Early ornithologists often mistook the calling of the Mockingbird as

hi,
according to meaning context ornithologist mistook the call of MB with the call of some other RST bird.
secondly we have mistook in non underlined part ....and as per the idiom ..mistook - for is the correct idiom.

on the basis of idiom we can eliminate
A,C=>MISTOOK AS==wrong idiom.
NOW left with B,D,and E
E==>calling is compared to RST BIRD
D==>MISTOOK THE CALLING FOR .....this one is unidiomatic.

hence option B
KUDOS if it helped.

Thanks for the explanations, but still they do not cater to my doubt
why is call preferred to calling?

hi ankur ,
see actually its all in meaning.
ornithologist: they study birds
in this sentence the meaning coming out that the ornithologist misunderstood the voice of MB for that of other bird.
call = voice. (as per my opinion)
now if you put calling
mistook the calling of A for calling of B.=== as per my opinion this doesn't makes sense.

hope it helps.
what was your approach?

To some extent yes ... i agree with you, but still not fully convinced
I felt call was better than calling, calling just did not seem right.

IDOM TESTED : MISTOOK - FOR.

basing this we can eliminate option A/C

(A) calling of the Mockingbird as the rare Rufous Sided Towhee
WRONG.
==INCORRECT IDIOM USAGE.

(B) call of the Mockingbird for that of the rare Rufous Sided Towhee
CORRECT.

(C) call of the Mockingbird as the rare Rufous Sided Towhee
WRONG.
== SAME AS A

(D) calling of the Mockingbird for that of the rare Rufous Sided Towhee
WRONG.
== MISTOOK THE CALLING IS AWKWARD ...correct usage = mistook the call....

(E) Mockingbird calling for the rare Rufous Sided Towhee
WRONG.
==incoorect comparison...calling compared to bird
== MISTOOK THE CALLING IS AWKWARD ...correct usage = mistook the call....

_____________________
Done. Thank you.

"the call" vs "the calling"

Now as per the intended meaning you are comparing a "sound of a particular bird " to the "sound of another bird"

a quality - beauty , intelligence, smartness - is either an adjective or a noun ... as we are comparing nouns we prefer original powerful noun form

"call" - base form of noun - is basically an entity or a particular quirk of the bird

"the calling" - gerund ( non direct) - same function

so it all comes down to how direct you wanna sound ...

SO B

Hi!
Well the idiom is: mistake + thing/person + for and eliminates thereby answer choices A,C and E.
When comparing B to D, one must chose between the call of the Mockingbird and the callING of the mockingbird.
The call of the mockingbird seems preferable in this sentence structure.


Early ornithologists often mistook the calling of the Mockingbird as the rare Rufous Sided Towhee

A. calling of the Mockingbird as the rare Rufous Sided Towhee
B. call of the Mockingbird for that of the rare Rufous Sided Towhee
C. call of the Mockingbird as the rare Rufous Sided Towhee
D. calling of the Mockingbird for that of the rare Rufous Sided Towhee
E. Mockingbird calling for the rare Rufous Sided Towhee

Hmmm ... you are right in the usage of calling here, but i feel that the usage that you have mentioned is not the one used here ...
Still more or less convinced as to why callingis wrong.

Thanks Zarrlou and vishnuns39620!!

Idiom is 'mistook for' A, C are out

Ornithologists mistook the call and not the mockingbird. E is out

'Call' is better than 'calling'. B is right option.

"The calling" is a complex gerund which is not kept in parallel with the relative pronoun "that".

A. not parallel....mistook calling as...the rare
B. seems parallel. ...call of Mockingbird....for that...that represents call.
C. not parallel
D. seems parallel but calling of the mocking bird is a bit awkward....it is his calling....call is sound of mocking bird but why calling....
E. not parallel

I took call over calling: " call of the Mockingbird" as the sound which was made by Mockingbird and which was mistaken to be of Rufous Sided Towhee.

Hi generis

Please underline the highlighted part

Thanks!

B ..
Mistook for " is better..
" call " is better..
Imo

Posted from my mobile device

There are a number of equally serious errors in this sentence as written. It contains an incorrect usage of the idiom "mistook X for Y"—the preposition "for" should replace "as" in the original. It also contains an illogical comparison, drawing a parallel between the "calling" of the mockingbird and the "rare rufous-sided towhee." Logically, one birdsong should be compared to another, not the song of the mockingbird to the species of the rufous-sided towhee.
In addition, the sentence should use the noun form "call," rather than the verb "calling," to describe birdsong.
Scan and Group the Answer Choices:
(B) and (D) correctly compare the two bird calls. (A), (C), and (E) leave the comparison unchanged from the original. (B) and (C) use "call" instead of "calling." (B) and (D) use the correct idiom "mistook ... for" instead of "mistook ... as."
Eliminate Wrong Answer Choices:
Only (B) and (D) correctly implement the "mistook X for Y" idiom, and only (B) uses the correct noun form of "call." (B) fits perfectly into the original sentence and is correct.
TAKEAWAY: Comparisons must be in parallel form and compare logically identical items.

I mean B is as obvious a choice as any. But, I agree with Ankur. Why is this the case from a grammatical point of view? Call and calling are both nouns.

I guess the question can be asked differently. Would it be wrong to compare the calling of one bird with that of the other?