Find the part of the sentence that contains an error: What renders the draft legislation particularly contentious is not its prop…

Question

Find the part of the sentence that contains an error:

What renders the draft legislation particularly contentious is not its proposed realignment of fiscal powers per se, (1)/ but that it presumes, without empirical substantiation, (2)/ a fiscal equivalence among states whose developmental baselines are (3)/ incommensurable by any normative metric. (4)

1. A. (1)
2. B. (2) (Correct answer)
3. C. (3)
4. D. (4)

Correct Answer

Option B — (2)

Detailed Solution & Explanation

The correct answer is (2).

Key Points

• The sentence uses the correlative frame 'is not [A] but [B]', which demands parallel structures.
• Part (1) supplies a noun phrase, 'its proposed realignment of fiscal powers per se'.
• Part (2) breaks the parallel with a noun clause, 'but that it presumes …'.
• To match, (2) should be a noun phrase — e.g. 'but its presumption … of a fiscal equivalence …'. The error is in (2).
• With 'not X but Y', X and Y must be the same grammatical type; a phrase paired with a clause is the classic parallelism error.