Evolutionary psychology holds that the human mind is not a

Basically, in this sentence, the parallel structure is not actually "not X but Y"; it's just "X but Y".

background:
structure 1: "not X but Y"
this construction signifies that "X" is expected, normal, or customary in the given situation but that "Y" is what is actually present / has happened / will happen.
for instance:
Restaurant X's "hamburgers" are made not of actual hamburger but of turkey.

structure 2: "X but Y"
this construction signifies some sort of general contrast between X and Y, but lacks the semantic sense that Y is a substitute for X.
for instance:
i am not a doctor but can fix your broken finger.

so, the correct answer to this problem can be understood as a case of structure #2 -- note my example above ("i am not a doctor but can fix your broken finger"), which will also appear incorrect if you try to process it as structure #1.

A: The human mind is not a "blank slate," but instead that it comprises specialized mental mechanisms.
Here, the portions in bold -- is a blank slate (verb + noun phrase) and that it comprises specialized mental mechanisms (that-clause) -- are not parallel forms.
Eliminate A.

OA : The human mind is not a "blank slate" but instead comprises specialized mental mechanisms.
Here, the portions in bold -- is a blank slate (verb + noun phrase) and comprises specialized mental mechanisms (verb + noun phrase) are parallel forms.
In accordance with the rule above, not correctly follows the linking verb is.

(C) The human mind, instead of a "blank slate," it ( human mind) comprises specialized mental mechanisms that have been developed to solve - have been - something that started in past and still continues , where as the original meaning was that these mechanisms were developed . 2nd - but is missing.3rd - it - ambiguous .

D: "rather than it, the human mind comprises" (we can omit "being a 'blank slate'" because it is only a modifier of "it") -- no parallelism whatsoever. "Rather than"-structure required some sort of parallelism:
Rather that Mary, Peter should go.
I bought cheese rather than rice.
With verbs situation is more complicated, but we shouldn't worry about it, because "it" (a word after "rather than") is a pronoun and plays the role of a noun. Here "it" is parallel to "the human mind", but at the same time "it" logically stands for "the human mind", so they are the same thing! (Mary and Peter are different people, and cheese and rice are different products in my examples above)
The second problem with D is that "the human mind" comes after its pronoun "it".
GMAT doesn't like "being" if it's used as a participle.

E: "that rather than the human's mind being X" -- this relative cause is incomplete. "Being" here is a gerund, so it plays the role of a noun. We get: rather than [being]. So what? The thought is completed, of course, in the second that-clause, but it is a mistake. We should complete our "rather than"-thought where we started it (in the first that-clause).
The second mistake is awkwardness. "Something's/somebody's being/doing" provides a hint that the answer is incorrect.

Hence B is the correct answer.
_________________

In C if you remove instead of a "blank slate," it becomes the human mind it .... here it is not required at all
D - rather than it being is awkward
E - human mind's being.. it ... here it is referring to the possessive form of human mind.. not ||.
A That is not required .. as a way of solving is wordy.
D and E also have the same problem of way of solving ..

B rectifies all the problems. it uses to solve ..
human mind is ... but instead comprises .... ||.

Evolutionary psychology holds that the human mind is not a "blank slate," but instead that it comprises specialized mental mechanisms that were developed as a way of solving specific problems human ancestors faced millions of years ago.


Now , D and E are wrong because - that rather than is a bad sentence, also note being - so, D and E are out
So, between A , B and C

(A) the human mind is not a "blank slate," but instead that it ( human mind) comprises specialized mental mechanisms that were developed as a way of solving - that human mind does not sound right , also 'it' can be considered ambiguous as well.

(B) the human mind is not a "blank slate" but instead comprises specialized mental mechanisms that were developed to solve

(C) the human mind, instead of a "blank slate," it ( human mind) comprises specialized mental mechanisms that have been developed to solve - have been - something that started in past and still continues , where as the original meaning was that these mechanisms were developed . 2nd - but is missing.3rd - it - ambiguous .

