By the 1600s, several communities of European immigrants had arrived o

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Here is a detailed explanation to this question-



Choice A: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between the phrases "the Spanish in Florida" and "the British in New England and Virginia" and the phrases "in New York came the Dutch" and "in Delaware the Swedes". This answer choice also uses the word "like" to refer to an example. Finally, this answer choice fails to include the word "and" before the final element of a list. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice B: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between the phrases "the Spanish in Florida" and "the British in New England and Virginia" and the phrase "the Dutch and the Swedes in New York and Delaware". Additionally, this answer choice also changes the meaning of the sentence by implying that both the Dutch and the Swedes arrived in both New York and Delaware and omitting the phrase "for many different"; this omission implies that the immigrants came to North America only because of "religious freedom" and "greater economic opportunities". Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice C: This answer choice repeats the parallelism error found in Option A. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice D: This answer choice maintains parallelism and conveys the intended meaning of the sentence. Thus, this answer choice is correct.

Choice E: This answer choice changes the meaning of the sentence by substituting the term "religious freedom" with the term "freedom from religion. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Hence, D is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Like v/s As on GMAT", you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



To understand the concept of "Oxford Comma on GMAT", you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team