Pharmaceuticals, despite facing an ongoing innovation challenge

Pharmaceuticals, despite facing an ongoing innovation challenge, ranks as one of the most profitable industries in a recent study, surpassed only by internet and network services.

A] ranks as one of the most profitable industries in a recent study, surpassed only - Correct, SV agreement

B] rank as one of the most profitable industries in a recent study, only surpassed - SV issue as pharmaceuticals is singular subject hence ranks must be used

C] has the rank of the most profitable industries in a recent study, only surpassed - Incorrect, only surpassed means that there is possibility of other industries above the ranks of pharmaceutical

D] are one of the most profitable industries in a recent study, surpassed only - SV disagrement

E] have been ranked as one of the most profitable industries in a recent study, only surpassed - SV disagreement and only surpassed menas that there is possibility of other industries above the ranks of pharmaceutical

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

Creating a filter: In our universal test of subject and verb, we have "pharmaceuticals" and "ranks," which are respectively the subject and verb of the sentence. "Ranks" is grammatically singular. Is "pharmaceuticals" grammatically singular or plural? The imaginary author of this sentence is talking about an industry, which is "pharmaceuticals." So it's grammatically singular, contrary to its sound. That means the sentence doesn't have any obvious error as written.

Finding objective defects: We go to the answer choices with the mission of knocking out (B) through (E), in turn. Choices (B) and (D) both use grammatically plural verbs, so they are out. Choices (C) and (E) use verbs that are grammatically singular, but introduce unnecessary wordiness. When we look for defects in the answer choices, we can start with the same universal tests we apply to the original sentence, starting with subject and verb of the main clause.

The correct answer is (A).

I think the reason why "only surpassed by" is not correct because it somehow changes the meaning of the sentence. While "surpassed only by" puts emphasis on the following nouns "internet and network services", conveying the intended comparison between pharmaceuticals and internet and network services, "only surpassed by" focuses on the verb "surpassed".

Pharmaceuticals, despite facing an ongoing innovation challenge, ranks as one of the most profitable industries in a recent study, surpassed only by internet and network services.

A] ranks as one of the most profitable industries in a recent study, surpassed only correct SV and X is second only to Y Parallelism

B] rank as one of the most profitable industries in a recent study, only surpassed Pharmaceuticals is singular wrong SV

C] has the rank of the most profitable industries in a recent study, only surpassed no need of Has , wrong construction

D] are one of the most profitable industries in a recent study, surpassed only Pharmaceuticals is singular wrong SV

E] have been ranked as one of the most profitable industries in a recent study, only surpassed Pharmaceuticals is singular wrong SV