Most efforts to combat such mosquito-borne diseases like malaria and

Hello Everyone!

Let's tackle this question, one issue at a time, and narrow it down to the right answer quickly! To start, let's take a quick look at the original question and highlight any major differences between the options in orange:

Most efforts to combat such mosquito-borne diseases like malaria and dengue have focused either on the vaccination of humans or on exterminating mosquitoes with pesticides.

A. like malaria and dengue have focused either on the vaccination of humans or on exterminating
B. like malaria and dengue have focused either on vaccinating of humans or on the extermination of
C. as malaria and dengue have focused on either vaccinating humans or on exterminating
D. as malaria and dengue have focused on either vaccinating of humans or on extermination of
E. as malaria and dengue have focused on either vaccinating humans or exterminating

After a quick glance over the options, a few key differences jump out:

1. like vs. as (Idioms)
2. either on vs. on either (Parallelism & Idioms)
3. on exterminating / on the extermination of / on extermination of / exterminating (Parallelism)

Let's start with #1 on our list because it will knock out 2-3 options right away. This is an issue of idioms! In English, it's actually incorrect to introduce examples with the word "like." We use the word "like" in similes to show how to things are alike - not that they are examples of a larger category. To introduce examples, we use "as" or "such as." Here are some examples:

To save money, consider shopping at discount store like thrift shops and consignment stores. --> WRONG
To save money, consider shopping at discount stores, such as thrift shops and consignment stores. --> CORRECT

The air smelled like fresh dew. -->CORRECT
The air smelled as fresh dew. ---> WRONG

So let's see how our options hold up:

A. like malaria and dengue have focused either on the vaccination of humans or on exterminating
B. like malaria and dengue have focused either on vaccinating of humans or on the extermination of
C. as malaria and dengue have focused on either vaccinating humans or on exterminating
D. as malaria and dengue have focused on either vaccinating of humans or on extermination of
E. as malaria and dengue have focused on either vaccinating humans or exterminating

We can eliminate options A & B because they don't use the correct idiom structure to introduce examples. That was a quick way to eliminate 2 options, right?

Now that we've narrowed things down a bit, let's tackle #2 & #3 on our list. They actually have to do with the same grammar concept: parallelism!

We need to make sure that the two items that are being focused on are written using parallel structure:

C. as malaria and dengue have focused on either vaccinating humans or on exterminating

have focused on either X or on Y = NOT PARALLEL

D. as malaria and dengue have focused on either vaccinating of humans or on extermination of

have focused on either X or on Y = NOT PARALLEL
(This is also incorrect because the two items don't use the same wording: vaccinating & extermination)

E. as malaria and dengue have focused on either vaccinating humans or exterminating

have focused on either X or Y = PARALLEL


There you have it - option E is the correct choice! It's the only one that uses the proper idiom "as" to introduce examples, and it uses parallel structure when listing the two items being focused on.


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.

the correct answer is E

as malaria and dengue have focused on either vaccinating humans or exterminating- such as is idiomatic. Correct parallel structure (either vaccinating or exterminating)

I got the parallelism thing here, but in option E, doesn't pesticide could means vaccinating humans too which is illogical.

(A) apart from like , either X or Y parallelism is wrong
X= on vaccination & Y = on exterminating
(B)Like, either X or Y parallelism & vaccinating of humans
(C) either X or Y
(D) either X or Y
(E) correct

Hello,

I have a question. Can gerund be considered parallel to a proper noun phrase, as in Option B? I have heard that GMAT doesn't like to compare Gerund with a pure noun. I have seen one example when gerund was turned to a pure noun by using an article before it, in order to maintain the parallelism. Is there any absolute rule on this?

Please guide.

Regards
Vighnesh

Hello VIGHNESHKAMATH,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, one of the functions of the present participle is to serve as a noun; in these cases, the present participle can grammatically parallel any given noun; typically, present participles that serve as nouns are, indeed, marked by articles: for example, "A killing was reported last night.", "The drawing of the lots will take place tomorrow."

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

There seems some confusion. I thought in above sentence, vaccinating and exterminating are acting as a gerund, not a present participle.

There seems some confusion. I thought in above sentence, vaccinating and exterminating are acting as a gerund, not a present participle.[/quote]

Hello VIGHNESHKAMATH,

We hope this finds you well.

To clarify, gerunds can parallel any other type of noun - for example, "Savings are as important as investments.": here, the gerund "Savings" is parallel to the noun "investments".

However, in Option B "vaccinating" is a present participle, not a gerund, and in the correct answer choice - Option E - "vaccinating" and "exterminating" are both present participles, as well.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

@expertsglobal5 how do we know vaccinating is a present participle not gerund and what can it be // to in that case




Hello VIGHNESHKAMATH,

We hope this finds you well.

To clarify, gerunds can parallel any other type of noun - for example, "Savings are as important as investments.": here, the gerund "Savings" is parallel to the noun "investments".

