This one is a Q from Kaplan online quiz bank Fledging

Question

This one is a Q from Kaplan online quiz bank

Fledging Theatre companies have been known to perform in bars and even backyards, and some people feel that theatre is sometimes better served by  " found spaces" of this kind instead of by elaborately designed theaters in which the audience feels  no connection with the performers.

a)
b)" found spaces" like these rather than elaborately designed theaters in which the audience feels
c)these "found spaces" instead of elaborately designed theaters in which the audience feel
d)such "found spaces" rather than by elaborately designed theaters in which the audience feels
e)such "found spaces" than by elaborately designed theaters in which the audience feels

I am conflicting between two answers. I will give them out after I get a few responses from members here

duttarupam · Answer

E,

...such ...... is the correct usage. 

"rather than by" ... is wordy,

grad_mba · Answer

go with E.

'instead of' is wrong in this context (better ..... than)

E maintains parallelism

axl_oz · Answer

Fledging Theatre companies have been known to perform in bars and even backyards, and some people feel that theatre is sometimes better served by " found spaces" of this kind instead of by elaborately designed theaters in which the audience feels no connection with the performers.

a)
b)" found spaces" like these rather than elaborately designed theaters in which the audience feels
c)these "found spaces" instead of elaborately designed theaters in which the audience feel
d)such "found spaces" rather than by elaborately designed theaters in which the audience feels
e)such "found spaces" than by elaborately designed theaters in which the audience feels

I selected D

But after reading it more carefuly, I feel E is better than D.

goalsnr · Answer

audience  is singular ->c is out
"rather than" is required ->a,e ->out
b->incorrect sentence construction
I pick  D

aaron22197 · Answer

OA is E and I picked D. I am confused on when to pick "than" and when to pick "rather than"

vc019 · Answer

The correct idiom is "X rather than Y" - so how can 'E' be correct? I donot agree with the OA.

Aaron, Do you have an OE for this Q? On an exam day I would have picked D. Cheers.

vijay2001 · Answer

I choose D to begin with. But looking around on the web found an IDIOM

better served by X than Y ..(SC-116,pg 722 of OG)

So I guess answer is E

vc019 · Answer

Hi Vijay2001,

Thanks!
 Does that mean "better served by X than Y" is better than "X rather than Y" ??? I am not sure. Can anyone give an explaination why this is so and is there any way to choose between two idioms???

This one is a Q from Kaplan online quiz bank Fledging

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