In his photographic motion studies, Thomas Eakins used a single negati

IMO C

(A) an approach which favorably contrasted with that of his contemporary Eadweard Muybridge, but did not earn
(B) an approach that favorably contrasted with his contemporary Eadweard Muybridge, but that did not earn
(C) an approach that favorably contrasted with that of his contemporary Eadweard Muybridge, but did not earn
(D) an approach which favorably contrasted with that of his contemporary Eadweard Muybridge's, but did not earn
(E) an approach which favorably contrasted to that of his contemporary Eadweard Muybridge, but did not earn for

A & C only logically compare approach with the approach.

an approach requires an essential modifier "that" instead of "which".

Correct me if I am wrong.

I have hardly seen any official question been tested on this criteria. Pls enlighten me if same is not true.

Wait doesn't D accurately compare X's approach to Y's? I don't see an error with D in this stem. Can someone shed some light?

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How did you eliminate A ?
Please share your thoughts on A.

Hi D can not be correct.
Please see D again. It has redundancy.
contrasted with that of his contemporary Eadweard Muybridge's.
End word is in possessive so it can not act as object.

In his photographic motion studies, Thomas Eakins used a single negative for several exposures, an approach which favorably contrasted with that of his contemporary Eadweard Muybridge, but did not earn him as much acclaim in his lifetime, though opinions of his work have shifted dramatically since then.

(A) an approach which favorably contrasted with that of his contemporary Eadweard Muybridge, but did not earn
(B) an approach that favorably contrasted with his contemporary Eadweard Muybridge, but that did not earn
(C) an approach that favorably contrasted with that of his contemporary Eadweard Muybridge, but did not earn
(D) an approach which favorably contrasted with that of his contemporary Eadweard Muybridge's, but did not earn
(E) an approach which favorably contrasted to that of his contemporary Eadweard Muybridge, but did not earn for

which is an non-essential modifier, so a comma is required before which.
Eliminate A,D,E.
Between B and C, 'approach contrasted with the approach of his contemporary...' Hence C, correctly compares both the approaches.
Answer C.

which always introduces a non essential modifier set off between comma
( of course exception being in which, from which etc)

Eg: I hate dogs that bark
( this means you hate only those dogs that bark.)

I hate dogs, which bark.
( you hate all dogs in general. One of the quality of these dogs is they bark)


Hope this helps.

Thank you = Kudos

Aside from C, all options compare a person to a method.
C is right

Why E is not correct ? Would anyone explain it elaborately ?

can anyone please explain why " use of which " is wrong in option A?

Rashed12 , there are two glaring errors and one small error.
• WHICH vs. THAT

WHICH is coupled with non-essential information and is always set off by a preceding comma.
If the which-clause comes in the middle of the sentence, the entire clause is set off by commas.

Correct: The debate trophy, which was engraved, got lost. (commas surround the which-clause)

Wrong: The debate trophy which was engraved got lost. (which as a relative pronoun that heads a modifying clause must have commas around its clause)

Correct: The trophy that was engraved got lost.

If the information is essential, the essential information is always introduced with THAT (not which) and is never set off by commas.

British English makes no distinction between which and that.
People who speak, or were trained in, British English should be careful; memorize the fact that which must have commas and that almost never has commas
when the words are used to head relative clauses.

The writers of the GMAT and North American English do make a distinction between which and that.

You can read a post here that discusses the distinction between which and that.
See also dave13 , here, in this post. Scroll down past the first subject until you see WHICH VS. THAT.

• "earn for" him is unidiomatic
Correct: Hard work earned her a promotion.
Wrong: Hard work earned for her a promotion. (Ouch. That hurts my ears.)

Correct: Honorable conduct earned her a glowing reputation.
Wrong: Honorable conduct earned for her a glowing reputation.

The preposition for does not belong with earn in this context.
We can earn X for Y.
We can earn money for a good cause.

But we cannot "earn for."
"Earn for" is not a phrasal verb.
In this case the construction of earn followed by for is correct,
but (1) "that salary" is correctly the direct object of earn, and
(2) the coupling of "earn" with "for" is a complete accident and not a phrasal verb.
Correct: Will you earn that salary for a year or two?
In that case, though, the preposition FOR has to do with the time period, not with the verb, earn.

Earn is a transitive verb that requires a direct object if not immediately following,
then as soon as possible thereafter.

I can earn money.
I can earn trust. I can earn respect.
But I have to earn something. Earn must be followed by a direct object, not the preposition FOR.
I cannot earn FOR something.

• Idiomatic construction of "contrast to"
X can passively stand in contract to Y.
X must actively contrast with.

But X cannot actively contrast to as is the case in option E.
*********
Please, do not spend much time on this question.

SC questions are really hard to write, so I have sympathy for its author.

Still—the question is not official and it's not a very good question.

Hope that helps.

Hi jrk23

Please see the answer I wrote in this post, HERE.

British English does not distinguish between WHICH and THAT.

North American English does distinguish between WHICH and THAT.
So does the GMAT, as of now.

In that post to which I linked you will find analysis and citations to two resources that will help you to understand that
the use of "which" in option A is incorrect.

Hope that helps.

Dh4035 , I do not understand your assertion.

Options A, C, D, and E all use THAT of.

What is the reasoning behind your statement that "all options compare a person to a method"?

I don't expect the GMAT to force a test taker into having to take a decision on the basis of just a that/which split, so this question may not be very representative of what the GMAT tests these days.

That said, you should make sure that you know the difference between that and which.