I will go with B
_________________

Seemed very weird to me.

Idiom : not Y but instead X -
source MGMAT SC page 160.
_________________

OA is B.

Intended meaning: Hard problems (Leads)-----------> SPECIALIZED MENTAL MECHANISM to develop ----------->(which in turn leads to ) SOLVE PROBLEMs
_________________

Evolutionary psychology holds that the human mind is not a "blank slate," but instead that it comprises specialized mental mechanisms that were developed as a way of solving specific problems human ancestors faced millions of years ago.

(A) the human mind is not a "blank slate," but instead that it comprises specialized mental mechanisms that were developed as a way of solving

(B) the human mind is not a "blank slate" but instead comprises specialized mental mechanisms that were developed to solve

(C) the human mind, instead of a "blank slate," it comprises specialized mental mechanisms that have been developed to solve

(D) rather than it being a "blank slate," the human mind comprises specialized mental mechanisms that have been developed as a way of solving
[/b]
(E) rather than the human mind's being a "blank slate," that it comprises specialized mental mechanisms that were developed as a way of solving

To me, this is my hop, step, and jump.
1. have been developed is wrong for something happened some million years ago and therefore C and D are out.
2. 'As a way of solving' ignores the intent involved in the evolution. Therefore A and E are gone.

I would click B and get along. Maybe there are umpteen other pointers to spot the correct choice. But I suspect, that the slug that I am, I might not be fortunate enough to analyze much more.
_________________

after reading choice A, I can not eliminate it. but after reading choice B , I can find an error in choice A.

I do not hold A but B
"but B " is used if there is "not" at the beginning. there is no "not" , "but" is wrong. choice A is wrong gramartically.

This is a GMAT Prep question. Please change the TAG. Bunuel

Posted from my mobile device
_________________

______________________________
Done. Thank you.
_________________

Shouldnt X but instead Y be grammatically parallel?

This question is based on Idiomatic Usage and Construction.

The presence of the conjunctions ‘not-but’ necessitates parallelism. Option A lacks that parallelism because of the repetition of the pronoun ‘that’ and the placement of the redundant pronoun ‘it’. So, Option A can be eliminated.

Option C contains a tense error – the present perfect tense “have been developed” should not be used to convey an action that happened millions of years ago.
The pronoun ‘it’ is also redundant in this option because the antecedent “human mind” is already mentioned in the sentence. So, Option C can be eliminated.

The pronoun ‘it’ seems to refer to “evolutionary psychology” because that is the noun placed before the pronoun. Furthermore, the verb “holds” should be followed by a clause, not the phrase “rather than”. So, Option D can be eliminated.

Option E has the same error of construction as Option D because of the placement of the phrase “rather than” after the verb “holds”. The second pronoun ‘that’ is also redundant as the pronoun ‘that’ is already placed before the underlined portion. So, Option E can be eliminated.

Option B maintains parallelism. Both the conjunctions are followed by a verb; the adverb ‘instead’ only serves to emphasize, so it doesn’t affect parallelism even though it is placed immediately after the conjunction ‘but’. The construction of this option is also appropriate as there is a clause placed after the verb “holds”.
Therefore, B is the most appropriate option.

Jayanthi Kumar.

This is a good one , very good one indeed

Posted from my mobile device

Isn't But instead redundant ? because both are used to contradict

Strictly speaking, vishvendra97, yes, the two words tread on similar linguistic ground, and instead could be eliminated from the sentence without losing vital meaning—we would still understand that an alternative followed but. However, not only is but instead a perfectly acceptable construct, it is also more emphatic than its stripped-down counterpart. If you eliminated (A) and (B) on these grounds alone, I hope you reconsidered when you laid eyes on (C), (D), and (E), all of which have more glaring flaws, as discussed in posts above.

Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew
_________________

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.
_________________