New theories propose that catastrophic impacts of asteroids and comets

Here you go: Check MGMAT SC chapter 10 or 11 if you have it

Concrete nouns vs action nouns vs complex and simple gerunds :

1/Concrete nouns: Refer to things, people, places dates… Ie: rock, continent, politician, holiday, week ...

2/Action nouns: Refers to action, they are formed from verbs Eruption, pollution, change, growth development etc

3/Simple Gerund: Include “ing”, presented as if they follow a verb
- ex: Tracking Satellites accurately is important
- Could be transformed into a working verb: I AM tracking satellites…

Complex Gerund: Starts by (a, an, the) or adjective, followed by ing + “of” prepositional
- ex: The accurate tracking of satellites is important…
- Of note: can also be under the form: the accurate satellites tracking – prefer the “of” version though

Parallel rules:

1.Concrete nouns are ONLY parallel to concrete nouns!
Wrong The bouquet was a giving of love
Correct The bouquet was a gift of love
- A giving is a complex gerund

2. Simple gerund are NEVER PARALLEL with complex gerunds
Wrong: I enjoyed drinking the water and the wine tasting
Correct I enjoyed drinking the water and tasting the wine
-drinking the water = simple gerund, the wine tasting = complex gerund

3. ONLY complex gerunds CAN PARALLEL with action nouns but when a proper action noun exists prefer it over a complex gerund
Wrong: The rebels demanded the withdrawal of the government forces from disputed regions, significant reductions in overall troop levels, raising the rebel flag on holidays, AND a general pardon
Correct: The rebels demanded the withdrawal of the government forces from disputed regions, significant reductions in overall troop levels, the raising of the rebel flag on holidays, AND a general pardon

Prefer an action noun over Gerund:
Wrong: The rebels demanded the withdrawal of the government forces from disputed regions AND releasing certain political prisoners (Simple Gerund used)
Wrong: The rebels demanded the withdrawal of the government forces from disputed regions AND THE releasing OF certain political prisoners (Complex Gerund used)
Correct: The rebels demanded the withdrawal of the government forces from disputed regions AND THE release OF certain political prisoners (action noun correctly used)
_________________

I would say B because we have a list of nouns, and some nouns have adjectives as well. Adjectives don't interfere with the nouns, so we have to look for an answer choice that would have either a noun or a noun with an adjective.

119) New theories propose that catastrophic impacts of asteroids and comets may have caused reversals in the Earth’s magnetic field, the onset of ice ages, splitting apart continents 80 million years ago, and great volcanic eruptions.

(A) splitting apart continents
(B) the splitting apart of continents
(C) split apart continents
(D) continents split apart
(E) continents that were split apart

The imp thing in the question is check the construction : Cause -> Effect

New theories propose that catastrophic impacts of asteroids and comets may have caused
reversals in the Earth’s magnetic field,
the onset of ice ages,
splitting apart continents 80 million years ago,
and great volcanic eruptions.

Now these 4 should be parallel - the splitting apart of continents ( complex gerund mostly constructed by the +simple gerund+ of ..)

We have a list of noun phrases here -

reversals in the Earth’s
the onset of ice ages
volcanic eruptions

(A) splitting apart continents - this is a verb and conveys that preceding action did the splitting
(B) the splitting apart of continents - "of" makes the difference here..."the splitting" becomes the noun phase
(C) split apart continents - "split" again acts as verb - we need a noun - thats why this stands incorrect in the context
(D) continents split apart - change of meaning
(E) continents that were split apart - incorrect

I hope this helps!

Action nouns are parallel to complex gerund phrases.

Only B satisfies the condition.

To maintain the parallelism of the sentence, the list that the impacts (reversal...., onset, ...splitting.... and ....eruptions) need to be parallel. As it stands in A the list goes noun, noun, verb, noun so we need to correct the verb phrase into a noun phrase.
A – eliminate because splitting is a noun
B – Correct. Splitting in this sense is a gerund and therefore a noun. This is achieved by the placement of ‘the’ and the conjunction ‘of’ which makes continents a modifier of the noun. Think of running, it’s an activity (i.e. a noun) and an action (i.e. a verb)
C – split is a verb in the infinitive, and hence isn’t the noun we’re looking for
D – Not sure how to explain this unless I simplify the sentence. Catastrophic impacts .... caused...SPLIT APART CONINENTS. As is stands, this sentence says that the asteroids created the continents (which are split) rather than creating the action of splitting the continents.
E – Again, this sentence says that the continents were created, rather that the action of splitting.

Hello,

Let me see if I can work this one through....


New theories propose that catastrophic impacts of asteroids and comets may have caused reversals in the Earth’s magnetic field, the onset of ice ages, splitting apart continents 80 million years ago, and great volcanic eruptions.

