Bunuel
The mayor’s five-year growth plan for Greenville is
not consistent with Assemblyman Johnson’s ominous prediction that there will be less jobs in the county next year, instead the governor announcing the large amount of new federally funded job opportunities throughout the region.
(A) not consistent with Assemblyman Johnson’s ominous prediction that there will be less jobs in the county next year, instead the governor announcing the large amount
(B) consistent not with Assemblyman Johnson’s ominous prediction of fewer jobs in the county next year, but with the governor’s announcement of the large number
(C) consistent with not Assemblyman Johnson’s ominous prediction that there will be fewer jobs in the county next year, but with the governor’s announcement of the large amount
(D) consistent not with Assemblyman Johnson’s ominous prediction that there will be less jobs in the county next year, but the governor announced the large number
(E) not consistent with Assemblyman Johnson’s ominous prediction that there will be less jobs in the county next year, instead of the governor’s announcement of the large number
Magoosh Official Explanation:
Issue #1a: countable nouns. "Jobs" are
countable, so it is correct to say "fewer jobs", and incorrect to say "less jobs". (A) & (D) & (E) make this mistake.
Issue #1b: countable nouns. "Job opportunities" are also countable, so to discuss "how many", we need to use the word "number", not "amount." (A) & (C) make this mistake.
Issue #2: parallelism and the placement of common words. The fundamental parallel structure is not P but Q. Any common word can appear once outside, before the entire parallel structure, or twice inside, in front of each parallel structure.
No answer choice repeats the word "consistent", so this must be before the entire parallel structure. (A) & (E) make the mistake of putting "not" in front of "consistent".
The word "with" can appear once outside ("with not P but Q") or twice inside ("not with P but with Q"). No answer makes use of the first correct, and only (B) makes use of the second correct.
(B) is the only possible answer.