12 Days of Christmas GMAT Competition - Day 6: Many economists contend

Experts' Global Official Explanation

Idioms + Parallelism + Redundancy/Awkwardness

• “neither A nor B” and “either A or B” are idiomatic uses and are only used when referring to two elements; A and B must be parallel.
• While “neither” cannot be used without “nor”, “nor” can be used without “neither.
• All elements in a list must be parallel.
• If a list contains only two elements, they must be joined by a conjunction.

A. This answer choice uses the unidiomatic construction “neither A, B, or C” rather than the appropriate idiom construction “neither A nor B”; please remember, “neither A nor B” and “either A or B” are idiomatic constructions and are only used when referring to two elements. Further, Option A fails to maintain parallelism among the phrases “higher standards of living”, “a greater equality”, and “empowering traditionally oppressed groups”; please remember, all elements in a list must be parallel.

B. Trap. This answer choice uses the unidiomatic construction “neither A nor B, or C” rather than the appropriate idiom construction “neither A nor B”; please remember, “neither A nor B” and “either A or B” are idiomatic constructions and are only used when referring to two elements. Further, Option B fails to maintain parallelism among the phrases “higher standards of living”, “a greater equality”, and “empowering traditionally oppressed groups”.

C. This answer choice uses the unidiomatic construction “either A nor B” rather than the appropriate idiom construction “either A or B”; please remember, “neither A nor B” and “either A or B” are idiomatic constructions. Further, Option C uses the unidiomatic construction “neither is it…” (without a “nor…” following it); please remember, while “neither” cannot be used without “nor”, “nor” can be used without “neither. Additionally, Option C redundantly uses the adjective phrase “more of” to modify the noun phrase “a greater equality”.

D. Correct. This answer choice correctly uses the idiomatic construction “not A or B”; additionally, please note that the use of “nor” as a conjunction here is idiomatic; while “neither” cannot be used without “nor”, “nor” can be used without “neither. Further, Option D maintains parallelism between “to higher standards of living” and “to greater equality among social classes”, two elements joined by a conjunction (“or”). Besides, this answer choice is free of awkwardness and redundancy.

E. Trap. This answer choice incorrectly uses a comma to join “higher standards of living” and “greater equality among social classes”; as Option E conveys the third element of the list through the independent clause “it is not empowering traditionally oppressed groups”, the remaining two elements must be joined by a conjunction; please remember, two elements in a list must be joined by an appropriate conjunction (in this case “or”). Additionally, Option E redundantly uses the adjective phrase “more of” to modify the noun phrase “a greater equality”.

D is the best answer choice.