EMPOWERgmatVerbal wrote:
Hello Everyone!
This is a great example of a question that deals with idiomatic structures! Let's take a closer look to determine the correct answer - and do it quickly! To get started, here is the original question with the main differences highlighted in orange:
In her presentation, the head of the Better Business Bureau emphasized that companies should think of the cost of conventions and other similar gatherings as not an expense, but as an investment in networking that will pay dividends.
A) as not an expense, but as
B) as not expense, but
C) not an expense, rather
D) not as an expense, but as
E) not in terms of expense, but
It's clear from looking over the question quickly that we're dealing with an idiomatic structure that also uses parallel structure. The idiomatic structure we're dealing with here is:
not X, but Y
In this case, both X and Y must be written using parallel structure and wording. For example:
The autumn leaves were not a bright yellow, but were a deep golden hue. --> WRONG
The autumn leaves were not a bright yellow, but a deep golden hue. --> RIGHT
To check for idiomatic structure and parallelism, let's go ahead and add in the phrase "an investment" to the end of each one to fully round out the phrase. Once we've done that, it should be pretty clear which options don't follow the idiomatic structure:
A) as not an expense, but as an investment --> WRONG
(The verb "as" needs to be part of both phrases, or not at all. In this case, it's part of one half, but not the other, making in not parallel in format).
B) as not expense, but an investment --> WRONG
(The word "an" needs to be part of both phrases. In this case, the verb "an" is before the word "not," which means it isn't part of the idiomatic structure. This is another example of a non parallel structure.)
C) not an expense, rather an investment --> WRONG
(While this option DOES use parallel structure for the X and Y by saying "an expense" and "an investment," it's still wrong! It doesn't follow the basic idiomatic structure of "not X, but Y." It uses "not X, rather Y" instead, which is wrong.)
D) not as an expense, but as an investment --> CORRECT
(This uses the correct format of the idiomatic structure "not X, but Y." Both X and Y are written in the same format, with the phrase "as an" at the beginning of each one. Therefore, this is the CORRECT choice!)
E) not in terms of expense, but an investment --> WRONG
(Here is another case of the X and Y not being written using parallel structure. They both need to start with the phrase "in terms of" in them, or both need to start with "an" in them to be parallel.)
There you have it! Option D is the correct option because it's the only one that uses the idiomatic structure "not X, but Y" correctly!
Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.
Hi Empower GMAT,
Thank you for the detailed explanation.
In your example sentence, the word "were" is right before the Not X But Y structure and it automatically carries over to bright color and deep golden hue.
The autumn leaves were not
a bright yellow, but
were a deep golden hue. --> WRONG
The autumn leaves were not
a bright yellow, but
a deep golden hue. --> RIGHT
In the answer choice B the word "as" is right before the Not X but Y structure. Why the answer choice does not read "as an investment" like it did in your example answer?