Charles Darwin argued that plant and animal species were evolved slowl

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION


This question is tricky.
"Were evolved" is not considered standard usage.
Although I would never allow "were evolved" to stand, others might, so the phrasing is probably not wrong.

Whoever wrote this question has a good sense of humor.

Darwin himself, in Origin of Species, used "were evolved" a handful of times.
Biologists use the phrase a fair bit.

There are at least two ways to arrive at the correct answer.

You could decide that the phrase "were evolved" sounds ridiculous (or "not standard") and be left with options B and E.
In that case, pick B. Nothing is wrong with B, whereas option E is oddly phrased.
By definition, plant and animal species could not evolve from instant creation.

Alternatively, you could decide that "were evolved" is acceptable and still arrive at answer B.
I used both approaches and ended up with the same answer.

For an excellent post in which the author accepts "were evolved,"
see our very own CR forum moderator, eakabuah , in this post, here.


THE PROMPT


THE OPTIONS


• "Instead of" is a prepositional phrase that must be followed by a noun, but instead of is not followed by a noun.
-- created instantaneously is not a noun. It's an adjective phrase that describes the noun species.
-- be wary of "instead of." GMAC often pits the phrase against "rather than," and strongly prefers rather than.
("Instead of" has been part of a couple of correct answers, but as I recall, in those cases, instead of was not pitted against rather than.)

• were evolved is not standard usage and the phrase sounds very strange.
Native speakers who are not biologists should be jarred by the usage of "were evolved."

A similar verb is "to progress."
We would not say, "The expansion plans were progressed in six-month increments."
Just the word progressed is correct. Similarly, in this case we need only the word "evolved."

The preposition error (instead of should be followed by a noun phrase and is not), eliminate A.


• in the idiomatic construction X rather than Y
-- X and Y must be parallel.
-- in this option, X and Y are both past tense verbs and thus parallel.
X = were [not] created
Y = evolved
KEEP this option


• repeats option A's misuse of were [slowly] evolved
• the meaning is strange: species cannot "evolve slowly" through instantaneous creation. The verb "evolved" does not fit with "instantaneous creation."
-- "instead of" implies that species could have evolved (1) slowly through mutation and natural selection or (2) in a way similar to instantaneous creation.
-- instead of means replacement or in the place of: He uses almond milk instead of cow's milk in his porridge.
-- by definition, instantaneous creation is not actually an option.

• compare to B. Which is better? No contest. Option B wins.
Eliminate C


• information set off by commas is rendered nonessential.
• But in this case, the information is essential and should not be set off by commas.
-- We change the meaning of the sentence if we remove that material
-- OG 2020 SC #824 explicitly tests this issue. Essential information should not be set off by commas.
SPOILER ALERT: the link takes you to that question. You now know one incorrect answer to that question.
You can find OG 2020 SC #824 here.
Eliminate D


• this sentence doesn't make sense.
-- A species cannot evolve slowly through instantaneous creation.

I think it means to say: " . . . species of plants and animals evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection rather than having been created instantaneously.

• same problem as that in (C): a species cannot evolve slowly through instantaneous creation. We need a verb, were not, this way:
... species evolved slowly [through mutation and natural selection] and were not products of instantaneous creation.
Eliminate E

The best answer is B

COMMENTS

svasan05 , welcome to SC Butler.

I am always glad to see new posters.

And of course, I extend an open invitation to others: come and post!

These posts are good. I like the dialogue.
I see good critical thinking. Well done.

IMO B
A) plant and animal species were evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection instead of created instantaneously
Here the use of were is redundant evolved itself gives the idea of past, also instead of doesnt have correct antecedent.

B) plant and animal species were not created instantaneously but rather evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection.
This correctly places instantaneous creation . keep it

C) plant and animal species were slowly evolved through random mutation and natural selection instead of instantaneous creation.
The usage of were is redundant again

D) species of plants and animals, rather than being created instantaneously, were slowly evolved through random mutation and natural selection.
Its awkward and lengthy, also the use of rather than is inappropriate.We do have a better option available.

E) species of plants and animals evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection rather than instantaneous creation.
Between B and E I think b is better one.

