Researchers now regard interferon as not a single

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Concepts tested here: Modifiers + Parallelism + Verb Forms + Idioms + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• “not A but B” is a correct idiomatic usage; A and B must be parallel and comparable.
• The word "considered" does not require a conjunction or a helping word/phrase; “consider/considered” is always followed directly by the noun, and the similar word "regarded" must be followed by the conjunction "as"; correct usages: Jack is “considered a math genius” or Jack is “regarded as a math genius”.
• “being”, rendering it awkward and needlessly wordy; remember, “being” is only to be used when it is part of a noun phrase or represents the passive continuous verb tense; the use of passive continuous must be justified in the context.
• Information that is permanent in nature is best conveyed through the simple present tense.

A: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between A (“as not a single substance”) and B (“it is rather a biological family of complex molecules”) in the idiomatic construction “not A but B”; remember, “not A but B” is a correct idiomatic usage; A and B must be parallel and comparable. Further, Option A uses the redundant phrase “but it is rather”, rendering it awkward and needlessly wordy.

B: This answer choice incorrectly uses the present participle (“verb+ing” – “playing” in this case) to refer to information that is permanent in nature; remember, information that is permanent in nature is best conveyed through the simple present tense.

C: Correct. This answer choice correctly maintains parallelism between A (“as a single substance”) and B (“as a biological family of complex molecules”) in the idiomatic construction “not A but B”. Further, Option C correctly uses the simple present tense verb “play” to refer to information that is permanent in nature. Additionally, Option C correctly uses the idiomatic construction “regard as”. Besides, Option C is free of awkwardness or redundancy.

D: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between A (“to be a single substance”) and B (“a biological family of complex molecules”) in the idiomatic construction “not A but B”; remember, “not A but B” is a correct idiomatic usage; A and B must be parallel and comparable. Further, Option D incorrectly uses the present participle (“verb+ing” – “playing” in this case) to refer to information that is permanent in nature; remember, information that is permanent in nature is best conveyed through the simple present tense. Additionally, Option D incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction “regard to be”; remember, "regard" must be followed by the conjunction "as". Besides, Option D redundantly uses “but” alongside “rather”, leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

E: This answer choice incorrectly uses the word “being”, rendering it awkward and needlessly wordy; remember, “being” is only to be used when it is part of a noun phrase or represents the passive continuous verb tense; the use of passive continuous must be justified in the context. Moreover, Option E redundantly uses “but” alongside “instead”, leading to further awkwardness and redundancy.

Hence, C is the best answer choice.

To understand the use of "Being" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



To understand the use of "Considered" and "Regarded" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Imo C
Correct idiom should be not as X but as y.

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Experts -- could you help me understand if, written as below, B would be a correct sentence?
Trying to understand the difference between participle modifier here.

B. not as a single substance but as a biological family of complex molecules playing
C. not as a single substance but as a biological family of complex molecules that play

Hey I am no expert, but IMO option B ( present participle phrase without comma) is grammatically correct, because it modifies molecules in same way as does option C. But meaning subtly changes ( I am not very sure- but lets discuss)
In option C you are quoting a general fact "molecules play an important..."- which is true always ( general truth/fact is presented in simple present tense)
In option B you are quoting a fact which can be true for current/present situation "molecules playing an important....." ( What we are saying is that molecules are playing an important role- (and maybe they have always and will always continue to play that role , but currently they are playing an important role)

So if I had an option between B and C i would have marked C, but GMAT will not give these 2 sentences together unless there is some other bigger mistake in other part of sentence. For example if the non underline portion had another participle in parallel, then option B would have been much better.

mikemcgarry
a biological family of complex molecules that play an important

Shouldn't it be family that plays and not family that play?
That is why I chose b as answer

Dear kaushalik,

I'm happy to respond.

The noun "family" is a collective noun. This means that it includes many members, but is a singular noun. Because it's a singular noun, it must have a singular verb. This is ALWAYS true for collective nouns:
The company is . . .
The baseball team is . . .
The university faculty is . . .
The interim government is . . .
See:
Subject-Verb Agreement on GMAT Sentence Correction

Does this make sense?
Mike

Exactly @mikemcgurry
So family should take singular verb
The family PLAYS
And not the family PLAY

Agree with this. Way is it not saying plays?

Hello sevenplusplus,

I am not sure if you still have this doubt. However, here is my two cents on the same.

Both the versions of the answer choice that you have presented in your post convey the same meaning.

In the context of this sentence, that play = playing. There is absolutely no different in the meaning expressed by these two expressions.

Hence, you will never get such answer choices for the same question.


Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

A - not parallel ..as not a single substance but it is......
B - seems correct
C - not as seems more preferable than as not...
D - not to be a single ....but rather a ....not parallel
E - but instead ...redundant...being a biological...wordy..


Sent from my Moto G (5S) Plus using GMAT Club Forum mobile app

Help me check my thought process !!!!

A. as not a single substance, but it is rather a biological family of complex molecules that play
not parallel here

B. as not a single substance but as a biological family of complex molecules playing
not parallel here

C. not as a single substance but as a biological family of complex molecules that play
not as noun ... but as noun ... parallel!

D. not to be a single substance but rather a biological family of complex molecules playing
In my opinion, this is redundant. "but" and "rather" both suggest a change. (Need someone help me clarify my thought process)

E. not as a single substance but instead as being a biological family of complex molecules that play
Same with D, and "being" doesn't seem necessary. But I don't know if this is the correct way to identify errors

A. as not a single substance, but it is rather a biological family of complex molecules that play
B. as not a single substance but as a biological family of complex molecules playing
C. not as a single substance but as a biological family of complex molecules that play
D. not to be a single substance but rather a biological family of complex molecules playing
E. not as a single substance but instead as being a biological family of complex molecules that play

Ans (C) not as X...but as Y (Correct Idiom)

Correct +1

Correct idiom is "Not as X but as Y" wherein both X and Y must be parallel entities.

It's (C) "Not + prepositional phrase" and "but + prepositional phrase"

GMATNinja VeritasPrepKarishma egmat

Other than knowing idioms, can I use playing in (B) or molecules that play in (C) to perform PoE?

Hello Arpit/ adkikani,

Thank you for the query.

IMHO, we cannot use that play Vs. playing to reject or select any answer because in the context of this official sentence, these expressions are certainly interchangeable.


Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha