What was as remarkable as the development of the compact disc has been the use of the new technology to revitalize in better sound than was ever before possible, some of the classic recorded performances of the pre-LP era.

A)
B) The thing that was as remarkable as developing the compact disc
C) No less remarkable than the development of the compact disc
D) Developing the compact disc has been none the less remarkable than
E) Development of the compact disc has been no less remarkable as

The explanation states that the sentence compares "the development of the compact disc" with "the use of the new technology". When I read the sentence, I thought that it was just showing that "development of the compact disc" was a remarkable "use of the new technology". I wonder how I can tackle the problem in order to identify the parallelism in the sentence above.

This is a tough one. The key thing to notice is the language "as remarkable as." The "as something as" or "something than" (eg, greater than, less than) structures indicate comparisons, so I know I have to be comparing two things. Those two things need to be comparable (that is, it needs to make sense to compare those two things) and the two things need to be parallel.

"the use of the new technology" is not underlined, so I need to make the other part about the CD fit that. "The use of" is comparable and parallel to "the development of." That eliminates B and D.

A and B can be eliminated through broken parallelism - they mix verb tenses for the two items I'm comparing (was = past, has been = present perfect).

D and E can be eliminated through incorrect idioms. "none the less remarkable than" mixes two idioms: "none the less" and "no less remarkable than." And "no less remarkable as" is also incorrect idiom - it's either "as remarkable as" or "no less remarkable than."

_________________
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director of Online Community
ManhattanGMAT