Instead of invading the Italian peninsula by sea, like all previous ag

Instead of invading the Italian peninsula by sea, like all previous aggressors, Hannibal travelled over the Alps to invade by land from the north.

A) Instead of invading the Italian peninsula by sea, like all previous aggressors, Hannibal travelled over the Alps to invade
Instead of + gerund --> always wrong on GMAT
Comparison refer to previous action of 'invading' so we can't use like for this comparison and should add 'had done' after 'agrressors'

B) Instead of invading the Italian peninsula by sea, as all previous aggressors did, Hannibal travelled over the Alps for invading
Instead of + gerund --> always wrong on GMAT
'for invading' --> wrong idiom, should be 'to invade'

C) Compared to invading the Italian peninsula by sea, as all previous aggressors had done, Hannibal travelled over the Alps to invade
Comparing of 'invading' and 'Hannibal' --> non parallel

D) Rather than invade the Italian peninsula by sea, as all previous aggressors had done, Hannibal travelled over the Alps to invade
Correct

E) Rather than invading the Italian peninsula by sea, like all previous aggressors, Hannibal travelled over the Alps for invading
Comparison refer to previous action of 'invading' so we can't use like for this comparison and should add 'had done' after 'agrressors'
'for invading' --> wrong idiom, should be 'to invade'
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Instead of invading the Italian peninsula by sea, like all previous aggressors, Hannibal travelled over the Alps to invade by land from the north.

A) Instead of invading the Italian peninsula by sea, like all previous aggressors, Hannibal travelled over the Alps to invade
B) Instead of invading the Italian peninsula by sea, as all previous aggressors did, Hannibal travelled over the Alps for invading

the idiom X instead of Y preferably takes nouns for X and Y. Here X is a clause and Y is a ing modifier
C) Compared to invading the Italian peninsula by sea, as all previous aggressors had done, Hannibal travelled over the Alps to invade
in the idiom X compared to Y, X&Y can be both nouns, clauses etc. here one is a clause and other is present participle.
D) Rather than invade the Italian peninsula by sea (clause), as all previous aggressors had done, Hannibal travelled over the Alps to invade (clause)

in X Rather than Y, X & Y can be anything which are parallel.
E) Rather than invading the Italian peninsula by sea ( verb ing modifier or present participle) , like all previous aggressors, Hannibal travelled over the Alps for invading ( clause)
in X Rather than Y, X & Y can be anything which are parallel.

Hello Experts,

Is the usage of "had done" correct here?

The subject is not performing the two events(i.e. invading in the past and travelling to the north) so we can use simple past over here - right?

Please correct me if I am wrong
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Instead of invading the Italian peninsula by sea, like all previous aggressors, Hannibal travelled over the Alps to invade by land from the north.

A) Instead of invading the Italian peninsula by sea, like all previous aggressors, Hannibal travelled over the Alps to invade(Not parallel and wrong usage of like)
B) Instead of invading the Italian peninsula by sea, as all previous aggressors did, Hannibal travelled over the Alps for invading(Not parallel)
C) Compared to invading the Italian peninsula by sea, as all previous aggressors had done, Hannibal travelled over the Alps to invade(Not parallel)
D) Rather than invade the Italian peninsula by sea, as all previous aggressors had done, Hannibal travelled over the Alps to invade (Correct)
E) Rather than invading the Italian peninsula by sea, like all previous aggressors, Hannibal travelled over the Alps for invading(Not parallel and wrong usage of like)


Usgae of like implies the persons are being compared and not the actions. Hence usage of like is wrong.
Instead of x,y prefers nouns and those nouns should be parallel.

The answer is D

Infinitive of purpose should be used and sentence after comma should stand on its own as it has to be a independent clause as the starting clause before is modifying the Independent clause .
So B and E are out
Compared to is used wrongly in C
There is a comparison error in A
here two actions are compared

D

Rather than [to] invade the Italian peninsula by sea, as all previous aggressors had done, Hannibal travelled over the Alps to invade

For Parallelism, as hidden infinitive form is highlighted

Instead of can take noun or noun phrase (gerund are noun forms of verb)

It's the meaning on this type of question matters.

