Gen. Joseph Hooker initially had seized the advantage at the Battle

For me the best is 'D'!
But still the usage of ",but despite" seems to me redundant and unnecessary! Can any expert or any other member help me understand, whether is it an anamoly?

Thanks

akash2601 - First of all gmat is an to find 4 wrong answer not one best answer. in most of the cases we wont even use that same correct sentence in general daily use. yes it does sound that but worthy to be rejected only if better choice is present.

As mentioned in this post: https://gmatclub.com/forum/magoosh-practice-question-gen-joseph-hooker-251276.html#p1942835 the timeline requires the use of 'would' suffer... in this particular sentence. In that case, I think B should be the answer.
Any thoughts?

Gen. Joseph Hooker initially had seized the advantage at the Battle of Chancellorsville, and he had had an army twice the size of Gen. Lee's Confederates, but having lost his nerves, he had settled into a more defensive posture, and his army eventually was suffering a humiliating defeat.

A. Hooker initially had seized the advantage at the Battle of Chancellorsville, and he had had an army twice the size of Gen. Lee's Confederates, but having lost his nerves, he had settled into a more defensive posture, and his army eventually was suffering

B. Hooker at the Battle of Chancellorsville seized initially the advantage, and he had an army twice as big as Gen. Lee's Confederates, but his nerves were lost, and he settled into a more defensive posture, and his army eventually would suffer

C. Hooker, initially seizing the advantage at the Battle of Chancellorsville, had an army twice as big as Gen. Lee's Confederates, and he lost his nerve and settled into a more defensive posture, so that his army eventually would suffer

D. Hooker initially seized the advantage at the Battle of Chancellorsville, but despite having an army twice the size of Gen. Lee's Confederates, he lost his nerve and settled into a more defensive posture, his army eventually suffering

E. Hooker initially seized the advantage at the Battle of Chancellorsville and he had an army twice the size of Gen. Lee's Confederates, but despite this, he lost his nerve, settling into a more defensive posture, and his army eventually suffered

Answer choice D and E makes me confuse.
But I will go with E.
Is that correct ?

Posted from my mobile device

Hi E can not be correct. This is Demonstrative Pronouns it must be followed by the noun it is referring to. You can now notice why E is wrong.

akash
'But' is indispensable here because it is the conjunction. Remove the word 'but' and you will find the clause a run-on.

Official Explanation

A question about Robert E. Lee’s masterpiece, his defeat of Hooker at Chancellorsville.

This sentence contains the idiom “to lose [one’s] nerve”: this means to lose one’s determination or resolve to face a difficult situation, after having thought that one could face it.

The young baseball player lost his nerve when he stepped on the field for his first championship game.

Shelley wanted to demand a raise from her boss, but when she was face-to-face her boss, Shelley lost her nerve.

In this sentence, we saying that Gen. Hooker “lost his nerve” at Chancellorsville. The variants “lost his nerves” or “his nerves were lost” are awkward and ungrammatical: choices (A) & (B) make these mistakes.

Choice (A): in addition to the idiom mistake discussed above, the progressive tense verb “was suffering” is incompatible with a specific past event. This entire choice suffers from what I call “laundry-list parallelism,” a list of facts without much attempt to show their interconnection. This choice is incorrect.

Choice (B): in addition to the idiom mistake discussed above, the adjective “initially” is awkwardly placed—everything about that first clause is awkward. This choice also suffers from a particularly clumsy form of “laundry-list parallelism.” This choice is incorrect.

Choice (C): What most striking about this version is the lack of contrast. We are told that Hooker “seized the advantage” and he had an army “twice the size” of his enemy’s army—these fact suggest things were going very well for him. Then the word “and,” and we are told that he lost his nerve and lost the battle. Wait! That’s a huge turnaround, and we never had a contrast word. If the “and” before “he lost his nerve” had been a “but,” this version would be better, but it’s too illogical without a proper contrast work. Finally, the phrasing of the last clause suggest that it was Hooker's purpose to make his army lose the battle—that's also illogical! This version is incorrect.

Choice (D): this version sets up appropriate logical contrasts that mirror the content. The end of this sentence is an absolute phrase, a perfectly correct structure.

Choice (E): the proper antecedent for a pronoun is a noun; a pronoun cannot refer to the action of a clause. In this version of the sentence, the pronoun “this” refers to all the information in the previous clause—that’s way more than a pronoun is allowed to capture. This choice is incorrect.

The only possible answer is (D).

