In a process that has become de rigueur

Question

In a process that has become  de rigueur  following the end of every presidency, presidential libraries are sprouting up like carbuncles all over the land,  testifying not so much to a sense of history among our politicians than it reflects their  unbridled vainglory.

A. testifying not so much to a sense of history among our politicians than it reflects their
B. testifying less to a sense of history among our ploiticians than it reflects their
C. not so much testifying to a sense of history among our politicians as it reflects their
D. testifying not as more to a sense of history among our politicians than to an
E. testifying not so much to a sense of history among our politicians as to their

pqhai · Answer

In a process that has become  de rigueur  following the end of every presidency, presidential libraries are sprouting up like carbuncles all over the land,  testifying not so much to a sense of history among our politicians than it reflects their  unbridled vainglory.

A. testifying not  so much  to a sense of history among our politicians  than  it reflects their
Wrong. " so X than Y " is wrong comparison.

B. testifying less to a sense of history among our ploiticians than  it  reflects their
Wrong. 
- Parallelism problem: testifying less +  noun-phrase  than +  clause .....
- "it" refers to what?

C. not so much testifying to a sense of history among our politicians as  it  reflects their
Wrong. 
- Parallelism problem: not SO MUCH + noun phrase AS + clause.
- "it" refers to what?

D. testifying not  as more  to a sense of history among our politicians than to an
Wrong. 
- "As more...than" is wrong.

E. testifying not so much to a sense of history among out politicians as to their
  Correct.   Good Verb-ing modifier

Hope it helps.

mystiquethinker · Answer

Option E. 
Correct Idiomatic usage of So Much...As

asdfghjklasdfghj · Answer

And for E - so much .... as - is correct ?

It is not so much an idiom rather than two parts which make sense together, am I right ?

sayantanc2k · Answer

The issue is very much about idiom and parallelsim.

Not so much X as Y  is the correct Idiom.
X = TO a sense of history among our politicians 
Y = TO their unbridled vainglory

"Testifying" is outside the parallel structure and hence covers both these elements (X and Y).

(Note: Your sentence has an idiom problem: you have used "not so much X rather than Y".)

LoneSurvivor · Answer

In a process that has become de rigueur following the end of every presidency, presidential libraries are sprouting up like carbuncles all over the land, testifying not so much to a sense of history among our politicians than it reflects their unbridled vainglory.

A. testifying not so much to a sense of history among our politicians than  it  reflects their
B. testifying less to a sense of history among our ploiticians than  it  reflects  their 
C. not so much testifying to a sense of history among our politicians as  it  reflects their
D. testifying not as  more  to a sense of history among our politicians than to an
E.  testifying not so much to a sense of history among our politicians as to their

VerbalBot · Answer

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In a process that has become de rigueur

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In a process that has become de rigueur

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