ziyuen wrote:
Lower courts generally accept what the higher courts say is true not only about the law but also rules of procedure.
A. Lower courts generally accept what the higher courts say is true not only about the law but also
B. That lower courts generally accept what the higher courts say is true not only about the law but also about
C. That lower courts generally accept what the higher courts say is not only true about the law but also about
D. Lower courts generally accept not only what the higher courts say is true about the law but also about
E. Lower courts generally accept what the higher courts say not only is true about the law but also
OFFICIAL SOLUTION
When you see a "not only...but also" construction (or a "both...and" or "either...or"), you should immediately seize on the fact that the two components of that construction must be parallel. One helpful trick for rooting out choices that are not parallel is to read the sentence without everything from "not only" through "but also" to see whether what remains is a complete, coherent thought. If it is not, then you know that the construction is not parallel. For example, if you did that with choice A you would have:
A) Lower courts generally accept what higher courts say is true...rules of procedure.
Since this is not a coherent sentence, A is incorrect. If you perform that on B (the correct answer), you will have:
B) That lower courts generally accept what the higher courts say is true about rules of procedure.
This is a complete thought (more on why, if you didn't see that at first, in a minute), so you cannot eliminate B for parallelism.
Choices C, D, and E each an error when held to that standard:
C: That lower courts generally accept what the higher courts say is about rules pf procedure.
D: Lower courts generally accept about legal rules of procedure.
E: Lower courts generally accept what the higher courts say rules of procedure.
Regarding correct choice B: the testmaker here uses an interesting sentence structure that may at first sound incorrect. Your ear may very well want to hear that the lower courts accept what the higher courts say is true (about both the law and rules of procedure). But what the sentence actually says in B is lower courts generally accept what the higher courts say, a fact that is true about both the law and rules of procedure. It's a sentence structure akin to "That it is raining is true in both New York and Boston." Note that the GMAT testmaker likes to find sentences that are correct but also interestingly structured, rewarding those who can unpack a strange sentence to determine what it really says.