During the past decade, the labor market in France has not been operating according to free market principles, but instead stifling functioning through its various government regulations restricting the hiring and firing of workers.

(A) principles, but instead stifling functioning through its various government regulations restricting the hiring and firing of workers
(B) principles, instead it has been functioning in a stifled manner as a result of various government regulations that restrict the hiring and firing of workers
(C) principles, rather functioning despite being stifled as a result of government regulations that variously restrict worker hiring and firing
(D) principles; the hiring and firing of workers is restricted there by various government regulations, its functioning being stifled
(E) principles; instead, its functioning has been stifled by various government regulations restricting the hiring and firing of workers

OA:[spoiler]E[/spoiler]

My problem: We use semicolon if:
a. We need to connect two related thoughts.
b. The second thought is able to stand alone as a sentence, having its subject and verb.

In E above, a) is met but not b).
If a sentence starts with instead, how can it be an independent clause ?
Also,
What is wrong with other answer choices A and B ?

Thanks in advance.

"instead" is an adverb; it has no effect on whether something is a sentence.

same thing with these two:
I left home earlier than I normally do.
Actually, I left home earlier than I normally do.

the addition of the adverb "actually" doesn't change the fact that this is a sentence.
same deal with "instead".

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Hi,

I am confused about the usage of variously in option C.

In option B, is the use of functioning in a stiffled manner wrong.

I chose the right answer but that'e because these did not look right to me. Can;t exactly figure out what's wrong with them though.

In B, the wording you referenced is certainly not ideal; I believe that it would be labeled by the GMAT test writers as "awkward and wordy". B also is a run-on sentence, which consists of two independent clauses which are joined but a comma rather than a semicolon. There is more discussion in this thread: sc-during-the-past-decade-the-labor-market-in-france-t5227.html

For C, tell us more about your question regarding "variously". Thanks!

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ManhattanGMAT Instructor