The art installation in Central Park, which featured over a

The subj is an art illustration
A - to be commenting - unnecessary
B - verb needed - should be attempted to comment
C - concise and clear - the illustration was an attempt
D - wordy - or at least attempted to
E - same as with D

ans C

are "but" and "rather" not redundant words ??

Isn't there a lack of Parallelism here between the two words marked in bold?

The art installation in Central Park, which featured over a hundred men and women dressed in army fatigues and lying on the ground as if they had been killed in battle, represented neither an anti-war nor a pro-military statement, but rather attempted to be commenting creatively on troubled times.

And the correct answer is marked here as

The art installation in Central Park represented neither an anti-war nor a pro-military statement but rather was an attempt to comment creatively

For me, this violates the very first rule of Parallelism. The answer should definitely contain attempted.

Why am I wrong here?

Bumping the thread for the same question as above. Don't we need 'attempted' to be parallel to 'represented'? Please, can someone clarify the rule for this one. Thanks,

Represented is meant to introduce anti war, pro military. Can't use represent or represents for that reason.
It represented neither x nor y but rather z. As long as x,y,z are parallel, we are good

Still no clarity on above issue involving parallelism.
Can someone help us out?

Still not clear how an anti war/pro military statement is parallel to was an attempt to comment creatively

The art installation in Central Park, which featured over a hundred men and women dressed in army fatigues and lying on the ground as if they had been killed in battle, represented neither an anti-war nor a pro-military statement, but rather attempted to be commenting creatively on troubled times.

Can be answered using meaning.

(a) but rather attempted to be commenting creatively - The art installation did not attempt, maybe the artist did.
(b) but attempted a rather creative comment - same as A
(c) but rather was an attempt to comment creatively
(d) but commented rather creatively, or at least attempted to - Same as A
(e)but commented creatively, or, rather, attempted to comment - Same as A

represented in the parallel structure is correct, as the art can represent something.

Hope I am right, and this provides some clarity.

The art installation in Central Park, which featured over a hundred men and women dressed in army fatigues and lying on the ground as if they had been killed in battle, represented neither an anti-war nor a pro-military statement, but rather attempted to be commenting creatively on troubled times.

The first thing to note here is that ‘rather’ means here ‘on the contrary’ adding an emphasis to the contrast conjunction ‘but’. Going forward,

(a) but rather attempted to be commenting creatively --- to be commenting creatively --- not a quite formal writing of a past tense event.
(b) but attempted a rather creative comment -- the attempt was for a purpose, which is best expressed by an infinitive
(c) but rather was an attempt to comment creatively – The concise infinitive expression of a purpose. Best
(d) but commented rather creatively, or at least attempted to -- unconcise
(e)but commented creatively, or, rather, attempted to comment – unconcise.

I am not an expert. Although your argument that "x nor y but rather z...." is correct, the only issue here is that there was a 'was' in option C. Let us see 2 sentences:

1. It was neither a bird nor a plane but rather a drone.

Here was represents a state of being. The first part of the sentence takes the verb 'represented'. If we continue then the statement violates parallelism.

Here X and Y are both things that the art installation is supposed to represent, and Z here is 'was a ....'! Z is not something that the art installation represents, rather it is something that the art installation is i.e. the state of being.

A B D and E all share the same issue. They break parallelism by contrasting ‘statement’ (noun) with ‘attempted’ or ‘commented’ (verbs).

So, C is the only correct answer.

Is it OK to write that an art installation attempted to do something / commented something? even though art installation is an inanimate object. daagh

Abhishek
I think you are being too literal .We often say -- the Bible says, Quran says and Gita says. But, when did they tell us in words?
Somebody is artistically trying to highlight something through the installation(meaning artifact). That is about all.

The beauty of art is that one feels it, not that one has to hear it nor see it doing.

Choice B “rather creative comment “ changes the meaning of the type of comment (intelligent or dumb) than the type of attempt it is

Posted from my mobile device

(a) but rather attempted to be commenting creatively
The tense is wrong since commenting isn't the right tense

(b) but attempted a rather creative comment
The meaning isn't right

(c) but rather was an attempt to comment creatively
This is wxactly what was meant to be commented

(d) but commented rather creatively, or at least attempted to
rather or is redundant

(e)but commented creatively, or, rather, attempted to comment
Same reasoning as D
Hence IMO C

Hello experts EducationAisle AndrewN VeritasKarishma

i just eliminated options A and B on the basis of following reasoning . is it correct?
In option A and option B connector , but connects two verbs represented and attempted but the subject The art installation does not make sense with attempted. The installation can not attempt something ,right?

Thanks

Hello, kadamhari825. I have to agree with daagh on this one (in this post). The context of the sentence allows us to infer that an artist through the installation was aiming to comment on troubled times. We can eliminate answer choices (A) and (B) for other reasons, but not because they anthropomorphize the installation. Furthermore, GMAC™ is apparently okay with this sort of usage: check out this official question on landfills, for instance.

Choice (C) works here because it follows a parallel construct and is both idiomatically and semantically sound: The installation represented neither an X nor a Y, but rather was a Z. Since an attempt in this context requires further explanation, we see the infinitive afterwards: an attempt [to do something].

This is a nuanced question that would probably prove easier for a native speaker of English. It reminds me of the type of question that used to appear on the exam more frequently, at a time in which the international testing base was far lower than it is today.

I hope that helps a bit. Thank you for thinking to ask me.

- Andrew