Question
Some historians of science have argued that science moves forward not so much because of the insights of great thinkers but because of more mundane developments, such as improved tools and technologies.
Option A
Option B
Option C
Option D
Option E
(This question is from Official Guide. Therefore, because of copyrights, the complete question cannot be copied here. The question can be accessed at GMAT Club)
Solution
- Some historians (Main Subject)
- of science (Prepositional Phrase – modifies the main subject)
- have argued (Main Verb)
- that science moves forward (Dependent Clause – object for the main verb)
- not so much because of the insights of great thinkers (Prepositional Phrase – modifies “moves”)
- but because of more mundane developments, (Prepositional Phrase – modifies “moves”)
- such as improved tools and technologies. (modifies “developments”)
- that science moves forward (Dependent Clause – object for the main verb)
An argument of some historians is presented. The argument compares the reasons for the development of science. The smaller reason is the insights of great thinkers, and the bigger reason is more mundane developments such as improved tools and technologies.
The sentence has one error: “not so… but” is incorrect. To present comparison, we need to use “not so…as” construction. “Not X but Y” construction is used when we want to discard X and accept Y, not to present a graded comparison. The “so much” after “not” is a clear indicator that a comparison is being made in this sentence.
Let’s consider the following two sentences:
- Bob is not intelligent but caring.
- Bob is not so much intelligent as caring.
The first sentence says that Bob is not intelligent and that Bob is caring. On the other hand, the second sentence compares the magnitude of how intelligent and how caring Bob is. This is the difference between “not X but Y” and “not so much X as Y” structures.
Option Analysis
(A) Incorrect. For the reason mentioned above.
(B) Incorrect. This option lacks parallelism. While “not so” is followed by a prepositional phrase (which can modify the verb “moves”), “as” is followed by a noun phrase “the result” (which cannot modify the verb “moves”).
(C) Correct. Because of the insights of great thinkers as because of
(D) Incorrect. The error of the original sentence.
(E) Incorrect. For the following reasons:
- The error of the original sentence.
- The verb phrase “result from” cannot modify the verb “moves”
If you have any doubts regarding any part of this solution, please feel free to ask in the comments section.
This solution was created by Chiranjeev Singh and Anish Passi.
Option Analysis B:
much because of the insights of great thinkers – Categorized as clause .,
How come “much because of the insights of great thinkers ” is a clause ?
It’s a prepositional phrase. You are right. In the original sentence, I mentioned it as a prepositional phrase. Probably, because of some confusion, it was mentioned as a clause in option B. I’ve corrected it now. Thank you!
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