Molly would like to go with her friends to the concert than going to

Question

Molly would like to go with her friends to the concert than  going to the sales convention with her parents.

a) Molly would like to go with her friends to the concert than

b) It would have more appeal for Molly in going to the concert with her friends than

c) Going with her friends to the concert would Molly like more than to

d) Molly would rather go to the concert with her friends instead of

e) Molly would be more pleased for going with her friends to the concert than

This is a GMATClub Grammar Book question (Practice 3 - No 9). The OA is D. Now my confusion is, in D the the  rather go  and  going  are  not parallel . Also isn't  Instead of + Gerund  wrong in GMAT?

mikemcgarry · Accepted Answer

Dear saswata4s , I'm happy to respond. :-)

I would say: don't automatically assume that everything in the GMAT Club Grammar Book is of the highest quality. I have seen some good material and some not so good material. Everything mathematical that GMAT Club creates is superb, because the genius Bunuel vets it all. The Verbal doesn't have a similar champion. Yes, you are perfectly correct: the " instead of " structure doesn't ever seem to be correct on the official GMAT, and without a doubt, they don't approve of the "instead of" + structure. Another problem with this sentence is that the subject is storybook-like, about a person and her friends. This is not formal academic writing, as the GMAT always has. Here's a high quality GMAT SC practice question: Although more expensive Mike :-)

nitiny · Answer

Is "instead of" and "rather than" are correct in same sentence ?

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear nitiny , I'm happy to respond. :-)

As a general rule, wherever one might use " instead of ," I believe it's always correct to use " rather than ," although the form of the verb may change to accommodate the parallelism. The " rather than " form is widely applicable, including in instances in which " instead of " simply would not work at all. In this problem, we could improve (D): (D2) Molly would like to go to the concert with her friends rather than go to the sales convention with her parents . Notice the perfect parallelism between the two verbs, the two instances of " go ." This is a version that reflects the grammatical standards of the GMAT, although of course, the subject matter is not at all academic. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

abhimahna · Answer

Hi mikemcgarry , Shouldn't we correct the sentence so that going forward people do not get confused with such poor quality questions? Here is another question that works on the same principle but uses the right rule. https://gmatclub.com/forum/a-recent-stu ... 73334.html Please suggest

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear abhimahna , I'm happy to respond. :-)

My friend, what you need to understand is that there are issues of professional etiquette here. Somebody, some individual whom I don't know, wrote that question. This question is the property of either the person who wrote it or GMAT Club itself, if the person specifically wrote it for GMAT Club. If we could find that person or the owner of the question, then that person would have the right to edit it. It is not my question, so it is not mine to alter. Think about it this way: I may think my next-door neighbor cuts his lawn in the wrong way or trims his hedges in the wrong way, but I certainly don't have the right to go onto his property without his permission and correct it. We have to trust that folks here will read the threads and see the comments calling the validity of the problem into question. The fact is that GMAT Club is loaded with poor quality verbal questions. I would say that 95% of the math questions are fantastic, because it's much easier to write good math questions, and because the genius Bunuel vets everything. I would say that only about half the verbal questions I have seen are of really high quality. The question to which you linked was from the GMAT OG, so of course that's an exceptionally good question. MGMAT and Magoosh have high quality questions, and I have been impressed with almost all of the Veritas questions as well. The questions of other companies are mixed, and some companies write very poor questions. I have not been impressed with all of the verbal questions on the GMAT Club tests. Students cannot afford to be naive. Students cannot simply assume that any question that anyone out there calls a "GMAT SC practice question" actually is anywhere close to the standards held by the GMAT. I have seen absolute trash marketed with the label "GMAT practice questions." This is a deep truth you need to appreciate about the business world. Marketers don't always tell the truth: they say what they think will cause people to buy their products . If a company write trashy questions, but they want to make money, they might market these questions as " the highest quality GMAT practice question you can buy "! Of course, those companies typically are not particularly successful for long, but those questions consistently find their way to GMAT Club and often generate tons of conversation, precisely because they are not clear. You can't treat all practice questions as equals. The official questions are superb, and a few companies have very good questions, but if the question is not from a source you trust, you should approach it critically. Critical thinking is the single most important skill you need for everything on the GMAT and every interaction in the business world. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

abhimahna · Answer

Thanks Mike for the detailed information and great examples.

arvind910619 · Answer

I am not satisfied with the OA .
Rather than and instead of are used in single sentence hence the sentence is redundant .
option A is missing rather to show contrast .
Out of every option B seems to be some what acceptable although it is wordy.

ravigupta2912 · Answer

mikemcgarry  - Hi Mike. I'm rather confused on this one. Shouldn't the correct idiom be "rather do X than Y". Is "than" here replaceable with "instead of"?

VerbalBot · Answer

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Molly would like to go with her friends to the concert than going to

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