Official Explanation
Using various musical genres during his career, Jimi Hendrix recorded over 170 songs, including psychedelic rock, for example, the song Purple Haze, to blues rock, for example, the song Hey Joe.
A. including psychedelic rock, for example, the song Purple Haze, to blues rock, for example,
B. including psychedelic rock, for example, the song Purple Haze, to blues rock, like
C. including psychedelic rock, such as the song Purple Haze, and blues rock, as
D. ranging from psychedelic rock, such as the song Purple Haze, to blues rock, such as
E. ranging from psychedelic rock, such as the song Purple Haze, and blues rock, such as
After a quick glance over the options, we have a few things we can focus on:
1. including / ranging from
2. for example / such as
3. and / to
4. for example / like / as / such as
This question deals with correct idiomatic usage and clarity in text. The GMAT stresses the importance of concise writing, so we need to eliminate any options that are overly wordy or confusing. The GMAT also stresses following idiom formats, so we need to make sure they follow one of the following idioms:
“...including X and Y” OR “...ranging from X to Y”
Let’s see how each option handles both idioms and conciseness:
A. including psychedelic rock, for example, the song Purple Haze, to blues rock, for example,
This is incorrect. Using both “including” and “for example” are redundant. Due to comma placement, both “including” and “for example” are referring to psychedelic rock. It also doesn’t follow the “...including X and Y” idiom correctly.
B. including psychedelic rock, for example, the song Purple Haze, to blues rock, like
This is incorrect. Using both “including” and “for example” are redundant. Due to comma placement, both “including” and “for example’” are referring to psychedelic rock. It also doesn’t follow the “...including X and Y” idiom correctly.
C. including psychedelic rock, such as the song Purple Haze, and blues rock, as
This is incorrect. While this does get a lot of things correct, there is one big error at the end. For it to be correct “such” needs to be included before “as” at the end of the phrase for the two items to be parallel. Simply “as” is also incorrect idiomatic usage for giving examples.
D. ranging from psychedelic rock, such as the song Purple Haze, to blues rock, such as
This is correct. The correct idiomatic usage is: ranging from psychedelic rock… to blues rock: “...ranging from X to Y.” It also uses the phrase “such as” in both cases to introduce an example. This is concise and the meaning is clear.
E. ranging from psychedelic rock, such as the song Purple Haze, and blues rock, such as
This is incorrect. The sentence lacks correct idiomatic usage. Instead of “from psychedelic rock...and blues rock,” it should be “from psychedelic rock...to blues rock.”
There you have it - option D is the correct choice!
Don’t study for the GMAT. Train for it.