In feudal Korea, cattle were traditionally used as beasts of

Question

In feudal Korea,  cattle were traditionally used as beasts of burden, rather than as a food source, and fish were  the primary source of protein in the typical diet.

cattle were traditionally used as beasts of burden, rather than as a food source, and fish were
cattle were being used as beasts of burden, rather than as a food source, and fish were providing
cattle were traditionally used as beasts of burden, rather than as a food source, with fish being
the traditional use of cattle was as beasts of burden, rather than for the provision of food, and fish were
cattle were traditionally used for beasts of burden, rather than for a food source, and fish were

Sovjet · Answer

Answer is (A)

(B) No reason to use the past perfect tense, when simple past would work just as effectively. "were" is simplier than "were being".
(C) "traditionally used as beasts of burden, with fish being..." - Mixes "used" and "were being" giving us different tenses.
(D) Mixes "as" with "for". To make this correct, you might say "the traditional use  for  cattle was as beasts of burden, rather than for the provision of food"
(E) This implies that cattle were somehow used to power beasts of burden, where in fact, cattle ARE the beasts of burden.

crick20002002 · Answer

I am inclined towards A here.

"use/used as" is correct usage - D and E are out.
B uses "being" in a redundant fashion ..

So the contention is between A and C. A seems a winner.

Crick

varunmaheshwari · Answer

I am actually stuck between A and E..
A says: cattle were traditionally used as beasts of burden, rather than as a food source
E says: cattle were traditionally used for beasts of burden, rather than for a food source

Which one will be better to use? And why?

Sovjet · Answer

Of those two, (A) is definitely the better choice because "for" implies a transformation in roles/states.

For example, cattle were used  for  leather. However, in this case, cattle are simply serving a role (beasts of burden), it's not really being "changed" into something else.

Thought of another way, change up the nouns. Which sounds better?

a) We hired him as our new IT manager.
b) We hired him for our new IT manager. - This sounds as if the new employee was hired to work under the new IT manager.

varunmaheshwari · Answer

Sovjet: Thanks for the explanation..

+1 Kudos to u Mate!!

In feudal Korea, cattle were traditionally used as beasts of

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