus sailed west to see whether he could reach India, having been sent by the king and queen of Spain.

E). Instead of accepting the conventional wisdom that the earth was flat, Christopher Columbus was sent by the king and queen of Spain to sail west to see if he could reach India.

OA: D

I received a PM asking me to comment.

If serves to express a CONDITION; whether serves to express ALTERNATIVES.
The intended meaning here is to express alternatives: Columbus could reach India OR he couldn't.
Eliminate A, B and E.

The only difference between C and D is instead of accepting versus rather than accept.
To express PREFERENCE, rather than is better than instead of.
The intended meaning here seems to be that Columbus did not want to accept the conventional wisdom; he PREFERRED to sail west.
Thus, rather than seems more appropriate here.
The good news is that GMAC will never force us to make such a decision: on the GMAT, either C or D would have a clear-cut error that would knock one of them out.

Please note the following:
Here, instead of accepting and rather than accept each serve as a MODIFIER of the main body of the sentence.
Accepting is a GERUND; accept is the BARE INFINITIVE form of to accept (to accept without the TO).
It is not necessary that either verb form be parallel with the verb in the main body of the sentence (sailed).
Check here for an OA from GMATPrep in which the gerund in the modifier is not parallel with the verb in the main body of the sentence:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/diesel-engin ... 88260.html