Drinking coffee may significantly reduce the risk of cirrhosis of the

teaserbae , this question is harder than it appears.

The sentence intends to convey that the consumption of coffee may do two equally important things:
1) reduce risk (of contracting cirrhosis of the liver), and
2) aid (help) sufferers (of migraine headaches)

The biggest issue in all four incorrect answers is lack of parallelism, which in A, B, and D creates nonsensical meaning.

In A, B, and D, however, first we have to recognize that "aid" is used as a noun, a task that may be hard for non-native speakers.

SPLIT #1: "Easy" parallelism error
Incorrect: VERB and VERB-ING
(E) reduce . . . [as well as] aidING are not parallel

Eliminate (E)

Split #2: Parallelism error that is harder to spot: VERB/verb phrase and NOUN (phrase)

When aid is a noun: AID TO and AID FOR are correct. Both are idiomatic noun phrases.

In fact, those constructions signal that aid IS a noun.

We cannot use AID FOR or AID TO when aid is a verb
If you see AID FOR or AID TO, those phrases signal that AID is NOT a verb, but rather a noun (in a noun phrase)

Split #2, continued: Parallelism that may be hard to spot
VERB/VERB PHRASE ... NOUN (phrase)
are not parallel

(A) reduce ... and also aid for
-- FOR signals that aid is a noun
-- reduce (verb) ... and also aid (noun) for
-- VERB ... NOUN (phrase) => not parallel

P.S. whatever may have been the case previously,
"and also" is not automatically wrong on the GMAT unless the construction at issue is "both . . . and.".
Allowed: X and also Y. My neighbor mowed her lawn and also cleaned her porch.
Not allowed: Both X and also Y. My neighbor both mowed her lawn and also cleaned her porch.
If we have no other basis upon which to decide between two answers, choose the one that uses only "and" rather than the one that uses "and also."
Otherwise, find a different error. Correct official questions have used "and also."

(B) be significant in reducing ... and aid for
-- VERB PHRASE ... NOUN (phrase)
-- Same as (A)

D) cause ... and aid to
-- TO signals that aid is a noun
-- VERB ... NOUN (phrase)
-- Same as (A)
AID TO is similar to AID FOR.
The idiomatic construction "aid to" signals that AID is part of a noun phrase and is NOT a verb, just as "aid for" does.

Eliminate A, B, and D

Split #2a: Illogical and nonsensical meaning

Because A, B, and E use AID as a noun, they create a deceptive parallel between the noun RISK and the noun AID.
As a result, the sentences proclaim that drinking coffee may reduce both risk and aid.
Huh? May reduce aid?
How might drinking coffee reduce HELP?

Eliminate A, B, and D

By POE, Answer (C) is correct

Analysis of (C): Drinking coffee may significantly reduce the risk of cirrhosis of the liver and aid sufferers of migraine headaches ...

• The verbs reduce and aid are parallel
• The verb "aid" correctly is not followed by the prepositions TO or FOR
• Subject + aid + direct object construction is correct

In this case, aid is a transitive verb that requires a direct object (sufferers), which receives the action of the verb without being interrupted by TO or FOR.
The construction is correct.

ANSWER C

I hope that helps.

AID as an idiom

NOUN
• Allowed: AID TO
aid to developing countries

• Allowed: AID FOR
aid for victims of the civil war

• Allowed: AID IN _____ ing
aid in finding a solution

• INCORRECT: AID + infinitive

When aid is a noun, AID cannot be followed by an infinitive. Ever.

Incorrect: Her aid to fix the problem was essential.
Correct: Her aid in fixing the problem was essential.

VERB

• Allowed: Subject + aid + direct object

She aided the wounded people.
He aided a friend.

• Allowed: Subject + aid + "in ______ING" [IN + gerund VERB-ING]

She aided in comforting the wounded people.
(the "in ___ ING" phrase is okay because it describes the activity or event in which she is helping)

He aided in catching the criminal.

• Not allowed: When aid is a VERB it CANNOT be followed by FOR or TO

INCORRECT: She aided to the wounded people.
INCORRECT: She aided for the wounded people.
INCORRECT: She aided to comforting the wounded people.

