After losing his right arm to an injury sustained in World War I

I don't understand why the answer is E, the structure in this answer is not parallel, to be so we need to add "to" to mantain the infinitive.

Am I right? Is this a quality question? mikemcgarry can you help us with this question?

E) decided to focus on pieces written for the left hand rather than to quit

As far as I understand, instead of can only preceded a noun in GMAT & quitting is a verb. Is that correct? Will appreciate a correction in my reasoning if it's flawed.

Because of this very reason, I chose E over A

Posted from my mobile device

Right!
". Rather than vs instead of.
Rather than is the right choice because rather than shows contrast, while instead of just meaning ‘in the place of’ does not effuse contrast.
https://gmatclub.com/forum/a-recent-stu ... 4-140.html
instead of – preposition – always should be followed by noun.
Rather than – preferable.
a) It can be followed by anything (verb, phrase,noun .....).
b) it always represent softer replacement whereas "instead of " represent harder replacement.
https://gmatclub.com/forum/recent-psych ... 18023.html
" (c)

I am not sure you can not count "quitting" as a noun in this case (it plays the role of noun), but imo more important the issue about contrast.

2dimmark: seems to me it is the case when you can throw out the second "to" and it will be ok.
See the second link - the same situation (it is understandable that there is the second "to")

Split 1:
Rather than vs instead of. -> Rather than is usually prefered (see explanation in earlier comments)

C is very awkward and not parallel.

D or E:
Here is where I have a problem with the answer. Neither answer choice seems to be parallel?
If E had ...than to quit I'd have no problem with it. Is the question incorrect or is there anything I'm missing?

Correct Answer must be (E) for correct Idiomatic and Parallelism usage ...

After losing his right arm to an injury sustained in World War I, the Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein decided to focus on pieces written for the left hand rather than quit his professional piano-playing career.

Kaplan's Explanation:

Read the Original Sentence Carefully, Looking for Errors:

The sentence, as written, contains the incorrect idiom, "decided to focus … instead of to quit …." There are three correct ways to express the two options: "to X rather than Y," "to do X rather than do Y," or "to do X rather than Y." Additionally, the verbs used must be in parallel form.

Scan and Group the Answer Choices:

(A) and (B) use the phrase "instead of," (C) uses "as opposed to," and (D) and (E) use "rather than."

Eliminate Wrong Answer Choices:

(A), (B), and (C) are all incorrect idiomatically, per the rule explained above, and can be eliminated. (D) changes the word "quit" to "quitting." To be in parallel, "focus" must be joined by "quit." Thus, (D) can be eliminated as well. This leaves (E), which uses the proper idiom and is parallel, as the correct answer.

TAKEAWAY: In addition to checking whether comparisons and contrasts are parallel, make sure the wording is idiomatically correct.

Can someone please clarify this question? I got the right answer because either: 1) they used 'Instead' rather than 'Rather'; 2) they weren't in parallel.

I'm mainly trying to understand why E works as the 'to focus' and 'quit' are not technically in parallel (one is an infinitive and the other is simple present).

Any help/explanation here would be much appreciated.

Hi Expert,

Request you to help me with this one by informing the difference between rather than and instead of.

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