OK, from the question it looks like this is a parralelism issue. We have a list of things that 'catastrophic impacts of asteroids and comets' may have done, but right now the current underlined sections seems to be out of kilter with the rest of the list. Look at each of the items in turn:

reversals in the Earth’s magnetic field
the onset of ice ages,
splitting apart continents 80 million years ago
and great volcanic eruptions.

It is clear that the red section, which equates with the underlined is out of sync. It's the only one with an 'ing' i.e. an action occuring. Everything else is different.

Looking at the answer options gives us a clear winner...


(B) the splitting apart of continents. And here it is by adding the 'the' we change the meaning, and it becomes a statement like the others, rather than something happening.
(C) split apart continents This 'split' is in the past tense - unlike anything else
(D) continents split apart Again past tense
(E) continents that were split apart Once more an action occuring in the past

Hope that helps...

Why "split" in B is not past participle and therefore parallel to "volcanic eruptions" ?

<splitting apart of continents> is a gerund phrase, not a participle.

How to differentiate between a gerund phrase and a participle phrase ...
Consider the following sentences.
Splitting apart continents, the force was responsible for the spread of super continents.
The underlined part is a present participle phrase which modifies "force"

The catastrophic impacts of asteroids and comets may have caused splitting apart of continents
The underlined part is a gerund phrase. It functions as a noun (object). It doesn't modify anything.
In option A, a participle phrase is used. So, it's not parallel to noun phrases or nouns.
In option B, the error is corrected by using the gerund phrase.

We want to parallel : the onset of ice ages, splitting apart continents 80 million years ago, and great volcanic eruptions

Some parallel rules to remember here:
- Simple gerunds can NEVER be PARALLEL to complex gerunds
- ONLY complex gerunds CAN be PARALLEL to action nouns
- When an appropriate action noun exists, choose it over a complex gerund

Since the onset of ice ages is a complex gerund and that eruption is an action noun, we can only have an action noun (if it exists) or another complex gerund to complete the parallel

Answer A is a simple gerund and there is no appropriate action noun in the other answer choices. So look for a complex gerund-- answer B

of note: a complex Gerund Starts by (a, an, the) or adjective, followed by ing + “of” prepositional. ie : The accurate tracking of satellites (complex) vs the (simple version) Tacking Satellites accurately
_________________

"The splitting" this acts as a complex gerund. And as stated in Manhattan SC guide, We should not mix complex gerunds and action Nouns (in our case eruptions).

Simple gerunds (I interpreted, Splitting to be a Simple gerund ) and actions nouns can be parallel.

So, IMO answer should have been A

parasgarg99, take another look at our guide. We say that "of the two types of gerund phrases, only complex ones can be parallel to action nouns." The only problem would be if we inserted a simple gerund into the list. That's exactly what A does.
_________________

Hi,

How is "splitting" in A ,a participle and "the splitting" in B a gerund ?

Can you share some source where I can get clarity on this concept.

Thanks !

We may be able to do this by "sound". Let's assume that splitting is in fact, acting as a noun.

... catastrophic impacts... may have caused (a) reversals in the Earth’s magnetic field, (b) the onset of ice ages, (c) splitting apart continents 80 million years ago, and (d) great volcanic eruptions.

We get (a) may have caused reversals, (b) may have caused the onset, (c) may have caused splitting apart continents 80 million years ago, and (d) may have caused eruptions.

Now, we could try taking the following call:

A X may have caused splitting apart continents 80 million years ago.
vs.
B X may have caused the splitting apart of continents 80 million years ago.

Given that the splitting apart of continents 80 million years ago is a "one-time" event, we should go with B.
_________________

Hi DmitryFarber - In my list below, obviously item 1 and item 3 are concrete nouns.

What is item 2 ? Does item 2 fit the definition of a complex gerund perhaps ?

Do you think the statement below is parallel ?

I own a cat, a dog eating chicken nuggets from KFC, and a hamster

jabhatta2
Your list is just three nouns: cat, dog, and hamster. "Eating" starts a modifier, but that doesn't change that "dog" is a noun. However, while it's fine to add modifiers to some nouns in a list and not others, it's weird to have one of the nouns describe what an animal is doing right now. The GMAT would probably put the dog last in the list and add the modifier afterward.
_________________

Hi DmitryFarber,

how do we make sure if below item is part of list and not a modifier ?

New theories propose that catastrophic impacts of asteroids and comets may have caused reversals in the Earth’s magnetic field, the onset of ice ages, splitting apart continents 80 million years ago, and great volcanic eruptions.

AjiteshArun
In option C & D Does 'split' is acting as a verb.

Posted from my mobile device

Hi saby1410,

Yes. Split is almost certainly a verb in C. It could be a verb in D as well, but option D ("continents split apart") can also be read as "continents (that were) split apart".

An easy way to remove these options is to check whether they can be used to complete the statement "impacts may have caused ________". Neither impact may have caused split apart continents nor impacts may have caused continents split apart works.
_________________