adhesive-bonding over spot-welding

[urshohini]

In metal work one advantage of adhesive-bonding over spot-welding is that the contact, and hence the bonding, is effected continuously over a broad surface instead of a series of regularly spaced points with no bonding in between.

A) instead of
B) as opposed to
C) in contrast with
D) rather than at
E) as against being at

OA : D

I didn't understand how option A or B is incorrect here. Having "at" before "a series..." as the right option is confusing me.
Can you please explain the logic and the concept?

[RonPurewal]

In metal work one advantage of adhesive-bonding over spot-welding is that the contact, and hence the bonding, is effected continuously over a broad surface instead of a series of regularly spaced points with no bonding in between.

A) instead of
B) as opposed to
C) in contrast with
D) rather than at
E) as against being at

OA : D

I didn't understand how option A or B is incorrect here. Having "at" before "a series..." as the right option is confusing me.
Can you please explain the logic and the concept?

if you don't have "at", then you wind up with over X and Y -- implying both "over X" and "over Y".
the problem is that the resulting meaning is illogical here. think about the meaning of the sentence: you have a contrast between an application over a continuous surface (in which "over" actually makes logical sense), on the one hand, and a different application at a series of (individual) points, on the other hand.

the issue, then, is the meaning of each preposition -- this is not a question about idioms.
when something happens at a single location, "at" is used; it makes no sense to say that something happens "over" a single point (or several single points -- still ultimately the same issue).

[urshohini]

This makes sense now. I overlooked the part that we are talking about "a series of things" as multiple things. This sentence is bit weird in it's structure.
Thanks Ron for the explanation!

[RonPurewal]

sure.

[krishnan.anju1987]

In metal work one advantage of adhesive-bonding over spot-welding is that the contact, and hence the bonding, is effected continuously over a broad surface instead of a series of regularly spaced points with no bonding in between.

A) instead of
B) as opposed to
C) in contrast with
D) rather than at
E) as against being at

OA : D

I didn't understand how option A or B is incorrect here. Having "at" before "a series..." as the right option is confusing me.
Can you please explain the logic and the concept?

if you don't have "at", then you wind up with over X and Y -- implying both "over X" and "over Y".
the problem is that the resulting meaning is illogical here. think about the meaning of the sentence: you have a contrast between an application over a continuous surface (in which "over" actually makes logical sense), on the one hand, and a different application at a series of (individual) points, on the other hand.

the issue, then, is the meaning of each preposition -- this is not a question about idioms.
when something happens at a single location, "at" is used; it makes no sense to say that something happens "over" a single point (or several single points -- still ultimately the same issue).

Hi Ron,

A quick question. If 'at' were included at the end of the answer choices all of them would be correct right? Is there some difference in meaning of these words. I am not a native English speaker and to me apart from the absence of at there does not seem to be any error or differences between these options. They have the same meaning when I hear it.

[jlucero]

Hi Ron,

A quick question. If 'at' were included at the end of the answer choices all of them would be correct right? Is there some difference in meaning of these words. I am not a native English speaker and to me apart from the absence of at there does not seem to be any error or differences between these options. They have the same meaning when I hear it.

Not quite. The problem with using the "instead of" construction is that it ends with a preposition, which limits what you can include afterwards. Think of this example:

I will meet you (at the store) instead (of (at the bar)). INCORRECT

I will meet you (at the store) rather than (at the bar). CORRECT

By using the expression "rather than" you get more leeway with what you can compare.