The anthropologist Marija Gimbutas believed that preliterate

Question

The anthropologist Marija Gimbutas believed that preliterate European tribes were not patriarchal like later societies and were  matriarchal groups centered around worship of the Great Mother goddess.

A The anthropologist Marija Gimbutas believed that preliterate European tribes were not patriarchal like later societies and were
 B The anthropologist Marija Gimbutas believed preliterate European tribes not to be patriarchal like later societies but
 C The anthropologist Marija Gimbutas believed that preliterate European tribes were not patriarchal like later societies but were
 D It was believed by the anthropologist Marija Gimbutas that preliterate European tribes were not patriarchal like later societies but
 E Preliterate European tribes were believed by the anthropologist Marija Gimbutas not to be patriarchal like later societies and were

OA  C 
Why not  D  ?

Narenn · Accepted Answer

Answer C

The anthropologist Marija Gimbutas believed that preliterate European tribes were not patriarchal like later societies and were  matriarchal groups centered around worship of the Great Mother goddess.

A The anthropologist Marija Gimbutas believed that preliterate European tribes were not patriarchal like later societies and were
B The anthropologist Marija Gimbutas believed preliterate European tribes not to be patriarchal like later societies but
C The anthropologist Marija Gimbutas believed that preliterate European tribes were not patriarchal like later societies but were
D It was believed by the anthropologist Marija Gimbutas that preliterate European tribes were not patriarchal like later societies but
E Preliterate European tribes were believed by the anthropologist Marija Gimbutas not to be patriarchal like later societies and were

Analysis of Answer choices

A) INCORRECT :- To highlight intended contrast, the structure should be   Not x.......but y  . Also to have the comparison between grammatically equal elements, verb needs to be repeated. Hence the correct structure is   A believed that B was not C........but was D  . This choice has the structure   A believed that B was not C........and was D  , which does not show the contrast.

B) INCORRECT :- Parallelism issue.   A believed B not to be C....... but D  . To maintain the parallelism we would need   A believed B not to be C....... but to be D

C) CORRECT :- Correct Structure   A believed that B was not C........but was D   ensures that phrases are parallel.

D) INCORRECT :- If you have clear subject in the sentence (Anthropologist Marija Gimbutas - in this case), then you should not go with passive structure. In addition to this issue, this choice is also incorrect for omitting the verb  were  after  but .

E) INCORRECT :- This choice commits all the mistakes mentioned in Choice A, B, and D.

Hope that helps!

argha · Answer

Hi grandmaster,

Option D is wrong because the clause starting with "but matriarchal groups ..." is a fragment and lacks a verb.

Regards

Argha

grandmaster · Answer

@argha

I understand your point, but the reason I chose D was

not patriarchal, but matriarchal ... (parallelism)

rings a bell to me somehow..

even the idiom is not X, but Y

am i misunderstanding the concept?

dixjatin · Answer

Also, what is the problem with B.

All B,C and D looks grammatically correct to me, how to choose the best among them. Please explain.

HarishLearner · Answer

Let me try:

The anthropologist Marija Gimbutas believed that preliterate European tribes were not patriarchal like later societies and were matriarchal groups centered around worship of the Great Mother goddess.

A T he anthropologist Marija Gimbutas believed that preliterate European tribes were not patriarchal like later societies and were  Since a contrast is made, between earlier belief and later fact we need a "but". 
B  The anthropologist Marija Gimbutas believed preliterate European tribes not to be patriarchal like later societies but . We need a verb "were" after the but, it is missing. llel ism is affected and so is the meaning.
C  The anthropologist Marija Gimbutas believed that preliterate European tribes were not patriarchal like later societies but were  Correct. "were" is present, so is "but"
D  It was believed by the anthropologist Marija Gimbutas that preliterate European tribes were not patriarchal like later societies but  Again "were" is missing and also passive construction which is not favoured by gmat.
E  Preliterate European tribes were believed by the anthropologist Marija Gimbutas not to be patriarchal like later societies and were  "but" is missing and "preliterate European tribes were believed" kind of changes the meaning, what did he believe? The European tribes or that they were patriarchal? Also passive construction.

rajeevrks27 · Answer

IMO, Option D is wrong only because its unnecessary passive and wordy. As far as verb or lack of it is concerned, the sentence is correct. 
for example The gold mines lesser known  were  found not in India but in Africa. The underlined "were" is understood to be there for both with the idion not X but Y.

Cartman2013 · Answer

In the example you gave, the word 'in' replaces 'were'. Not 'in' Africa but 'in' Africa, and hence 'were' is understood to be for both.

However, in the original question, this is not then case. The word 'were' is required to compare patriarchal and matriarchal.

Hope this helps.

argha · Answer

Hi All,

I stand to correct my earlier posts on this.

As grandmaster correctly puts it, there seems to be no major error in option D.

Use of "were matriarchal" is not correct as "Not X but Y" requires X & Y to be parallel and in option D, it is maintaining that perfectly.

...were not  patriarchal  like later societies but  matriarchal groups... .

As pointed out by some, the use of passive seems to be the only error.

Experts please help.

Regards

Argha

Narenn · Answer

Hi Rajeev,

Agree to your point. As long as clarity in meaning is not compromised, second verb can be omitted. As I also mentioned in my post, 'Use of Passive Structure' is the basic reason for the elimination of Choice D.

crazypriya · Answer

D,E eliminated due to the usage of passive voice...
C because of the contrast represented correctly....

VerbalBot · Answer

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The anthropologist Marija Gimbutas believed that preliterate

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The anthropologist Marija Gimbutas believed that preliterate

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