However, in Option B "vaccinating" is a present participle, not a gerund, and in the correct answer choice - Option E - "vaccinating" and "exterminating" are both present participles, as well.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team[/quote]

The official explaination for option-B and option-D says:
"This use of gerund vaccinating would normally be preceded by the but this would make the phrase awkward.
Why would placement of "the" before complex gerund "vaccinating of humans" make the gerund phrase awkward?
egmat , GMATNinja, KarishmaB

Hello glan2023,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the inclusion of "the" is likely considered awkward simply because it is unnecessary; even without "the", the answer choices lose no clarity.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Note the use of 'such' in the non-underlined part. So we should use 'as,' not 'like.' Eliminate (A) and (B).
For parallelism, the structure of X and Y should be parallel in 'Either X or Y.'

(A) like malaria and dengue have focused either on the vaccination of humans or on exterminating mosquitoes
'vaccination' is a noun while 'exterminating mosquitoes' is a gerund phrase.

(B) like malaria and dengue have focused either on vaccinating of humans or on the extermination of mosquitoes
'vaccinating of humans' is a gerund phrase while 'extermination' is a noun.

(C) as malaria and dengue have focused on either vaccinating humans or on exterminating mosquitoes
'on' is used before 'either' so it is common to both X and Y. We should not use 'on' again in Y.

(D) as malaria and dengue have focused on either vaccinating of humans or on extermination of
'on' is used before 'either' so it is common to both X and Y. We should not use 'on' again in Y.
Also 'vaccinating of humans' is a gerund phrase while 'extermination' is a noun. Let's look for a better option.

(E) as malaria and dengue have focused on either vaccinating humans or exterminating mosquitoes
Both gerund phrases and perfect parallelism.

Answer (E)

Official explanations are sometimes a bit iffy. Don't worry too much about them.

Hey glan2023

Thank you for the query.


There are two things to understand here.

1. Why 'the' needs to be placed in B and D?
2. Why would placing 'the' make these sentences awkward?

1. The gerundial phrase in choices B and D is "vaccinating of humans". Note that gerundial phrases of the form "Gerund + prepositional phrase" are generally preceded by 'the'; whereas gerundial phrases of the form "Gerund + Object Noun" are not preceded by 'the'. This is because when we use the phrase 'of something' after a noun, that preceding noun automatically becomes specific to that thing it belongs to (the father of the bride; the champion of the people; etc.). However, when we say "vaccinating people", we're already referring directly to an action, which is unique in itself.

This is why we can make the following observations:

a. Cackling of geese is annoying. (Incorrect)
b. The cackling of geese is annoying. (Correct)
c. Killing mosquitoes is strangely satisfying. (Correct)
d. The killing mosquitoes is strangely satisfying. (Incorrect)
e. The killing of mosquitoes is strangely satisfying. (Awkward)

So, when the official explanation says that choices B and D would require 'the' before 'vaccinating', it is actually correct.



2. Coming to the second question, "why would adding 'the' make choices B and D awkward?". Well, that's because the phrase 'the vaccinating of humans' is ambiguous in meaning. Allow me to explain with one of the previous examples:

The cackling of geese is annoying.

Who is doing of the "cackling"? Is "geese" the doer of 'cackling' or the sufferer? Here, it is clearly the doer.

But, when we say, "the vaccinating of humans", are humans being vaccinated or are they doing the vaccinating?


So, think of the intended meaning. We wish to say "humans are being vaccinated". Hence, wouldn't it better to just use the phrase "vaccinating humans" than the ambiguous and awkward phrase "the vaccinating of humans"? This is exactly why example 'e' above is also awkward.



I hope you see why it's so important to choose our grammatical constructs carefully and wisely. Everything is connected to "MEANING". So, work hard on improving your meaning analysis.


Hope this helps.

Happy Learning!


Abhishek

Most efforts to combat such mosquito-borne diseases like malaria and dengue have focused either on the vaccination of humans or on exterminating mosquitoes with pesticides.


(A) like malaria and dengue have focused either on the vaccination of humans or on exterminating

(B) like malaria and dengue have focused either on vaccinating of humans or on the extermination of

(C) as malaria and dengue have focused on either vaccinating humans or on exterminating

(D) as malaria and dengue have focused on either vaccinating of humans or on extermination of

(E) as malaria and dengue have focused on either vaccinating humans or exterminating

In the above question if one is confused whether to use 'like' or 'as' even if knows well their usage, see the sentence

Most efforts to combat such mosquito-borne diseases- such is generally followed by as

This is an older question, but helpful to get brain going in the morning. Thank you!

Posted from my mobile device

SUCH X as Y

Memorizing certain idioms can be helpful for GMAT SC. For anyone unfamiliar with the one above, consider searching for/checking out some idiom lists on the forum.