yo4561 Wrote:My question: To confirm, I am assuming that the difference between "economist" versus "the economist" does not matter and is a trick "split", correct?
Yep, I think the "the" doesn't make much difference here, at least between C and D/E. The only real difference (AB vs. CDE) is how that modifier is placed. While I do think use of the "the" is preferable when "the economist" is placed after Veblen as an appositive (set off by commas), neither A nor B omitted it, so the question wasn't testing that.