In a plan to stop the erosion of East Coast beaches, the Army Corps of

In a plan to stop the erosion of East Coast beaches, the Army Corps of Engineers proposed building parallel to shore a breakwater of rocks that would rise six feet above the waterline and act as a buffer, so that it absorbs the energy of crashing waves and protecting the beaches.

(A) act as a buffer, so that it absorbs
(B) act like a buffer so as to absorb
(C) act as a buffer, absorbing
(D) acting as a buffer, absorbing
(E) acting like a buffer, absorb

Parallelism--that would rise and act
So that leaves us with A,B,C. act like vs. act as. Act like means act similar to. Act as means function as. Here Act as is correct use meaning wise. So between A and C, we have so that it absorbs vs. absorbing.
There is one more parallelism here. absorbing anf protecting. So C is correct.

C it is. Parallelism can crack this.

......rocks that would rise...... and act ....., absorbing .....and protecting .....

Paul.. Got my answer.... Just for confirmation... Here Adjective Phrase is what we are calling Participle Phrase. Am I right?

Another kind of absolute phrase is found after a modified noun; it adds a focusing detail or point of focus to the idea of the main clause. This kind of absolute phrase can take the form of a prepositional phrase, an adjective phrase, or a noun phrase.

* The old firefighter stood over the smoking ruins, his senses alert to any sign of another flare-up.
* His subordinates, their faces sweat-streaked and smudged with ash, leaned heavily against the firetruck.
* They knew all too well how all their hard work could be undone — in an instant.

Source: https://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/phrases.htm

Is it C?

Act as a buffer seems correct. If we say absorbing then it agrees with the protecting (bold / underlined) part of the question

C.

Parallelism is being used here - it must be act to parallel rise and must be absorbing to mirror protecting.

https://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/phrases.htm

I would appreciate if someone explain the reason behind using "as" in this sentence.

Like - is used to compare "noun"
As - is used to compare "verbs"

Are we are using "as" because we are comparing "breakwater of rocks will act as a buffer". If yes, dont we need "does" after the word "buffer"....like this...

"breakwater of rocks will act as a buffer [does]"?

In a plan to stop the erosion of East Coast beaches, the Army Corps of Engineers proposed building parallel to shore a breakwater of rocks that would rise six feet above the waterline and act as a buffer, so that it absorbs the energy of crashing waves and protecting the beaches.

(A) act as a buffer, so that it absorbs
(B) act like a buffer so as to absorb
(C) act as a buffer, absorbing
(D) acting as a buffer, absorbing
(E) acting like a buffer, absorb

Parallelism--that would rise and act
So that leaves us with A,B,C. act like vs. act as. Act like means act similar to. Act as means function as. Here Act as is correct use meaning wise. So between A and C, we have so that it absorbs vs. absorbing.
There is one more parallelism here. absorbing anf protecting. So D is correct.

-as is used to compare clause so we have to fix it by using like.
-absorbing is parallel to protecting
(C) wins.

What is rise/act referring to? I feel it can't refer to a prepositional phrase "of rocks", so I see breakwater as singular..

Going by parallelism is fine, but we need to look at subject verb singular/plural agreement too, right?

as should be followed by a verb and like compares noun,
So shouldn't B be the answer?

The OA according to OG13 is C
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Nope. B is not parallel first of all.

In a plan to stop the erosion of East Coast beaches, the Army Corps of Engineers proposed building parallel to shore a breakwater of rocks that would rise six feet above the waterline and act as a buffer, so that it absorbs the energy of crashing waves and protecting the beaches.

(B) act like a buffer so as to absorb
(C) act as a buffer, absorbing

Moreover "as" is used also to compare FUNCTIONS, "like" cannot do that: as-vs-like-correct-and-incorrect-usages-133950.html

In a plan to stop the erosion of East Coast beaches, the Army Corps of Engineers proposed building parallel to shore a breakwater of rocks that would rise six feet above the waterline
and act as a buffer, so that it absorbs the energy of crashing waves and protecting the beaches.

These are the subject-verb pairs so in option C the absorbing and Protecting is presenting the result of the clause " act as buffer" Is this correct?

Hi fozzy.

You're not totally correct.

Verb-ing modifier + comma ==> always modifies a preceding clause. "absorbing" || "protecting" are verb-ing modifiers that modify a preceding clause. Let think, what can absorb water? ==> a buffer. What can protect the beaches? ==> a breakwater of rock.

So, the modifier part modifies the preceding clause "a breakwater of rocks that would rise six feet above the waterline and act as a buffer", not only "act as a buffer".

Hope it helps.

ideom + parallelism


Ideom:

you say "act AS", not "act LIKE" in this context. "You act like a crazy person" means you act in the same way that a crazy person does. You "act AS a crazy person" means you act as if you are a crazy person. The buffer is not supposed to mimic some other things MO, it is supposed to completely be the same as that other thing. So the breakwater functions precisely the same way that a buffer does, in this context.

Parallelism:

look to the right of the underlined portion.. We have protecting.. This is a present participle. So, we need a present participle in the underlined portion. Only C and D have this, the problem with D is that act is not supposed to be present participle, it distorts the meaning of the author.

So, C is our choice

Can anyone help to demonstrate what the role of "building parallel" in the non-underlined portion is? I can't understand why GMAC doesn't use "proposed to build parallel"? I thought the correct idiom is "propose to V" or "propose +Noun".

When two verb forms appear together (propose and build in this case), there are no grammatical rules that govern whether the second verb (build in this case) should be in infinitive (to build) or gerund (building).

Since this is just a matter of writing preference, it is unlikely that test takers would be presented with two answer choices, whose only difference is Verb1 + infinitive Verb2 and Verb1 + Gerund Verb2.

Having said that, there is a question in OG-13, where the only difference is Verb1 + infinitive Verb2 and Verb1 + Gerund Verb2.

#18, OG-13:

Warning that computers in the United States are not secure, the National Academy of Sciences has urged the nation to revamp computer security procedures, institute new emergency response teams, creating a special nongovernment organization to take charge of computer security planning.
(D) and create a special nongovernment organization for taking
(E) and create a special nongovernment organization to take

E is the correct answer above, and OE mentions for taking as unidiomatic.

However, as I mentioned above, we believe it is unlikely that these questions would come up in your exam.

Out of curiosity, I did a google search and landed on this page: https://www.englishpage.com/gerunds/gerund_or_infinitive_same_list.htm, which suggests that propose is one of the few verbs, which can be followed by both infinitives and gerunds, with a negligible difference in meaning.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses the concept of two verb forms appearing together, their application and examples in significant detail. If you can PM you email, I can send you the corresponding section.
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In a plan to stop the erosion of East Coast beaches, the Army Corps of Engineers proposed building parallel to shore a breakwater of rocks that would rise six feet above the waterline and act as a buffer, so that it absorbs the energy of crashing waves and protecting the beaches.

My analysis:
{Parallelism 1}
... building (VERB) parallel (NOUN) to shore ... (Descriptive) and (to - omitted in ans because understood) act ...
{Parallelism 2}
absorbing ... and protecting

Therefore, ans: C

I feel that "to shore" and "(to) act" is not the Parallelism that is being tested here.

Parallelism is between "rise" and "act".