vards wrote:
hello,i am a liveprep student.i could find where to ask a question on our
e-gmat website.I was reading an article in newyork times and i came accross this sentence which i thought is gramatically incorrect.please help me out with this sentence-
"But interviews with analysts and dozens of current and former Time Inc. executives suggest that a series of management missteps, a lack of investment from Time Warner and downsizing in preparation for the spinoff may have added to the degree of difficulty."
how can downsizing be parallel to other elements..?
please help me out..thank you
Hi vards,
Thank you for the post.
Let’s do the sentence structure for the given sentence to find out the elements in the list:
• But
interviews with analysts and dozens of current and former Time Inc. executives suggest • that
o
a series of management missteps,
o a lack of investment from Time Warner
o and downsizing in preparation for the spinoff
may have added to the degree of difficulty.
So, the three items that are shown parallel to each other in this list combine to form the subject of the verb "may have added". These items are:
1. a series of…. (Noun)
2. A lack of…. (Noun)
3. Downsizing in….
Now, ‘downsizing’ can be parallel to the other two noun entities only if it is a noun. Now, let’s look at a few examples to see whether a verb-ing form can act as a noun:
• Swimming is the best exercise.
• Reading novels is my hobby .
In all the above sentences, the verb-ing form acts as a noun and the subject of the sentence. So, a verb-ing form can act as a noun that denotes an action. This usage is a little different from the conventional nouns that don’t denote any action. Let's take an official example in which the verb-ing form acts as a noun:
•
Many policy experts say o that
shifting a portion of health-benefit costs back to the workers
o not only
helps to control the employer’s costs,
o but also
helps to limit medical spending by making patients more careful consumers.
In the above sentence, "shifting" acts as a noun and the subject for the verb "helps".
Similarly, ‘downsizing’ in the above sentence is acting as a noun, and hence it is parallel to the other two nouns. To learn more about various functions of verb-ing forms, please refer to the following article:
https://e-gmat.com/blogs/?p=3326 Hope this helps!
Deepak
_________________