In the sixteenth century, the push for greater precision in measuring

Common words in parallelism. Here's a blog on the topic:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/common-par ... orrection/
What the sentence is trying to say ....
[subject] is not motivated by P, but is motivated by Q
The proper way to condense, dropping the common words, is:
[subject] is motivated not by P, but by Q
It is incorrect to say:
[subject] is not motivated by P, but by Q
Putting the "not" in front of the verb "motivated" implies that the contrast will be between two verbs ---- "not motivated by X, but [some other verb]" Choice (A) makes this mistake.
We need the preposition "by" in both terms of the parallelism --- choices (A) & (B) & (D) all make this mistake. Choice (B) is also in the present progressive, which makes no sense. Here's a blog about the progressive tenses:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-verbs ... ive-tense/

That leaves (C) & (E).There are two big problems with (C).
(a) "like" is used for comparing nouns, and "as" is used for comparing actions, so "like they were more recently" ---- using "like" for an action --- is unacceptable by GMAT standards. Here's a blog about this issue:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-sente ... ike-vs-as/
(b) the pronoun "they" is incorrect. The antecedent is the subject of the sentence, "the push", which is singular --- this demands a singular pronoun.

For all these reasons, the only acceptable answer is (E).

Mike
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"not by..but by" construction is needed.

C or E.

Like seems apporpriate here, as pronoun "they" is used here.

I would bet on C.

"E" for me too

not by... but by - paralel structure
+
"as" because of the verb "has" + "been"

I'm always confused about the "true" definition of time. In physics, time is defined as the interval between two successive events. Now that definition doesn't work for me because before you define time you need to define "events" and that is not also the end of the problem; how do you define "succession" ? The conventional definition is "well understood" by Hawking and Einstein but I'm still searching for a better answer ....

By the way, answer to this petty SC problem which has hardly any important significance is E

Am torn between (A) and (E). Will go for (A)

(B): "Being" --> Avoid answer choices with "being" in it at all cost!
(C): What does "they" refer to? Ambiguity
(D): Akward sentence structure
(E): Unsure about the "as has been the case more recently"

And there actual answer is.....

E seems better than C .

as usage here is better than like.

Just to confirm, In the sixteenth century is a verb modifier, right?

In the sixteenth century, the push for greater precision in measuring time was not motivated by ..............

That's right. The prepositional phrase "In the sixteenth century" is a prepositional phrase that is acting as a adverbial phrase, that is to say, a verb modifier, because it answers the adverb-question "when?" See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-gramm ... d-clauses/

Mike
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"not by..but by" construction .Hence E

In the sixteenth century, the push for greater precision in measuring time was not, like more recently, motivated by complicated philosophical questions about the nature of matter and the universe, but the practical matters of navigation: sailors simply needed more highly accurate timepieces in order to compute their longitude form the positions of the stars.

Lets break sentence into clauses:

In the sixteenth century,
the push for greater precision in measuring time was not, like more recently, motivated by complicated philosophical questions about the nature of matter and the universe
The push is subject and was is verb

but the practical matters of navigation: sailors simply needed more highly accurate timepieces in order to compute their longitude form the positions of the stars.
Practical matters is the subject and needed is the verb

The problem is Idiom : NOT X BUT Y and : can not be used to separate two clauses

A. not, like more recently, motivated by complicated philosophical questions about the nature of matter and the universe, but the practical matters of navigation
B. being motivated by the practical matters of navigation, instead of complicated philosophical questions about the nature of matter and the universe, as it has been recently - Correct IDIOM not used,
C. motivated not by complicated philosophical questions about the nature of matter and the universe, like they were more recently, but by the practical matters of navigation : No referent for they
D. motivated by the practical matters of navigation, not complicated philosophical questions about the nature of matter and the universe, which was the case more recently - Meaning change and wrong IDIOM
E. motivated not by complicated philosophical questions about the nature of matter and the universe, as has been the case more recently, but by the practical matters of navigation - Correct , Not X bu Y is used.

In the sixteenth century, the push for greater precision in measuring time was not, like more recently, motivated by complicated philosophical questions about the nature of matter and the universe, but the practical matters of navigation: sailors simply needed more highly accurate timepieces in order to compute their longitude form the positions of the stars.

