The consequences of the import tariff have been felt in not only the f

VERITAS PREP OFFICIAL SOLUTION:

This problem should quickly trigger your Sentence Construction reaction: when you see the phrase "not only" paired with "but also" (just like when you see both/and, either/or, etc.) you should directly examine the two portions of that construction for parallel structure. One easy way to do that is to stop reading immediately before the first phrase of the construction ("not only") and pick up right after the second ("but also"). If the sentence does not read logically and coherently from that point, it cannot be correct. Here if you hold choice A to that test you'll see that you have:

(A) The consequences have been felt in by local grocery stores...

Clearly this version has an extra preposition (why? Because the "in" comes before the "not only" and therefore applies to both portions of the construction; the mistake is then in giving the second "local grocery stores..." its own preposition, "by") and is therefore wrong.

Choices C and D similarly fail this test, as neither choice includes the phrase "been felt" (or a similar phrase to finish the verb construction "have ___") after "but also. Each then reads:

The consequences have by local grocery stores...

And clearly that is wrong.

Between B and E, notice that the only difference is that B has the word "by" at the end of the answer choice and E does not. Which is correct? Notice that the list of "local grocery stores, restaurants, schools" is preceded by the word "by." The consequences have also been felt by those entities. Because that list is not completed by an "and" before adding on "seemingly unrelated industries," that preposition "by" applies to all items in that list INCLUDING those unrelated industries. When B adds an extra "by" to the last term in the list, it creates a parallel list error, and is therefore incorrect. Choice E is the correct answer.