gmat test#1 - SC 24

[sunil53]

24. Authors of the seventeenth century used alliteration to both refine their writing and increase a listener's pleasure.
(A) Authors of the seventeenth century used alliteration to both refine their writing and increase
(B) Authors of the seventeenth century used alliteration both to refine their writing and increase
(C) Seventeenth-century authors utilized alliteration both to refine their writing and to increase
(D) Seventeenth-century authors used alliteration both to refine their writing and to increase
(E) Seventeenth-century authors used alliteration to refine their writing, and also to increase

SPOILER: d

[SuM]

C & D are parallel.
There is no need to change the word "used" to "utilized" in C. D would be best.

[sunil53]

What is wrong with E?

[soz_gmat05]

(E) Seventeenth-century authors used alliteration to refine their writing, and also to increase
AND+ALSO redundant!

[sunil53]

soz - "both" is not there in E - so instead of both - it is and also.

I was hoping "ETS prefers {both to x and to y} to {to x and also to y}" explaination.

[800needed]

soz - "both" is not there in E - so instead of both - it is and also.

I was hoping "ETS prefers {both to x and to y} to {to x and also to y}" explaination.

I was curious if anybody knew how to use both correctly? I mean is it
"used x both to Y and to Z" or is it "used X to both X and Y"? I just want to make sure i get this right if it comes up in the test. Thanks

[soz_gmat05]

Correct:

both to Y and to Z
to both Y and Z

Incorrect:

both to Y and Z
to both Y and to Z

we are looking for the parallelism

[Taf]

So what's wrong with B? Is it simply because "Authors of the seventeenth century" is not as good as" Seventeenth century authors"?

[soz_gmat05]

I think so

[800needed]

So what's wrong with B? Is it simply because "Authors of the seventeenth century" is not as good as" Seventeenth century authors"?

LOL I answeredB too!!! LOL That is why I was asking to make sure about the rule about both to X and to Y....

I guess that teh shortest way of saying something is always better for GMAT english