A. not, like more recently, motivated by complicated philosophical questions about the nature of matter and the universe, but the practical matters of navigation -> But motivated by is required
B. being motivated by the practical matters of navigation, instead of complicated philosophical questions about the nature of matter and the universe, as it has been recently
being is used for something that is occurring as we speak. it -> refers to the clause which is wrong
C. motivated not by complicated philosophical questions about the nature of matter and the universe, like they were more recently, but by the practical matters of navigation
they is referring to?
D. motivated by the practical matters of navigation, not complicated philosophical questions about the nature of matter and the universe, which was the case more recently
which refers to universe -> Wrong
E. motivated not by complicated philosophical questions about the nature of matter and the universe, as has been the case more recently, but by the practical matters of navigation -> Looks correct.
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One question about option 'A'. In general can 'in sixteenth century' be compared with 'LIKE more recently'? or the sentence should use 'AS'
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NO, you cannot compare in sixteenth century with either --like more recently-- or --as more recently-- BUT it should be as in more recent times
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Thanks chetan2u . I got it that to maintain parallelism, we need 'in' after 'as'
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In the sixteenth century, the push for greater precision in measuring time was not, like more recently, motivated by complicated philosophical questions about the nature of matter and the universe, but the practical matters of navigation: sailors simply needed more highly accurate timepieces in order to compute their longitude form the positions of the stars.

A. not, like more recently, motivated by complicated philosophical questions about the nature of matter and the universe, but the practical matters of navigation
We need the preposition "by" in both terms of the parallelism - But by
B. being motivated by the practical matters of navigation, instead of complicated philosophical questions about the nature of matter and the universe, as it has been recently
Usage of being . Parallelism issue - by preposition is needed
C. motivated not by complicated philosophical questions about the nature of matter and the universe, like they were more recently, but by the practical matters of navigation
Pronoun "they" can't refer to singular antecedent "the push"
D. motivated by the practical matters of navigation, not complicated philosophical questions about the nature of matter and the universe, which was the case more recently
Which refers to universe . Parallelism issue as not is not followed by -"by"
E. motivated not by complicated philosophical questions about the nature of matter and the universe, as has been the case more recently, but by the practical matters of navigation
Correct answer

Answer E
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Done. Thank you.
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choice D contain 2 error.
it requires "but" before "Not".
I speak english but not french. this is writen english
I speak english , not french. this is what we spoke.

"which" in choice D is wrong. which needs to refer to a noun. The only case in which, "which" refers to an idea is
I learn english, in which case I can read business books.

This question is based on Parallelism and Idiomatic Usage.

Since the pair of correlative conjunctions – not-but – is used in this sentence, the parallelism has to be maintained after each of the pair of conjunctions. Parallelism of correlative conjunctions is maintained only when a word of the same part of speech is used after each of the pair of conjunctions. For example, if a noun is used after 'not', a noun should also be used after 'but'.

The options give us a choice between ‘like’ and ‘as’. The conjunction 'as' is used to make a comparison between two actions. Since the conjunction ‘like’ is used only to make a comparison between two nouns or pronouns and there is no such comparison in the sentence, the conjunction ‘like’ is not appropriate in this sentence.
On this basis, Options A and C can be eliminated.

Furthermore, in Option A, the conjunction ‘not’ is followed by the verb ‘motivated’ and the conjunction ‘but’ is followed by the noun phrase ‘the practical matters of navigation’. So, Option A can definitely be ruled out.

The construction of Option B is awkward because of the participle ‘being’ and the adverb ‘instead’. The pronoun ‘it’ is ambiguous as it is not clear what the pronoun refers to. Because this option lacks clarity, Option B can be eliminated.

The parallelism has been maintained in Option C. However, the pronoun ‘they’ is ambiguous as it is not clear what the antecedent of the pronoun is. The use of the conjunction ‘like’ is also inappropriate in this sentence. So, Option C can be eliminated.

The construction of Option D is clumsy. The conjunction ‘not’ has been used without the paired conjunction ‘but’. This option also has the modifier “which was the case more recently”. This modifier is awkwardly placed as the antecedent of the relative pronoun ‘which’ is not clear. So, Option D can also be eliminated.

The parallelism has been maintained in this option. Each of the pair of conjunctions is followed by the preposition ‘by’. The conjunction ‘as’ has been used in the sentence to make convey the comparison. Therefore, E is the most appropriate option.

Jayanthi Kumar.
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not xxx but xx: parallel structure;
as > like. like/unlike + noun only