Bunuel wrote:
Compared to Bach's astonishing output of music each year over his relatively long life, Brahms, ever the perfectionist, destroyed many of his compositions and only published those few that met his high standards.
A) Compared to Bach's astonishing output of music each year over his relatively long life, Brahms, ever the perfectionist, destroyed many of his compositions and only published those few that
B) Compared to Bach's astonishing output of music each year over his relatively long life, Brahms' compositions, many destroyed because of his perfection, and only those few published
C) Bach had an astonishing output of music each year over his relatively long life, but Brahms, always a perfectionist, destroying many of his compositions and only publishing those few that
D) In contrast to Bach having had an astonishing output of music each year over his relatively long life, Brahms, always a perfectionist, destroyed many of his compositions and only published those few that
E) Whereas Bach had an astonishing output of music each year over his relatively long life, Brahms, ever the perfectionist, destroyed many of his compositions and published only those few that
Magoosh Official Explanation:
Split #1: the position of the word “only” — which is correct? (a) “only published those few“, or (b) “published only those few“? The latter correctly say that, in contrast to the large number Brahms destroyed, only a few were published. In the former, the adverb “only” applies illogically to the verb “published” — as if Brahms might have done some action more serious than publishing but instead settled on “only” publishing them. That makes no sense. Each choice in which “only” precedes the verb is wrong. Choices (A) & (C) & (D) make this mistake.
Split #2a: comparisons. Choice (A) compares Bach’s music to Brahms the person, a faulty comparison. Choice (B) correctly compares Bach’s music to Brahms music. Choice (D) correctly contrasts Bach the person with Brahms the person.
Split #3: the missing verb mistake. In choice (B), there’s no verb in the entire sentence. Choice (C) attempts a “but” construction, and before the “but” is a bonafide independent clause, but after the word “but”, there’s no verb to make that second half another independent clause. Both (B) & (C) make this mistake.
Split #4: “always the perfectionist” vs. “ever the perfectionist.” This is a false split. Both are perfectly fine.
Split #5: too much after a preposition. The “in contrast to” structure ends in preposition, and that preposition can take a single noun, as well as a gerund or a substantive clause. The GMAT, though, does not like the construction [preposition][noun][participial phrase] — if you want to talk about that much action, use subordinate clause with a full [noun]+[verb] structure. Choice (D) makes this mistake, “in contrast to Bach” + a long participial clause. The GMAT would not find that acceptable. Choice (D) is incorrect.
For all these reasons,
(E) is the only possible answer.