*In this OG question, the last two options are incorrect because they are constructed this way:
• the goddess Bona Dea's aid TO HELP
• "to help" is an infinitive (not okay!). The correct answer has this construction: aid in helping
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A) significantly reduce the risk of cirrhosis of the liver and also aid for --- 'aid for' is a noun; ‘also’ is implied in ‘and’ – wrong
B) be significant in reducing the risk of cirrhosis of the liver and aid for – as in A, 'aid for' is wrong idiom
C)significantly reduce the risk of cirrhosis of the liver and aid ---Though apparently correct grammatically, still may not be the best choice; let’s discuss at the end
D)cause a significant reduction in the risk of cirrhosis of the liver and aid to – aid to is a noun
E)significantly reduce the risk of cirrhosis of the liver as well as aiding – this is a strong contender.

Between C and E: 'and' is a parallelism marker, which is used to combine two equal factors. If one of the factors is only a subsidiary or less equal one, then we have to choose a prepositional joiner such as, in addition to, together with, as well as, along with etc. While using a prepositional phrase to join two nouns, we have to use ‘verb+ing’ after the prepositional conjunction, such as in as well as aiding, along with aiding or in addition to aiding and so on.
IMO, E is a better choice than C
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Hi daagh
the OA here is C instead of E

Other experts please help
hazelnut generis sudarshan22 GMATNinjaTwo

Drinking coffee may significantly reduce the risk of cirrhosis of the liver and also aid for sufferers of migraine headaches, according to research studies recently published in major journals.

(A) significantly reduce the risk of cirrhosis of the liver and also aid for
(B) be significant in reducing the risk of cirrhosis of the liver and aid for
(C) significantly reduce the risk of cirrhosis of the liver and aid
(D) cause a significant reduction in the risk of cirrhosis of the liver and aid to
(E) significantly reduce the risk of cirrhosis of the liver as well as aiding

There are parallelism errors in all the incorrect answer choices.

(A) significantly reduce the risk of cirrhosis of the liver and also aid for - no parallelism
(B) be significant in reducing the risk of cirrhosis of the liver and aid for - no parallelism(-ing form and simple tense)
(C) significantly reduce the risk of cirrhosis of the liver and aid
(D) cause a significant reduction in the risk of cirrhosis of the liver and aid to - no parallelism( passive and simple tense)
(E) significantly reduce the risk of cirrhosis of the liver as well as aiding - no parallelism(simple tense and -ing form)

You have too much stamina to write such detailed posts.

Your posts are amazing. Thanks for helping all.

Cheers.
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E is perfectly parallel. when using as well as with verbs, the second verb is verb+ing. VeritasKarishma - please clarify why E is wrong

(C) is the only answer choice that creates a parallel structure between "reduce" and "aid"

(A) inappropriately uses the prepositional phrase "aid for" (could be fixed by making it "and provide aid to")
(B) inappropriately uses the prepositional phrase "aid for" (could be fixed by making it "and aiding")
(D) inappropriately uses the prepositional phrase "aid to" (could be fixed by removing "to", to match "cause")
(E) inappropriately uses the participle "aiding" (could be fixed by changing it to the conjugated verb "aid")
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Delineated explanation! Perfect.
However, I have a doubt about use of "as well as". Somewhere I read that as well as is followed by verb+ing form.
Could you throw some light on this?
And use of "as well as" in statement according to GMAT.

Answer in 16 secs.. Significantly adverb = BDE follows the structure.
Then the parallelism of aid and reduce.

gvij2017 There are many ways to use "as well as." For instance, it can join two nouns in many places where we'd use "and": "My friend is a poet as well as a plumber." Here, the purpose is often to show a contrasting or surprising second noun.

However, your -ing concept may come from the use of "as well as" to form modifiers: "As well as providing shelter, homes also give us a place to keep all our junk." Here, "providing" and "give" may not seem to be parallel, but since the first phrase is a modifier rather than a parallel term, parallelism is not an issue. However, it isn't really the best way to express the idea, and I can't guarantee the GMAT would let this fly. (Does anyone know an example?) In any case, the usage in E certainly doesn't fit the bill. That part at the end doesn't look like a modifier--it doesn't even have a comma--and such a modifier wouldn't work as clearly after the action as before it. Generally, beware of choices that randomly swap in "as well of" in place of "and," especially if the writers seem to be using that as (very flimsy) excuse not to use parallel structure. There may be multiple ways to use "as well as" properly, but that isn't one of them.
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