D. Hooker initially seized the advantage at the Battle of Chancellorsville, but despite having an army twice the size of Gen. Lee's Confederates, he lost his nerve and settled into a more defensive posture, his army eventually suffering.
E. Hooker initially seized the advantage at the Battle of Chancellorsville and he had an army twice the size of Gen. Lee's Confederates, but despite this, he lost his nerve, settling into a more defensive posture, and his army eventually suffered.

Between Choice D AND E,I am confused with last part about parallelism,
He lost his nerve should be parallel to what and how
settled or his army,,if it should be parallel to settled than WHAT his army eventually suffering modify to/how tense is used in it for suffering.( as logically his army lost and suffered the defeat because hopper had lost his nerve despite having won ...and having army twice ...)

A question about Robert E. Lee’s masterpiece, his defeat of Hooker at Chancellorsville.

This sentence contains the idiom “to lose [one’s] nerve”: this means to lose one’s determination or resolve to face a difficult situation, after having thought that one could face it.

The young baseball player lost his nerve when he stepped on the field for his first championship game.

Shelley wanted to demand a raise from her boss, but when she was face-to-face her boss, Shelley lost her nerve.

In this sentence, we saying that Gen. Hooker “lost his nerve” at Chancellorsville. The variants “lost his nerves” or “his nerves were lost” are awkward and ungrammatical: choices (A) & (B) make these mistakes.

Choice (A): in addition to the idiom mistake discussed above, the progressive tense verb “was suffering” is incompatible with a specific past event. This entire choice suffers from what I call “laundry-list parallelism,” a list of facts without much attempt to show their interconnection. This choice is incorrect.

Choice (B): in addition to the idiom mistake discussed above, the adjective “initially” is awkwardly placed—everything about that first clause is awkward. This choice also suffers from a particularly clumsy form of “laundry-list parallelism.” This choice is incorrect.

Choice (C): What most striking about this version is the lack of contrast. We are told that Hooker “seized the advantage” and he had an army “twice the size” of his enemy’s army—these fact suggest things were going very well for him. Then the word “and,” and we are told that he lost his nerve and lost the battle. Wait! That’s a huge turnaround, and we never had a contrast word. If the “and” before “he lost his nerve” had been a “but,” this version would be better, but it’s too illogical without a proper contrast work. Finally, the phrasing of the last clause suggest that it was Hooker's purpose to make his army lose the battle—that's also illogical! This version is incorrect.

Choice (D): this version sets up appropriate logical contrasts that mirror the content. The end of this sentence is an absolute phrase, a perfectly correct structure.

Choice (E): the proper antecedent for a pronoun is a noun; a pronoun cannot refer to the action of a clause. In this version of the sentence, the pronoun “this” refers to all the information in the previous clause—that’s way more than a pronoun is allowed to capture. This choice is incorrect.

The only possible answer is (D).

Actually I don't think the official explanation on D is correct. Sure "the army eventually suffering..." is an absolute phrase, but the word "army" is a concrete noun, which can not be used in an absolute phrase.

AndrewN GMATNinja chetan2u Bunuel zhanbo

Just have a look at the screenshot below. Same question with two different answers.

In the question above, "his army suffering a defeat" is wrong, but if you look at the screenshot attached below, which is "same question" with different part underlined, it is the correct answer. Link to that question- https://gmatclub.com/forum/gen-joseph-hooker-initially-seized-the-advantage-at-the-battle-of-cha-270243.html#p2092385

What is correct, and what is not is beyond comprehension.

(Screenshot corrected)

Hello, nikhilongc. I think you may have attached the wrong screenshot. There is another Magoosh question that is similar to the one above, in this thread (and in your screenshot), but the other question is found here. I will reproduce the two original sentences below to point out the differences.

This thread: Gen. Joseph Hooker initially had seized the advantage at the Battle of Chancellorsville, and he had had an army twice the size of Gen. Lee's Confederates, but having lost his nerves, he had settled into a more defensive posture, and his army eventually was suffering a humiliating defeat.

The other thread: Gen. Joseph Hooker initially seized the advantage at the Battle of Chancellorsville, but despite having an army twice the size of Gen. Lee's confederates, he lost his nerve and settled into a more defensive posture, with the result that his army would suffer a humiliating defeat.

Whether the verb tense in the beginning of the sentence is in the past perfect or the simple past makes all the difference between which phrases are appropriate at the end. As I have cautioned you in other posts, you should not look to generalize from one post to another unless you are absolutely sure they are testing the same point(s) in the same way. Most Expert replies should offer you guidance to that end, but if you are still confused about something, just ask.

