Some historians of science have argued that science moves forward not

Question

Some historians of science have argued that science moves forward not so much  because of the insights of great thinkers but because of  more mundane developments, such as improved tools and technologies.

(A) because of the insights of great thinkers but because of

(B) because of the insights of great thinkers as the result of

(C) because of the insights of great thinkers as because of

(D) through the insights of great thinkers but through

(E) through the insights of great thinkers but result from

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daagh · Accepted Answer

In formal writing, we use ‘so … as’ in negative connotations and ‘as… as’ in affirmative contexts. 
Examples for so…as. 
Tom is not so smart as Dick is 
GRE is not so difficult as GMAT is
Child prodigies are marked not so much by their skills as by the fact that these skills are fully developed at a very early age.
Examples for as…as 
Sita is as bold as Gita 
An inventory equal to 90 days sales is as much as even the strongest businesses carry

GMATIntensive · Answer

Sentence Analysis

https://www.thegmatco.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/21.png

An argument of some historians is presented. The argument compares the reasons for the development of science. The smaller reason is the insights of great thinkers, and the bigger reason is more mundane developments such as improved tools and technologies.

The sentence has an error: “not so… but” is incorrect. To present a comparison, we need to use “not so…as” construction. “Not X but Y” construction is used when we want to discard X and accept Y, not to present a graded comparison. The “so much” after “not” is a clear indicator that a comparison is being made in this sentence.

Let’s consider the following two sentences:
1. Bob is not intelligent but caring.
2. Bob is not so much intelligent as caring.

The first sentence says that Bob is not intelligent and that Bob is caring. On the other hand, the second sentence compares the magnitude of how intelligent and how caring Bob is. This is the difference between “not X but Y” and “not so much X as Y” structures.

Option Analysis

A.  because of the insights of great thinkers but because of  
 Incorrect . For the reason mentioned above.

B.  because of the insights of great thinkers as the result of 
 Incorrect . This option lacks parallelism. While “not so” is followed by a clause (which can modify the verb “moves”), “as” is followed by a noun phrase “the result” (which cannot even modify the verb “moves”).

C.  because of the insights of great thinkers as because of  
 Correct .

D.  through the insights of great thinkers but through  
 Incorrect . For the following reasons:
1. The error of the original sentence
2. The phrase “through the insights” cannot idiomatically modify “moves”. We don’t say “science moves through the insights”.

E.  through the insights of great thinkers but result from 
 Incorrect . For the following reasons:
1. The error of the original sentence.
2. The second error of option D
3. The verb phrase “result from” cannot modify the verb “moves”

sayantanc2k · Answer

C. Correct. The correct idiom is  so much X as Y  (or  as much X as Y )
Here X = because of the insights of great thinkers
Y = because of more mundane developments
X and Y are parallel.

A. The idiom  so much X  but  Y  is wrong.

B. Idiom as much X as Y is correct, but X and Y are not parallel.
X = because of the insights of great thinkers 
Y = the result of more mundane developments (this phrase should have started with  because of  to maintain parallelism)

D. The idiom  so much X  but  Y  is wrong.

E. The idiom  so much X  but  Y  is wrong.

x2suresh · Answer

Agree with C. correct idiom.

More examples with so much as idiom.
so much as- (meaning--but rather) I'm not looking at her so much as I am studying her hat
so much as (meaning--even) From outside, no one could see so much as a light on in the house

manoharpln · Answer

C...direct idiom not so much X as Y

ashish8814 · Answer

can nybody provide me OA and explanation..tia

manishk30 · Answer

I think so much as idiom is never correct in GMAT. This is only correct in negation. Not so much as
so much that is correct in affirmation.

Bob2018 · Answer

clear C

Not so much X as y.

c clearly states that

gmatt1476 · Answer

Official Explanation

Idiom; Parallelism

The sentence contains a comparison introduced by not so much. However, the comparison is executed with correct idiomatic usage only in one of the answer options.

As written, the comparison not so much . . . but . . . is incorrect. This is also true in choices D and E.

A. This is incorrect for the reason stated above.

B. In this choice, because of is not parallel with the results of.

C. Correct. This uses the comparison not so much . . . as . . . correctly and correctly makes because of parallel with because of.

