The final decades of the twentieth century not only saw an explosion

Question

The final decades of the twentieth century  not only saw an explosion of the literary production among women, but there was also  an intense interest in the lives and works of women writers.

A. not only saw an explosion of the literary production among women, but there was also
 
B. not only saw an explosion of literary production in women, but there was also
 
C. saw not only an explosion of literary production among women, but also
 
D. saw not only an explosion of the literary production by women, but it also saw
 
E. saw not only an explosion of literary production by women, but also saw

NEW question from GMAT® Official Guide 2019 
(SC00989)

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Accepted Answer

Hello Everyone!

This is a pretty straightforward one to tackle today, so let’s get started!

The final decades of the twentieth century  not only saw an explosion of the literary production among women, but there was also  an intense interest in the lives and works of women writers.

A.  not only saw  an explosion of the literary production among women,  but there was also 
B.  not only saw  an explosion of literary production in women,  but there was also 
C.  saw not only  an explosion of literary production among women,  but also 
D.  saw not only  an explosion of the literary production by women,  but it also saw 
E.  saw not only  an explosion of literary production by women,  but also saw

The first thing you should have noticed is the use of the “  not only X, but also Y  ” structure to each option. Whenever we see this, the first thing we should check is if X and Y are written using parallel structure! This is the most common issue with this type of question on the GMAT, so we’ll start there.

For the option to be parallel in structure, the word "saw" needs to be used the same way on both sides. If the word "saw" comes before the "not only," it does NOT need to be included in the second half. If the word "saw" comes after "not only," it MUST be included in the second half:

not only  saw  X, but also  saw  Y =  PARALLEL 
saw  not only X ,  but also Y  =  PARALLEL 
not only  saw  X,  but also Y  =  NOT PARALLEL 
saw  not only X , but also  saw  Y =  NOT PARALLEL

To make things a little easier, I added a few words after the underlined portion to help better see if things are parallel. Let's see how each option stacks up!

A.  not only saw  an explosion of the literary production among women,  but there was also an intense interest  →  NOT PARALLEL

B.  not only saw  an explosion of literary production in women,  but there was also an intense interest  →  NOT PARALLEL

C. saw  not only an explosion  of literary production among women,  but also an intense interest  →  PARALLEL  
( this is CORRECT because both sides follow the “not only an…but also an…” structure )

D. saw  not only an explosion  of the literary production by women,  but it also saw an intense interest  →  NOT PARALLEL

E. saw  not only an explosion  of literary production by women,  but also saw an intense interest  →  NOT PARALLEL

There you have it!  Option C is CORRECT because it is the only sentence that uses parallel structure  for both parts of the “not only X, but also Y” idiomatic structure!

Don’t study for the GMAT. Train for it.

Iakovos1995 · Answer

In A, B, and E there is no parallelism between the "not only...but also" construction.
In D there is the same problem as above and the "it" is not clear.
Right answer is C. "Not only an explosion...but also an intense..." is the correct usage of "not only...but also".

TaN1213 · Answer

Firstly determine whether the action saw will take up two objects or a second verb is necessary for the second object of the list. 
As per meaning, saw can be the common verb for both the objects. So we are left with C, D and E. But hold on. D and E commits error in their second portion of the structure "verb + not only A but also B". 
Only C gets it right.

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hiranmay · Answer

The final decades of the twentieth century  not only saw an explosion of the literary production among women, but there was also   an intense interest  in the lives and works of women writers.

A.  not only  saw an explosion of the literary production among women,  but  there was  also  --> "not only .... but also ..." construction

B.  not only  saw an explosion of literary production in women,  but  there was  also

C. saw not only  an explosion  of literary production among women, but also -->  correct

D. saw not only  an explosion  of the literary production by women, but it also  saw

E. saw not only  an explosion  of literary production by women, but also  saw

GyMrAT · Answer

Answer C. Correct usage of " Not only X but also Y", X & Y are parallel.

Thanks,
GyM

Athos93 · Answer

C

Not only X but also Y

The repetition of the verb is not neccesary since saw is before "not only".

m.bangakh@gmail.com · Answer

C is better option than others as it uses correct idiom. Option E is also tempting but it is not parallel, saw not only but also saw, it doesnot convey intended meaning. so C is winner.

SSM700plus · Answer

The final decades of the twentieth century  not only saw an explosion of the literary production among women, but there was also  an intense interest in the lives and works of women writers.

