Most of Portugal's 250,000 university students boycotted classes in a

It could be more useful to look at instead of as acting as an adverb, but (about your question on prepositions in general) how do you define "connect"? For example, in the following phrase:

The page in the book... ← noun1, preposition (with its object, adjective for noun1), noun2 (object of the preposition)

We're not looking at a "connection" of the kind we'd get with something like and.

The page and the book... ← This one is different from the page in the book.

We really shouldn't be too concerned about seeing nouns on both sides of instead of. In general, after a preposition, it is perfectly normal for us to see a noun (or a gerund). This has very little to do with whether we see a noun before the instead of.

1. The notice was sent to his boss instead of his lawyer.
2. This summer, he will work at the local library instead of going an another overseas vacation.
3. This summer, he will work instead of going an another overseas vacation.

A says that the higher education was previously paying $7

B The phrase - for which was previously paid $7 per year - is too awkward to consider
In C - previously $7 per year - is grammatically wrong. Previously is an adverb and can not modify the noun of $7

D has no flaws as such and is the best answer.

E -as opposed to -is not the right idiom to describe comparison, unless the arms of the comparison are positioned opposite to the others physically? In a weird way, E may also give the feeling that the students were in fact opposed to the $7 per year.

Quick question on (A): Isn't the -ing modifier modifying the law, NOT the "students" or the "cost of higher education"? An -ing modifier should modify the closest preceding clause's subject, which in this case is the relative clause---"that (a law) that requires them to contribute..."

A says that the higher education was previously paying $7

B The phrase - for which was previously paid $7 per year - is too awkward to consider
In C - previously $7 per year - is grammatically wrong. Previously is an adverb and can not modify the noun of $7

D has no flaws as such and is the best answer.

E -as opposed to -is not the right idiom to describe comparison, unless the arms of the comparison are positioned opposite to the others physically? In a weird way, E may also give the feeling that the students were in fact opposed to the $7 per year.

Hello ak2121,

We hope this finds you well.

Having gone through the question and your query, we believe that we can help resolve your doubts. The use of "towards" is perfectly all right in this sentence; idiomatically speaking, "towards" can be used to metaphorically refer towards making a contribution to advance a goal or obligation. For example, "I took a big step towards my goals of losing weight." and "John contributed 500$ towards his mother's hospital bill."

Further, there is no difference whatsoever between "toward" and "towards"; they can be used interchangeably.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

It's (usually) good to be frank.

The problem here is that it's hard to see what you mean by the word "connect". If you are looking for the kind of "connect" that a conjunction provides, you won't find it with an instead of.

If you feel that a structure that includes a "noun + instead of + noun" is always wrong, then you'll have to add that structure to your "whitelist".

Most of Portugal's 250,000 university students boycotted classes in a one-day strike to protest a law that requires them to contribute $330 a year toward the cost of higher education, previously paying $7 per year.

I believe the answer is D.

Reasoning:
There are no grammatical flaws in sentences D or E that I notice. I even believe that sentence E sounds better because it goes along with the sentence. Students boycotting, leads you to believe that the new amount of money that students are forced to pay opposes the old amount.

However, putting "as opposed to" into the sentence changes the meaning of the original. The original only indicates that there are new amounts to be paid. It doesn't offer that the amounts are "opposing" each other

Hello, beeblebrox. Yes, instead of can be followed by a noun or noun phrase, even if traditional grammar sources remove the infinitive (phrase) from that list. For example, in the sentence, Instead of cycling, he prefers to take the bus to work, it might be frowned upon to replace the gerund cycling with the infinitive cycle. For GMAT™ purposes, you can be 100 percent sure that a noun phrase, not just a one-word noun, may follow instead of if you see such usage in a correct answer, as we do in (D) above. Keep in mind, too, that rather than can be used in place of instead of in any pertinent comparison, but not the other way around. There are a number of official questions in which you see the two constructs tested. I will spoil just a few from different editions of the OG:

1) In metalwork one...

2) Judge Bonham denied...

3) Nuclear fusion is...

4) Rather than ignore...

5) Recently discovered fossil...

I would urge you not to look to create absolute rules regarding the usage of instead of. When you come across the construct in official SC questions, take note of what you find. The more you see a consistent usage, the greater your degree of confidence can be in that usage on the exam.

Thank you for thinking to ask.

- Andrew