BB2 Writing question: pg 411 / #32

silverturtle
Tue, 20 Jul 2010 22:12:01 +0000

I actually missed this question when I took that practice test. I didn’t see any reason to prefer either (B) or (E) over the other, so I just went with (B) arbitrarily.

There is no grammar rule here. Here’s what the College Board claims about (B):



Also, the use of “instead” implies that medieval castles “offered dark dungeons and damp, drafty living quarters” as an alternative to the comforts of palaces, an illogical statement.



I don’t buy that. Here is what the Random House Dictionary says about one sense of “instead”:



in place of; in lieu of: You can use milk instead of cream in this recipe.



I don’t think that “instead” needs to imply that something is an alternative; it can merely function as does “rather” (e.g., He is not hungry; rather, he is full). I found this to be a problematic question.