A. not only saw an explosion of the literary production among women, but there was also

Not Only X but also Y. X and Y must be parallel.

X - saw an explosion of the literary production among women ( starts with verb)

Y - an intense interest in the lives and works of women writers. (starts with noun)

Hence X & Y are not parallel 
 
B. not only saw an explosion of literary production in women, but there was also
 Same Error as in A 
 
C. saw not only an explosion of literary production among women, but also
 
X - an explosion of literary production among women (starts with Noun)

Y - an intense interest in the lives and works of women writers. (starts with noun) 
 
X & Y is parallel. - Correct

D. saw not only an explosion of the literary production by women, but it also saw
 
X - an explosion of literary production among women (starts with Noun)

Y - saw an intense interest in the lives and works of women writers. (starts with verb)

X & Y is not parallel 
 
E. saw not only an explosion of literary production by women, but also saw

same error as in D. .

IMO C

gmatzpractice · Answer

Answer C
More idiomatic "not only... but also"

ruchisankrit · Answer

What is the difference between 'literary production among women' and ' literary production by women'?

jmandal03 · Answer

Both have the same literal meaning i.e women produced literary.

thangvietnam · Answer

if we see not only...but also, we have to find a palalelism for this phrase.

not only can go with "also" and dose not need parallelism

not only can I pass gmat, i also thrive in business school. (there is a official question prove this sentence)

BijayKru · Answer

The final decades of the twentieth century not only saw an explosion of the literary production among women, but there was also an intense interest in the lives and works of women writers.

A.  not only saw an explosion  of the literary production among women,  but there was also ( Not Only x But also Y)

B.  not only saw an explosion  of literary production in women,  but there was also ( Not Only x But also Y) X and Y should Parallel

C. saw  not only an explosion  of literary production among women,  but also ( Not Only x But also Y): Correct form

D. saw  not only an explosion  of the literary production by women,  but it also saw (( Not Only x But also Y)

E. saw  not only an explosion  of literary production by women,  but also saw ( Not Only x But also Y)

swatihod123 · Answer

the correct answer is C

saw not only an explosion of literary production among women, but also an intense interest → PARALLEL because both sides follow the “not only an…but also an…” structure

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

We need to look for the idiom ‘not only X, but also Y’ in the options. The key here is to make sure that both X and Y are parallel with each other.

The sentence wants to convey that the last years in 20th century saw two things. This means that ‘not only’ should be placed after the verb ‘saw’. The structure should be: saw not only X, but also Y.

Options A and B  use the phrase ‘not only saw’ which is not parallel with the part that follows ‘but’.  Eliminate.  
 
Options D and E  use the phrase ‘saw not only’ which again isn’t parallel with what follows ‘but’.  Eliminate.

Option C  has both parts of the structure following parallelism.

Option C  is the best option.

Hope this helps!

jkrishh7 · Answer

A. not only saw an explosion of the literary production  among  women,  but there was als o (correlative II error)
 
B. not only saw an explosion of literary production  in wome n, but there was also
 
C . saw not only an explosion of literary production among women, but also 
 
D. saw not only an explosion of the literary production  by women , but it also saw
 
E. saw not only an explosion of literary production  by women , but also saw

dabaobao · Answer

A. not only saw an explosion of the literary production among women, but  there  was also  - Wrong: 1) Parallelism 
 
B. not only saw an explosion of literary production in women, but  there  was also  - Wrong: 1) Parallelism 
 
C.  saw not only  an explosion of literary production among women,  but also   - Correct 
 
D. saw not only an explosion of the literary production by women, but  it  also saw  - Wrong: 1) Parallelism 2) Pronoun 
 
E. saw not only an explosion of literary production by women, but also  saw   - Wrong: 1) Parallelism

captainsmoothie · Answer

GMATNinja / VeritasKarishma / mikemcgarry : With correct idiom usage not only X, but also Y , is there a difference between production among women and production by women? Also, is the comma absolutely necessary in not only X, but also Y ? Thanks in advance! Regards

KarishmaB · Answer

No, there is no material difference between the usage of "among women" and "by women" here.

In the "not only X, but also Y" construct, comma is often omitted when X and Y are simple phrases or single words. 
There are very few "absolutely necessary" rules in language. It is often a question of "how best to represent it".

The final decades of the twentieth century not only saw an explosion

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The final decades of the twentieth century not only saw an explosion

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