<p>Not three weeks following Lance Armstrong's victory in the Tour de France bicycle race but the doctors diagnosed him with cancer.
A) no change
B) but the doctors had him diagnosed with cancer
C) than he has been diagnosed by the doctors that he had cancer
D) but cancer had been diagnosed in him by doctors
E) than doctors diagnosed his cancer</p>
<p>I chose A) because I thought the idiom involved is not...but. However, the correct answer is E. The book's explanation is: A) Diction error. In the context, the use of but is not standard English.</p>
<p>I have never seen a question like this before, so I am utterly confused. Someone please help.</p>
<p>I honestly don’t know. However, if it makes you feel better Barron’s practice questions are absurdly difficult compared to the real thing and are often riddled with typos. Of course, I could be completley wrong on this one…</p>
<p>First, my opinion is that this is a very complex writing problem, and that it is unlikely to appear on the SAT. Arguably it is not typical phrasing, and it is not a particularly good way way to connect the two clauses.</p>
<p>The use of “but” to connect the two clauses is odd because the second clause is not an exception to the first. Also the use of “the doctors” in A cannot be right. There isn’t some common group of “the doctors”, as the use of “the” would suggest. In the phrasing “doctors” is meant to be generic.</p>
<p>The conjunction “than” serves to tie the clauses together. It suggests that a short time period had elapsed between the event in the first clause and that in the second, and that one would not have expected that period to be so short. Stated differently, there is an implied comparison – the three weeks, and the much longer time that one would have expected for such a diagnosis to occur (if ever).</p>
<p>C, the other possible choice, is awkward and convoluted.</p>
<p>Thanks you guys for the help.</p>
<p>I just stumbled upon another Barron writing question.</p>
<p>Here’s the rule that the book gives me: When a subject contains a pronoun that differs in person from a noun or another pronoun, the verb must agree with the closer subject word.
examples: Neither Meredith nor you are expected to finish the work today.
Either he or I am planning to work late on Saturday.</p>
<p>Here’s my question:
Either Don or you is going to lead the class discussion on Tuesday.</p>
<p>According to the rule, I changed “is” to “are” because the pronoun “you” is closer. But the answer in the book says it’s actually no error. Is this just a typo problem?</p>
<p>^ i think you are right. it should be : “you are” b/c you is closer to the verb</p>
<p>My understanding is that the “proximity” rule is not a rigid rule. In the example both:</p>
<p>Either Don or you is going to lead the class discussion on Tuesday.
and
Either Don or you are going to lead the class discussion on Tuesday.</p>
<p>are “correct”</p>
<p>In speech, the first may sound “wrong”, so best is to use the second. In formal writing – well, either is “correct”. Best is to avoid the choice altogether and write something like "One of you will lead … ".</p>
<p>I expect that if you research this topic you’ll see differing opinions. So in the end this is a poor writing question, and I think that it is unlikely to appear on the SAT.</p>