- Andrew

AndrewN
Yes, I think I mixed up the screenshot. And I have edited the original query and provided the link to the similar question.
Here, I will explain the issue with more clarity now.

First question (Link- https://gmatclub.com/forum/gen-joseph-hooker-initially-had-seized-the-advantage-at-the-battle-276679.html#p2816071)
Gen. Joseph Hooker initially had seized the advantage at the Battle of Chancellorsville, and he had had an army twice the size of Gen. Lee's Confederates, but having lost his nerves, he had settled into a more defensive posture, and his army eventually was suffering a humiliating defeat.
Correct answer- Option D:
Gen. Joseph Hooker initially seized the advantage at the Battle of Chancellorsville, but despite having an army twice the size of Gen. Lee's Confederates, he lost his nerve and settled into a more defensive posture, his army eventually suffering a humiliating defeat.

Second question (Link- https://gmatclub.com/forum/gen-joseph-hooker-initially-seized-the-advantage-at-the-battle-of-cha-270243.html#p2092385)
Gen. Joseph Hooker initially seized the advantage at the Battle of Chancellorsville, but despite having an army twice the size of Gen. Lee's confederates, he lost his nerve and settled into a more defensive posture, with the result that his army would suffer a humiliating defeat.
Correct answer- Option C:
Gen. Joseph Hooker initially seized the advantage at the Battle of Chancellorsville, but despite having an army twice the size of Gen. Lee's confederates, he lost his nerve and settled into a more defensive posture, and as a result, his army eventually would suffer a humiliating defeat.

Comparing both right answers-
1. Gen. Joseph Hooker initially seized the advantage at the Battle of Chancellorsville, but despite having an army twice the size of Gen. Lee's Confederates, he lost his nerve and settled into a more defensive posture, his army eventually suffering a humiliating defeat.
2. Gen. Joseph Hooker initially seized the advantage at the Battle of Chancellorsville, but despite having an army twice the size of Gen. Lee's confederates, he lost his nerve and settled into a more defensive posture, and as a result, his army eventually would suffer a humiliating defeat.
The part from Gen. Joseph Hooker to .... defensive posture is exactly the same in both 1. and 2. So, if the usage his army eventually suffering is correct in 1. why is it incorrect in 2. ?

This is my only doubt. I hope I have expressed myself more clearly now.

Your second question linked to my post above, but that is okay. I have had a look at both questions, and I would say that you are getting into a tussle for no good reason. First and foremost, the five answer choices presented in each question are not the same, and the first rule of SC is to determine the least objectionable answer of the five, so what may be best in one case may not be in another. Second, and I do say this as someone who writes questions from time to time, the two in question here are not official questions, so while we should not be quick to write them off, they are exercises for entertainment purposes. You want a more consistent picture, stick to official questions. (I recommend doing so anyway.) I promise that if you can comb through the thousands of official SC questions that have been released and pin down the logic of what qualifies or disqualifies each answer choice for each question, you will have mastered just about any concept the exam can throw at you (with the possible exception of idiomatic usage).

I know it can be tempting to pin down specific rules and lines of reasoning, but SC is not exactly like Quant. You have to appreciate that answers can fall into different shades of grey. Trust me, I wish the process were just as crystalline.

- Andrew

I totally agree with you that something that is correct in one sentence should not be wrong in the other. It is difficult to replicate the official SC and CR questions even though the prep companies do their best to provide more material to students.

I have seen many such questions by different institutes that have debatable OA. Therefore, I’ll agree with AndrewN that stick to the official questions when it comes to SC unless you have complete faith in the source.

chetan2u Yes, I agree, but there is a fear of exhausting all OG questions, hence I have to do with unofficial questions.
Majburi ka naam Mahatma Gandhi

There are two points I would like to make here. First, there are almost 1,600 official SC questions that have been released by GMAC™. Many students do not even practice this number of total questions, let alone SC questions, when they prepare for the GMAT™. So, there are probably official questions out there that you have not laid eyes on. Second, and this gets more into the philosophy of how to train yourself for the test, if you think that knowing an OA because you have seen a question before is the same as knowing how to identify issues that make other answer choices wrong, you are missing a vital opportunity to improve your understanding of and approach to SC questions. Until you can disprove each other answer choice in every single SC question you have taken on up to this point, you are skipping out on an important opportunity to learn and set yourself up for success the next time you do see similar issues crop up in a new SC question.

- Andrew