Originally I chose (E), but through my own analysis, I found that (B) is better.

(A) Species evolve themselves rather than "were evolved". Also, after "instead of", we can only use noun or noun phrase (instead of a verb such as created)
(B) The only issue I held against B is that "rather" in "but rather“ is extraneous. "Not ... But ..." is preferred. This objection is rather weak. Read on.
(C) Species evolve themselves rather than "were evolved".
(D) Species evolve themselves rather than "were evolved".
(E) At first, I think this version is okay. It is not perfect, though, because "instantaneous creation" is not as active as "created instantaneously" in B.

Now, between B and E, I voted for E at first. But then, I notice a bigger issue in E: the "slowly" in "evolved slowly" does not make sense in "...evolved slowly through ... instantaneous creation". That should rule out E altogether.

So, I have choose "B".

B is the best choice imo.

Meaning: Charles Darwin made two arguments (points). His points were: 1. that plant and animal species were not created instantaneously and 2. plants and animal species were slowly evolved through random mutation and natural selection.

A) Charles Darwin argued that plant and animal species were evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection instead of created instantaneously.
In A, instead of created is problematic. Instead of as a compound preposition should only be followed by a noun and not a past participle created. This is enough basis to eliminate A.

B) Charles Darwin argued that plant and animal species were not created instantaneously but rather evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection.
Keep B. B uses the structure not X but rather Y to present the argument made by Charles Darwin. X is created instantaneously while Y is evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection. Both X and Y are participial phrases, hence parallel.

C) Charles Darwin argued that plant and animal species were slowly evolved through random mutation and natural selection instead of instantaneous creation.
In C, instead of is rightly followed by a noun creation. There is however a problem with the logical parallelism between evolved and creation. The parallelism marker in this instance is the verb were. So, we have plant and animal species were X: slowly evolved through random mutation and natural selection and Y: instantaneous creation. Clearly, X and Y are not parallel. Eliminate C.

D) Charles Darwin argued that species of plants and animals, rather than being created instantaneously, were slowly evolved through random mutation and natural selection.
D presents a key part of Darwin's argument as a non-essential modifier for species of plants and animals, and this is not right. In addition, what role is being playing in the sentence? Being seems to modify created and, by so doing, distorts the intended meaning. Eliminate D.

E) Charles Darwin argued that species of plants and animals [were] evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection rather than instantaneous creation.
Just as in C, there is a parallelism problem in E between evolved and creation. Besides, the linking verb were is missing in E. Eliminate E.

B is left as the best answer.

Mate, I went with "E" too.

Later I realized that there is parallelism issue with "E", evolved is a "modifier" and "instantaneous creation" is a noun.
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Charles Darwin argued that plant and animal species were evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection instead of created instantaneously.

A) plant and animal species were evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection instead of created instantaneously "were evolved" is redundant - we do not require two verbs here. Just "evolved" is sufficient. Eliminate.

B) plant and animal species were not created instantaneously but rather evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection Correct. There is no redundancy and correct parallelism is maintained between "evolved" and "created".

C) plant and animal species were slowly evolved through random mutation and natural selection instead of instantaneous creation "were...evolved" is redundant - we do not require two verbs here. Just "evolved" is sufficient. Eliminate.

D) species of plants and animals, rather than being created instantaneously, were slowly evolved through random mutation and natural selection "were...evolved" is redundant - we do not require two verbs here. Just "evolved" is sufficient. Eliminate.

E) species of plants and animals evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection rather than instantaneous creation There is a parallelism issue between "evolved" and "creation. Eliminate.

Hope this helps.
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There are plenty of great explanations in the thread, so I will just add my two cents about instead of / rather.

As discussed here, "rather" or "rather than" can be used with nouns/adjectives/verbs, while "instead of" can only be used with nouns or noun phrases. For instance,

"I prefer drinking coffee rather than milk" - correct.
"I prefer drinking coffee instead of milk" - correct.
"I walk rather than drive" - correct.
"I walk instead of drive" - incorrect.

Hope the above helps.

The official explanation is here

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