The emergence of an Eskimo art popular in Western markets in recent ye

An excellent question.
-> an indication of
-> a stimulus to

There is a good chance of making mistake in this type of question when we are out of time. Just see, both A and B seem okay. But the problem lies in missing a preposition.

(A) has been both an indication and a stimulus to--> it sounds, an indication to-> wrong
(B) has been not only an indication but also a stimulus to-> same problem, an indication to-> wrong
(E) has been both an indication of and a stimulus to-> both X and Y-> an indication of and a stimulus to(correct)

hello AjiteshArun

Why I chose B?
1. Indication and stimulus to something.
Indication of xx and stimulus to yy --> are not they different ideas?
E.g.: indication of something and stimulus to somthing.
If same idea, i expect indication and stimulus of xyz
so i didnt prefer OF in E option

2. Indication is action as first step
stimulus is something more than indication , so I preferred but also
Hence I preferred B

I thought deeply and was convinced with B but end up in wrong answer.
Please share your opinion on my reasoning . Thanks AjiteshArun

The emergence of an Eskimo art popular in Western markets in recent years has been both an indication and a stimulus to
a broader appreciation of Eskimo history and culture.

(A) has been both an indication and a stimulus to - an indication ---- to; not grammatical
(B) has been not only an indication but also a stimulus to – same as A
(C) not only has been an indication but has also stimulated – same as A
(D) both has indicated and stimulated – same as A
(E) has been both an indication of and a stimulus to – indication of is idiomatic

HI GMATNinja AjiteshArun , in this question i don't get how D is wrong ,
The emergence of an Eskimo art popular in Western markets in recent years has been both an indication and a stimulus to a broader appreciation of Eskimo history and culture.
D) both has indicated and stimulated

This seems parallel to me (has can be ellipsis ) and indicated and stimulated both are verb (and i guess in GMAT verb is preferred over noun form) so we don't need "of" and "to" as in option E . Meaning wise also it seems fine to me (maybe i am wrong)
Can you please help me what is wrong with with this option ?

Hi Gaurav2896,

There are many people who'd think that the has in option D can apply to stimulated, but the GMAT is unlikely to consider this correct. Generally, when we're working with structures like both X and Y and either X or Y, we want to ensure that X and Y are parallel.

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Concepts tested here: Parallelism + Idioms

• “both A and B" or "A as well as B" are the correct usages; A and B must be parallel and comparable.
• “not only A but also B” is the correct, idiomatic usage; A must be parallel to B.

A: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between A ("an indication") and B ("a stimulus to") in the idiomatic construction "both A and B"; please remember, "both A and B" is a correct, idiomatic usage; A and B must be parallel and comparable.

B: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between A ("an indication") and B ("a stimulus to") in the idiomatic construction "not only A but also B"; please remember, "not only A but also B" is a correct, idiomatic usage; A and B must be parallel and comparable.

C: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between A ("has been an indication") and B ("has...stimulated") in the idiomatic construction "not only A but also B"; please remember, "not only A but also B" is a correct, idiomatic usage; A and B must be parallel and comparable

D: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between A ("has indicated") and B ("stimulated") in the idiomatic construction "both A and B"; please remember, "both A and B" is a correct, idiomatic usage; A and B must be parallel and comparable.

E: Correct. This answer choice correctly maintains parallelism between A ("an indication of") and B ("a stimulus to") in the idiomatic construction "both A and B".

Hence, E is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

If the "has" was meant to go with both "indicated" and "stimulated," why not just put it before the "both" to make the intended meaning perfectly clear?

As written, the parallelism in (D) can be interpreted in one of two ways: (1) two present perfect verbs ("has + _____ed") OR (2) one present perfect verb ("has indicated") and one simple past verb ("stimulated"). Forcing the reader to assume that there is an implied second "has" is asking a lot.

The parallelism in (E), on the other hand, isn't open to interpretation, making it a clearer, better sentence.

I hope that helps!

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