Despite its being soft enough to grow, a newborn human has a skull tha

"But" and "rather" can be used together - the contrast is emphasized when "but rather" is used.

Here "although" and "but" are NOT related to each other - "But" is related to "Not" ( idiom: Not X, But Y: X = an unbroken casing with "soft spots", Y = a series of body plates).

Somebody ready to help distinguish btw D. and E.?

How can the OA be D? Isn't "but" and "rather" redundant?
Moreover can we use FANBOYS (but) with a subordinate conjunction (Although), in one sentence?

Apart from being a little awkward (its being), option A puts a newborn human right after the comma.

Despite its being soft enough to grow, a newborn human has a skull...

This makes it sound as if a newborn human is soft enough to grow, which is not the intended meaning. Take a look at the correct option:

Although soft enough to grow, a newborn human's skull...

This is much clearer.
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being is awkward and redundant....but rather together is redundant in D

Why option A is incorrect ,I was confused between A and D

Official Explanation

Creating a filter: in the original sentence, the phrase "despite its being soft enough to grow" grammatically modifies "human," and that's not the intended meaning. The skull of the newborn is what's soft, according to the intended meaning. We eliminate (A) and go straight to the other answer choices to eliminate others with modification errors.

Applying the filter: as it turns out, (B) through (E) are all free of the error in (A). So we'll move straight to finding defects in the other choices.

Finding objective defects: choices (B) and (C) use the gerund unnecessarily in the phrase "despite being," so we focus on (D) and (E), which end differently. The phrase "but rather" is clear in this case, in which we are saying the baby's skull is not one thing, but rather another. Since the word "but" alone can mean different things, we prefer to use "but rather" when relevant for clear meaning, though it's not an absolute requirement. Choice (E) is scarcely flawed, but (D) is objectively clearer and still succinct.

The correct answer is (D).
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