D. In this choice, because of is not parallel with through the insights of.

E. In this choice, because of is not parallel with through the insights of.

The correct answer is C.

sunny91 · Answer

daagh ,
Is the correct idiom not so much X as Y. I thought that we will go with not X but Y idiom strategy to solve the question. So, I opted to mark option A as the answer.

DmitryFarber · Answer

sunny91  If we read A as using the idiom "NOT x BUT y," then our x and y are "so much because of . . . " and "because of." The "so much" in x would ruin the parallelism. However, if we read "NOT SO MUCH" as the first parallel marker, then we can use "AS" to introduce a parallel second part.

santorasantu · Answer

not so much  because of blah blah blah.. as   because of...

Some historians of science have argued that science moves forward not so much  because of the insights of great thinkers but because of  more mundane developments, such as improved tools and technologies.

(A) because of the insights of great thinkers  but because of
 
(B) because of the insights of great thinkers  as the result of

(C) because of the insights of great thinkers  as because of

(D) through the insights of great thinkers  but through

(E) through the insights of great thinkers  but result from

gadde22 · Answer

Dont mistake Not so much X as Y for Not X but Y.

dabaobao · Answer

(A) because of the insights of great thinkers  but  because of  - Wrong: Idiom

(B) because of the insights of great thinkers as  the result  of  - Wrong: Parallelism

(C)  because  of the insights of great thinkers  as   because  of  - Correct

(D) through the insights of great thinkers  but  through  - Wrong: Idiom

(E) through the insights of great thinkers  but   result  from  - Wrong: 1) Idiom 2) Parallelism

azfarsulaiman1 · Answer

Hi  GMATNinja  can you offer a non-idiom related explanation for this, either on some grammatical error or meaning error? I know we're not supposed to focus on idioms on SC so much so as others but could you explain why C is the correct answer and others are incorrect?

Anurag997 · Answer

Is there any misake in option A because I feel even if the answer for the question is c but there is no mistake in option a as well

Basshead · Answer

Some historians of science have argued that science moves forward not so much  because of the insights of great thinkers but because of  more mundane developments, such as improved tools and technologies.

(A) because of the insights of great thinkers  but  because of

'but' is not correct here.

(B) because of the insights of great thinkers as  the result of

Parallelism issue. 'the result of' is not parallel to 'because of the insights of great thinkers'

(C)  because of the insights of great thinkers  as  because of

Corrects the parallelism issue.

not so X.. as Y = looks good. Keep.

(D) through the insights of great thinkers  but  through

'but' is not correct here.

(E) through the insights of great thinkers  but  result from

'but' is not correct here.

ravigupta2912 · Answer

I have two questions here.

1. Someone said that what follows after "as" in B is a clause while it is not so in C. Please correct me if i'm wrong but "because of Y" and "the result of Y" are both prepositional phrases right?

2. If the above is true, then why are they not logically parallel? I mean why is repetition of "because of" preferred over "the result of"

daagh   IanStewart   mikemcgarry   VeritasKarishma   EMPOWERgmatVerbal   AndrewN

IanStewart · Answer

The replies above that dismiss B because it violates parallelism are technically correct, but I think they're missing a more important point. Answer B isn't even a complete sentence; it's a sentence fragment. When we use the idiom "not so much X as Y", we need the word "as" to complete the comparison. The phrase "because of" is synonymous with the phrase "as a result of" (and not just of the phrase "a result of"). So for B to be correct, it would need to say "not so much because of X as as a result of Y". It would need to say "as as" because we need one "as" to complete the comparison, and a second "as" as part of the phrase "as a result of". I can't imagine, incidentally, any correct answer to a GMAT SC question including "as as" -- I don't think I've ever seen an English sentence in my life that uses those words together (except if one is in quotes), and the GMAT I'd assume would always find a way to avoid using it.

As written, B says that the "insights of great thinkers" are "the result of more mundane developments", and doesn't proceed to compare those insights with anything, so it's only half of a sentence as written, and is therefore certainly incorrect, and would be even if it appeared to be parallel.

Some historians of science have argued that science moves forward not

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Some historians of science have argued that science moves forward not

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