Margaret Visser, the well-known writer of both The Rituals of Dinner

UNDERSTANDING THE INTENDED MEANING

Let’s see the structure of the sentence:-

Margaret Visser, the well-known writer
of both
The Rituals of Dinner, an exhaustive book on the history of table manners throughout the world,
and also Much Depends on Dinner, a more specific look at four elements of common meals,
is an expert specialist on etiquette throughout history.

We are talking about an author, Margaret Visser.
She is the famous writer of two books,
The Rituals of Dinner which is an exhaustive book on the history of table manners throughout the world.
And
Much Depends on Dinner which is a more specific look at four elements of common meals.
She is an expert specialist on etiquette throughout history


Here we can see “of both” has been placed before the names of the two books.

So two things need to be taken care of to maintain parallelism–

1. The “of” should not be repeated as it has been taken as “common”. Had it not been placed before “both” then the structure would have been “both of X and of Y”
2. There should be an “and” joining the names of the two books, keeping in mind the idiomatic expression “both X and Y” – no “also” or “as well as”
a. Correct version: “of both X and Y”

ANSWER CHOICE ELIMINATION

Choices A and B can be ruled out because of the use of “also”
Choices C and D can be ruled out because of the redundant “of”.

Correct Choice E