Charles Darwin argued that plant and animal species were evolved slowl

Question

Project SC Butler: Day 206: Sentence Correction (SC1) 
 For SC butler Questions  Click Here

Charles Darwin argued that  plant and animal species were evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection instead of created instantaneously .

A) plant and animal species were evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection instead of created instantaneously

B) plant and animal species were not created instantaneously but rather evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection

C) plant and animal species were slowly evolved through random mutation and natural selection instead of instantaneous creation

D) species of plants and animals, rather than being created instantaneously, were slowly evolved through random mutation and natural selection

E) species of plants and animals evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection rather than instantaneous creation

generis · Accepted Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Project SC Butler: Day 206: Sentence Correction (SC1)

This question is tricky.
"Were evolved" is not considered standard usage.
Although I would never allow "were evolved" to stand, others might, so the phrasing is probably not wrong.

Whoever wrote this question has a good sense of humor.

Darwin himself, in Origin of Species, used "were evolved" a handful of times.
Biologists use the phrase a fair bit.

There are at least two ways to arrive at the correct answer.

You could decide that the phrase "were evolved" sounds ridiculous (or "not standard") and be left with options B and E.
In that case, pick B. Nothing is wrong with B, whereas option E is oddly phrased.
By definition, plant and animal species could not evolve from instant creation.

Alternatively, you could decide that "were evolved" is acceptable and still arrive at answer B.
I used both approaches and ended up with the same answer.

For an excellent post in which the author accepts "were evolved,"
see our very own CR forum moderator, eakabuah , in this post, here.

THE PROMPT

Quote:

Charles Darwin argued that plant and animal species were evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection instead of created instantaneously.

THE OPTIONS

Quote:

A) Charles Darwin argued that plant and animal species were evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection instead of created instantaneously.

• "Instead of" is a prepositional phrase that must be followed by a noun, but instead of is not followed by a noun.
-- created instantaneously is not a noun. It's an adjective phrase that describes the noun species.
-- be wary of "instead of." GMAC often pits the phrase against "rather than," and strongly prefers rather than.
("Instead of" has been part of a couple of correct answers, but as I recall, in those cases, instead of was not pitted against rather than.)

• were evolved is not standard usage and the phrase sounds very strange.
Native speakers who are not biologists should be jarred by the usage of "were evolved."

A similar verb is "to progress."
We would not say, "The expansion plans were progressed in six-month increments."
Just the word progressed is correct. Similarly, in this case we need only the word "evolved."

The preposition error (instead of should be followed by a noun phrase and is not), eliminate A.

Quote:

B) Charles Darwin argued that plant and animal species were not created instantaneously but rather evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection.

• in the idiomatic construction X rather than Y
-- X and Y must be parallel.
-- in this option, X and Y are both past tense verbs and thus parallel.
X = were [not] created
Y = evolved
KEEP this option

Quote:

C) Charles Darwin argued that plant and animal species were slowly evolved through random mutation and natural selection instead of instantaneous creation.

• repeats option A's misuse of were [slowly] evolved
• the meaning is strange: species cannot "evolve slowly" through instantaneous creation. The verb "evolved" does not fit with "instantaneous creation."
-- "instead of" implies that species could have evolved (1) slowly through mutation and natural selection or (2) in a way similar to instantaneous creation.
-- instead of means replacement or in the place of: He uses almond milk instead of cow's milk in his porridge.
-- by definition, instantaneous creation is not actually an option.

• compare to B. Which is better? No contest. Option B wins.
Eliminate C

Quote:

D) Charles Darwin argued that species of plants and animals, rather than being created instantaneously, were slowly evolved through random mutation and natural selection.

• information set off by commas is rendered nonessential.
• But in this case, the information is essential and should not be set off by commas.
-- We change the meaning of the sentence if we remove that material
-- OG 2020 SC #824 explicitly tests this issue. Essential information should not be set off by commas.
SPOILER ALERT: the link takes you to that question. You now know one incorrect answer to that question.
You can find OG 2020 SC #824 here.
Eliminate D

Quote:

E) Charles Darwin argued that species of plants and animals evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection rather than instantaneous creation.

• this sentence doesn't make sense.
-- A species cannot evolve slowly through instantaneous creation.

I think it means to say: " . . . species of plants and animals evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection rather than having been created instantaneously.

• same problem as that in (C): a species cannot evolve slowly through instantaneous creation. We need a verb, were not, this way:
... species evolved slowly [through mutation and natural selection] and were not products of instantaneous creation.
Eliminate E

The best answer is B

COMMENTS

svasan05 , welcome to SC Butler.

I am always glad to see new posters.

And of course, I extend an open invitation to others: come and post!

These posts are good. I like the dialogue.
I see good critical thinking. Well done.

I am always glad to see new posters. And of course, I extend an open invitation to others: come and post! These posts are good. I like the dialogue. I see good critical thinking. Well done.

suchita2409 · Answer

IMO B
A) plant and animal species were evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection instead of created instantaneously
 Here the use of were is redundant evolved itself gives the idea of past, also instead of doesnt have correct antecedent.

