A recent study has found that within the past few years, many doctors

Can we mark E on the grounds that since phrase after "rather than" marks present tense so the verb should be in simple form?

Construction for Present Tense:

would rather <verb in simple form> than <verb in simple form>

if parallelism is the deciding factor, why not add a "to" after the "rather than", this can be true parallel

We are not repeating to because we have a rule 'Once outside or Twice Inside".

So, both ways the sentence should be correct.

could you please elaborate on 'Once outside or Twice Inside" rule?

Answer E
If in option A, had elected is changed to have elected, then we have
(A)' have elected early retirement rather than face -- is there a parallelism error here?
why can't the parallel structures be - many doctors have elected early retirement
rather than face -- in this case have elected and face are both verbs and can't they be parallel?

AjiteshArun , GMATNinja ,egmat , mikemcgarry , daagh , sayantanc2k - please help .

why is past perfect "had" in option a incorrect?

dont we use had as the action already took place in past and they are telling that now,means doctor already resigned in last few years as mentioned

Hi Sachin,

Whenever we have a list, the common items in the first entity of the list may not be repeated before all the entities in the list. OG questions are inundated with such parallel construction. For example the first question of OGV2:

Like ants, termites have an elaborate social structure in which a few individuals reproduce and the rest serve the colony by tending juveniles, gathering food, building the nest, or battling intruders.

This is the sentence with correct answer choice E. Notice the entities in the sub-list. Termites serve the colony by:
a. tending juveniles,
b. gathering food,
c. building the nest, or
d. battling intruders.

In the sentence, only the first entity is preceded by “by”. It is understood before other entities. This is a very common structure. Here comes the need to identify the correct entities that are intended to make the correct intended parallel list. Try out this official question:

The computer software being designed for a project studying Native American access to higher education will not only meet the needs of that study, but also has the versatility and power of facilitating similar research endeavors.

(A) but also has the versatility and power of facilitating
(B) but also have the versatility and power to facilitate
C) but it also has the versatility and power to facilitate
(D) and also have the versatility and power of facilitating
(E) and it also has such versatility and power that it can facilitate

Now let’s analyze, why choice C is incorrect.

C) have elected retiring early instead of facing: Notice the use of “elected” here. The way it has been used in this choice and the original sentence as well, it seems to suggest that the doctors have cast their votes for an entity named “retiring” instead of another entity “facing”. This is the incorrect use of the word. The intended meaning is that they have elected to – chose to – do one thing rather than the other. This incorrect use of “elected” makes this choice incorrect.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

A recent study has found that within the past few years, many doctors had elected early retirement rather than face the threats of lawsuits and the rising costs of malpractice insurance.

(A) had elected early retirement rather than face
(B) had elected early retirement instead of facing
(C) have elected retiring early instead of facing
(D) have elected to retire early rather than facing
(E) have elected to retire early rather than face

"and" is the parallelism trigger here.
Phrases before and after "and" seem parallel.
"facing the threats of lawsuits" is parallel to "rising costs of malpractice insurance".
Hence option D should be correct.
Where am I wrong here ?

(A) but also has the versatility and power of facilitating
(B) but also have the versatility and power to facilitate
C) but it also has the versatility and power to facilitate
(D) and also have the versatility and power of facilitating
(E) and it also has such versatility and power that it can facilitate


I am confused with (B) and (C)

(B) but also have the versatility and power to facilitate
C) but it also has the versatility and power to facilitate

On one hand in (C) I believe there is an idiom error --> Not only X but it also Y is incorrect
On the other hand in (B) the verb "have" is plural for the singular subject "computer software.

If I had to chose, I'll go for (C) because (B) is a SV error, which according to me is a deterministic error as compared to the idiom error in (C)

Hi there,

This is the sentence with choice D:

A recent study has found that within the past few years, many doctors have elected to retire early rather than facing the threats of lawsuits and the rising costs of malpractice insurance.

The original sentence means that according to a recent study, in the last few years many doctors have chosen to do X rather than Y. Here, X and Y should be parallel. Per this choice (D),
X = to retire early
Y = facing the threats of…
These two entities are not parallel because X is “to verb” while Y is written in verb-ing form. Hence, we have parallelism error in this sentence.

Choice E corrects this error. This is the sentence with choice E:

A recent study has found that within the past few years, many doctors have elected to retire early rather than face the threats of lawsuits and the rising costs of malpractice insurance.

X = to retire early
Y = (to) face the threats of…
The two entities are parallel here, and hence choice E is the correct answer.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

Doesn't E also create a ||ism error for ' rather than FACE the threats of lawsuits AND THE RISING costs of malpractice insurance'?

GMATNinja AjiteshArun VeritasKarishma

"and" is the parallelism trigger here.
Phrases before and after "and" seem parallel.
"facing the threats of lawsuits" is parallel to "rising costs of malpractice insurance".
Hence option D should be correct.
Where am I wrong here ?