"Rather than" means the people doing the action had a choice.

"instead" or "instead of" means in place of someone of something

Source: EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana

the second " invade" is tempting; test takers will think D as a false answer. However, D makes the most sense here.

Dear mikemcgarry

I encountered this question in Magoosh practices.
I genuinely need your help to clarify some confusions that does not mentioned in your video explanation.

#1 I read a blog from Magoosh, I got an idea that "rather than" + subjunctive verb.
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-idiom ... 1507460526
I wonder whether the verb tense after "rather than" must be subjunctive verb. Did I miss something?

#2, the parallelism is "invade by sea" to "invade by land" or "invade" to "travelled"?
in choice D, Rather than invade the Italian peninsula by sea, as all previous aggressors had done, Hannibal travelled over the Alps to invade
does the first "invade" after "rather than" is subjunctive ? Does the first "invade" parallel to second "invade" , which is not underline part ?
At first glance, I think that the first "invade" parallels to second "invade",
I don't think that it parallels to "traveled", the main verb of the main clause, and that the first "invade" is subjunctive, although it follows "rather than", which does not imply subjunctive mood.

#3, my approach is valid?
choice E, Rather than invading the Italian peninsula by sea, like all previous aggressors, Hannibal travelled over the Alps for invading

I eliminated E , one reason is "to invade" is correct, "for invading" is incorrect.
another reason is that I think the phrase "like all previous aggressors" in the middle of the sentence is ambiguous. I don't know which it modifies, all previous aggressors did invade by sea ? or invaded by land, Hannibal invaded, as all previous aggressors had done.
Mike, Please point out my fault.


Have a nice day.

Hi zoezhuyan,

Carolyn from Magoosh here -- I can step in for Mike!

1) When "rather than" is followed by a verb, yes, that verb should be in the subjunctive form. Here, "invade" is the subjunctive form.

2) Here, the words "invade" and "travelled" are in parallel. Because of the specific nature of "rather than" (that it takes the subjunctive form), it's okay that these verbs are not in the same form. See this example from the blog post that you linked:

She simply bought a condo in Boston, rather than pay for a hotel room for several months.

In that sentence, the verbs “bought” and “pay” are in parallel. Notice that since the latter action is hypothetical, it is in the subjunctive.

So it's okay that "invade" and "travelled" are not both in the subjunctive This is still grammatically correct, and correct parallel structure. We can break this down simply into: "Rather than X, Hannibal did Y". This structure makes it a little easier to see that "invade" and "travelled" are the two verbs in parallel. The second "to invade" is an infinitive of purpose, describing the purpose of "Hannibal travelled".

3) All your reasoning here is correct! Nice work

Hope that's helpful!
-Carolyn
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Hi carolyn,
Thanks so much for your quickly replay.
It's great helpful

Have a nice day

Zoe

Instead of invading the Italian peninsula by sea, like all previous aggressors, Hannibal travelled over the Alps to invade by land from the north.

A) Instead of invading the Italian peninsula by sea, like all previous aggressors, Hannibal travelled over the Alps to invade
B) Instead of invading the Italian peninsula by sea, as all previous aggressors did, Hannibal travelled over the Alps for invading
C) Compared to invading the Italian peninsula by sea, as all previous aggressors had done, Hannibal travelled over the Alps to invade
D) Rather than invade the Italian peninsula by sea, as all previous aggressors had done, Hannibal travelled over the Alps to invade
E) Rather than invading the Italian peninsula by sea, like all previous aggressors, Hannibal travelled over the Alps for invading

This is an easy one. The cue here is that the comparison is between invasions, not people. Hence like is straight out. Hence, A and E are out. Between B, C and D, the next concept they're testing is your knowledge on tenses. Participle *had* shows that the aggressors attacked before Hannibal did hence we're left with C and D.
Now read C, compared to CANNOT be used here. Rather than is the correct idiom.
Hence D

Kudos if you like this post.

Posted from my mobile device

Hi mikemcgarry, carolyn, or other Magoosh experts,

I just encountered a sentence from Magoosh,

1) Had the United States allowed the California Republic to remain independent after the Bear Flag Revolt rather than annexing it with military force, this “California nation” might have become the wealthiest nation in North America.
(A) Had the United States allowed the California Republic to remain independent after the Bear Flag Revolt rather than annexing it with military force, this “California nation” might have become
(B) With the United States annexing the California Republic after the Bear Flag Revolt instead of allowing it to remain independent, this “California nation” didn’t become
(C) The United States annexed the California Republic after the Bear Flag Revolt and didn’t allow it to remain independent, to prevent it to become
(D) The United States didn’t allow the California Republic to remain independent after the Bear Flag Revolt, it annexed it with military force instead, and this “California nation” didn’t become
(E) The United States, by not allowing the California Republic to remain independent after the Bear Flag Revolt and, instead, by annexing it, it prevented this “California nation” from becoming

The OA is A,
the word "annexing", follows "rather than", is a participle of "annex", and I thought "annex" here is a verb, obviously, annexing is not a subjunctive form,
Would you please clarify what the difference is between "annexing" in the sentence and annex that is a subjunctive form as your above explanation #1

Waiting for your reply

Have a nice day

Hi zoezhuyan!

Glad to help!

Sorry for not clarifying this -- I guess my statement was a bit too general! "Rather than" is tricky, because it can be used in a few different ways (as you have seen!!). The key to keep in mind is that we use the subjunctive when the statement is hypothetical. So, if the verb after "rather than" is referring to the hypothetical action, then it needs to be in the subjunctive. But if the OTHER verb is the hypothetical one, and the "rather than" verb is not hypothetical, then it should be in the regular tense. That first blog post that you mentioned only deals with the case where the "rather than" verb is the hypothetical one, I believe.

So here, it's the first statement that's hypothetical, and the second (starting with "rather than") which is not. That means that the first verb should be subjunctive. Let's compare the two:

Rather than invade the Italian peninsula by sea, as all previous aggressors had done, Hannibal travelled over the Alps to invade by land from the north.
Had the United States allowed the California Republic to remain independent after the Bear Flag Revolt rather than annexing it with military force, this “California nation” might have become the wealthiest nation in North America.

The verbs in pink are hypothetical scenarios, and so are subjunctive. The verbs in blue describe things that actually happened, and so are not in the subjunctive. So the key is just to look for the hypothetical scenario, which is not necessarily always the clause starting with "rather than", and that's the one that needs to be in the subjunctive. For a detailed breakdown of this sentence, check out Mike's blog post.

I hope that helps!
-Carolyn
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Hi mikemcgarry, carolyn, or other Magoosh experts,

appreciate your quick reply,
in order to avoid my misunderstanding, I need your further explanation,

Had the United States allowed the California Republic to remain independent after the Bear Flag Revolt rather than annexing it with military force, this “California nation” might have become the wealthiest nation in North America.

Here, annexing is participle form of annex, because "than" is a preposition,
So I can conclude that the verb after "rather than" is "- ing" because "than" is a preposition , if it is not subjunctive verb.

Am I correct ?

please clarify.

Thanks a lot

Have a nice day

>_~

Hi zoezhuyan!

Yes, you could think of it that way if you'd like! Here, "annexing" is a gerund. So "rather than" is a preposition, and "rather than annexing" is a gerund phrase Your understanding is correct!

-Carolyn
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A and B have the phrase ‘instead of’, followed by a gerund. This is not preferred on the GMAT. E uses ‘like’ to compare an ‘action’, when ‘like’ is only to be used to compare nouns. C compares ‘invading’ (an action) to Hannibal (a person).

So, the only correct option is D

Invading the Italian peninsula by sea, is compared with invasion done by a previous aggressor.
With this in mind, we can eliminate A and E

C for incorrect comparison

Now something happened in past, why are we using a progressive tense(invading) here ??, Eliminate B

Answer D
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