B) plant and animal species were not created instantaneously but rather evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection.
 This correctly places instantaneous creation .  keep it

C) plant and animal species were slowly evolved through random mutation and natural selection instead of instantaneous creation.
 The usage of were is redundant again

D) species of plants and animals, rather than being created instantaneously, were slowly evolved through random mutation and natural selection.
 Its awkward and lengthy, also the use of rather than is inappropriate.We do have a better option available.

E) species of plants and animals evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection rather than instantaneous creation.
 Between B and E I think b is better one.

zhanbo · Answer

Originally I chose (E), but through my own analysis, I found that  (B)  is better.

(A) Species evolve themselves rather than "were evolved". Also, after "instead of", we can only use noun or noun phrase (instead of a verb such as created)
(B) The only issue I held against B is that "rather" in "but rather“ is extraneous. "Not ... But ..." is preferred. This objection is rather weak. Read on. 
(C) Species evolve themselves rather than "were evolved".
(D) Species evolve themselves rather than "were evolved".
(E) At first, I think this version is okay. It is not perfect, though, because "instantaneous creation" is not as active as "created instantaneously" in B.

Now, between B and E, I voted for E at first. But then, I notice a bigger issue in E: the "slowly" in "evolved slowly" does not make sense in "...evolved slowly through ... instantaneous creation". That should rule out E altogether.

So, I have choose "B".

eakabuah · Answer

B is the best choice imo.

Meaning: Charles Darwin made two arguments (points). His points were: 1. that plant and animal species  were  not created instantaneously and 2. plants and animal species were slowly evolved through random mutation and natural selection.

A) Charles Darwin argued that plant and animal species were evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection  instead of created  instantaneously.
In A, instead of created is problematic. Instead of as a compound preposition should only be followed by a noun and not a past participle  created . This is enough basis to eliminate A.

B) Charles Darwin argued that plant and animal species were not created instantaneously but rather evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection.
Keep B. B uses the structure not X but rather Y to present the argument made by Charles Darwin. X is  created  instantaneously while Y is  evolved  slowly through random mutation and natural selection. Both X and Y are participial phrases, hence parallel.

C) Charles Darwin argued that plant and animal species were slowly  evolved  through random mutation and natural selection instead of instantaneous  creation .
In C, instead of is rightly followed by a noun creation. There is however a problem with the logical parallelism between  evolved  and  creation . The parallelism marker in this instance is the verb  were . So, we have plant and animal species  were  X: slowly  evolved  through random mutation and natural selection and Y: instantaneous  creation . Clearly, X and Y are not parallel. Eliminate C.

D) Charles Darwin argued that species of plants and animals,  rather than   being   created instantaneously , were slowly evolved through random mutation and natural selection.
D presents a key part of Darwin's argument as a non-essential modifier for species of plants and animals, and this is not right. In addition, what role is being playing in the sentence? Being seems to modify created and, by so doing, distorts the intended meaning. Eliminate D.

E) Charles Darwin argued that species of plants and animals    were  ]  evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection rather than instantaneous creation.
Just as in C, there is a parallelism problem in E between  evolved  and  creation . Besides, the linking verb  were  is missing in E. Eliminate E.

B is left as the best answer.

hero_with_1000_faces · Answer

Mate, I went with "E" too.

Later I realized that there is parallelism issue with "E", evolved is a "modifier" and "instantaneous creation" is a noun.

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

Charles Darwin argued that  plant and animal species were evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection instead of created instantaneously.

A) plant and animal species were evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection instead of created instantaneously  "were evolved" is redundant - we do not require two verbs here. Just "evolved" is sufficient. Eliminate.

B) plant and animal species were not created instantaneously but rather evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection  Correct. There is no redundancy and correct parallelism is maintained between "evolved" and "created".

C) plant and animal species were slowly evolved through random mutation and natural selection instead of instantaneous creation  "were...evolved" is redundant - we do not require two verbs here. Just "evolved" is sufficient. Eliminate.

D) species of plants and animals, rather than being created instantaneously, were slowly evolved through random mutation and natural selection  "were...evolved" is redundant - we do not require two verbs here. Just "evolved" is sufficient. Eliminate.

E) species of plants and animals evolved slowly through random mutation and natural selection rather than instantaneous creation  There is a parallelism issue between "evolved" and "creation. Eliminate.

Hope this helps.

mykrasovski · Answer

There are plenty of great explanations in the thread, so I will just add my two cents about instead of / rather.

As discussed  here , "rather" or "rather than" can be used with nouns/adjectives/verbs, while "instead of" can only be used with nouns or noun phrases. For instance,

"I prefer drinking coffee rather than milk" - correct.
"I prefer drinking coffee instead of milk" - correct.
"I walk rather than drive" - correct.
"I walk  instead of  drive" -  incorrect .

Hope the above helps.

generis · Answer

The official explanation is  here

VerbalBot · Answer

Automated notice from GMAT Club VerbalBot: 

A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

 This post was generated automatically.

Charles Darwin argued that plant and animal species were evolved slowl

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Charles Darwin argued that plant and animal species were evolved slowl

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards