The analysis includes data from more than three million

Parallelism concept is tested in this question.

The analysis includes data from more than three million children younger than 15 in five states — New York, New Jersey, Ohio, North Carolina and Oregon — and selected American Indian reservations as well.

A) and selected American Indian reservations as well -- Analysis can not select anything -- person doing analysis can.
B) including selected American Indian reservations -- including is modifying states, but list already provided in between --dashes-- awkward construction.
C) as well as from selected American Indian reservations -- from goes parallel with from in first part of the sentence-- looks good.
D) and in selected American Indian reservations as well -- in selected is not parallel with first half as case in option C is.
E) with selected American Indian reservations included -- way awkward --

I'm confused about the answer choice here. Could someone help me out?

I would think that keeping the intended meaning of the sentence should be the top priority over parallelism or redundant structures, which are more stylistic choices, no?

Like JusTLucK04 pointed out:

(A) implies
The analysis includes data from more than 3 million children younger than 15 in ( [five states] + [selected American Indian reservations] )

whereas (C) implies
The analysis includes data from ( [more than 3 million children younger than 15 in 5 states] + [selected American Indian reservations, not necessarily children younger than 15, and not necessarily counted toward the over 3 million number] )

The only answer that implies the same meaning as (A) is answer (D) due to the parallel structure using "in":
The analysis includes data from more than three million children younger than 15 in five states — New York, New Jersey, Ohio, North Carolina and Oregon — and in selected American Indian reservations as well.

I understand that "as well" is redundant, but isn't getting the correct intended meaning more important?

Can someone please explain if the choice C is not trying to change the meaning?

"...from selected American Indian reservations" is trying to make children and reservations parallel.

See:
The analysis includes data FROM more than three million children younger than 15 in five states — New York, New Jersey, Ohio, North Carolina and Oregon — as well as FROM selected American Indian reservations.

Right that's another thing that threw me off. How do you make "children" and "reservations" parallel? "Children" specifies people, while "reservations" specifies places.

If we were to shorten the sentence and simplify it a bit by substituting words, we can write something like:

"The analysis includes data from 5 people in California as well as from Texas."

That sentence seems really confusing to me. Are there 5 people from the combined populations of California and Texas included in the analysis? Or are there 5 people from California along with the entire population of Texas?

The sentence should be either
"The analysis includes data from 5 people in California and from all people in Texas."
or
"The analysis includes data from 5 people in California and in Texas.

Sentence: Analysis includes data from X- ... and Y as well. No parallel.

A.
B. Analysis includes data from X- ... including Y. Here including doesn't logically connect what comes before and after the including.
C. Analysis includes data from X- ... as well as from Y- Parallel
D.Analysis includes data from X- ... and in Y as well. - Not parallel
E. Analysis includes data from X- ... with Y included. with Y included doesn't logically modify anything in the preceding part. It looks like it is modifying the subject- The Analysis. The analysis with Y included is not what the sentence wants to say. It the data that includes Y, not the analysis.

Only C

VERITAS PREP OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

To get this problem correct, you need to use “slash-and-burn” to simplify the sentence. (A) and (D) are the easiest to eliminate because the “as well” at the end is redundant—you do not say “and” and “as well”. In (B) you would not say: “The analysis includes data from children in 5 states, including reservations..” This is a redundant and nonsensical structure. (E) suffers from the same issue with the “included” at the end. Only (C) uses the proper structure to convey that the “analysis includes data from children in 5 states as well as from selected reservations…” Correct answer is (C).
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Hi AjiteshArun can you help me please with this option C. Option C is putting parallel "children younger than 15 in five states" and "selected American Indian reservations" ,Is is fine as per GMAT parallelism concept .Doesn't we need to put children and children or place and place parallel?

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of this sentence is that the analysis includes data from more than three million children younger than 15 in five states, which are New York, New Jersey, Ohio, North Carolina and Oregon, and the analysis includes data from selected American Indian reservations as well.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Parallelism + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• Any elements linked by a conjunction (“and” and “as well as” in this sentence) must be parallel.

A: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between "from more than...in five states" and "selected American Indian reservations as well"; please remember, any elements linked by a conjunction ("and" in this sentence) must be parallel. Further, Option A redundantly uses "and" alongside "as well", rendering it awkward and needlessly wordy.

B: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "including selected American Indian reservations"; the use of "including" incorrectly implies that the analysis includes data from more than three million children younger than 15 in five states, and these states include selected American Indian reservations; the intended meaning is that the analysis includes data from more than three million children younger than 15 in five states and includes data from selected American Indian reservations.

C: Correct. This answer choice uses the phrase "from selected American Indian reservations", conveying the intended meaning - that the analysis includes data from more than three million children younger than 15 in five states and includes data from selected American Indian reservations. Further, Option C correctly maintains parallelism between "from more than...in five states" and "from selected American Indian reservations". Additionally, Option C is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

D: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between "from more than...in five states" and "in selected American Indian reservations as well"; please remember, any elements linked by a conjunction ("and" in this sentence) must be parallel. Further, Option D redundantly uses "and" alongside "as well", rendering it awkward and needlessly wordy.

E: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "with selected American Indian reservations included"; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that the analysis includes data from more than three million children younger than 15 in five states, and these states include selected American Indian reservations; the intended meaning is that the analysis includes data from more than three million children younger than 15 in five states and includes data from selected American Indian reservations.

Hence, C is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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Hi Gaurav2896,

The correct option leads to this: ... includes data {from something} as well as {from something else}

It's possible to use from after as well as, so that's not a problem. Also, the repetition of the preposition from makes it clear what the two sources are. The nouns inside those two phrases aren't very important, as long as they are capable of acting as data sources.
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KarishmaB GMATGuruNY

Would love to hear your thoughts on this question. Seems like several students in this thread, including me, had similar issues. I have two questions:
1) What is the intended parallelism in the correct answer choice (C)? As shown below, I spot two possible parallel structures, each with a different meaning:
The analysis includes data [from more than three million children younger than 15 in five states] — New York, New Jersey, Ohio, North Carolina and Oregon — as well as [from selected American Indian reservations as well.]

The analysis includes data from more than three million children younger than 15 [in five states] — New York, New Jersey, Ohio, North Carolina and Oregon — as well as [from selected American Indian reservations as well.]

2) What is the problem with Option B? The sentence (ignoring the dash) reads "analysis includes data from more than three million children younger than 15 in five states — New York, New Jersey, Ohio, North Carolina and Oregon — including selected American Indian reservations." I interpret this sentence to mean that the analysis had data from the children in five states that include selected American Indian reservations. In other words, maybe the purpose of the analysis was to look specifically at data from these five states because these states contain the selected American Indian reservations.

Sambon
There are two ways we could read "including" in B.
1: Noun modifier. In that case, it is saying that the list of states includes selected reservations. Since reservations aren't states, that doesn't work.
2: Adverbial modifier. In that case, it would need to refer back to the previous action, but the verb in question is "included." In that case, we're saying "While the study included data, it included reservations." Data and reservations aren't parallel thing to include. In any case, it would be weird to create any sentence where the adverbial modifier is just another form of the main noun: "I noticed several discrepancies, noticing poor work by my predecessor." While I noticed, I was noticing? There just has to be a better way to say that!

As for your first question, I have to agree with idontgetit above, who seems to get it quite well. C implies that the data is FROM CHILDREN and FROM RESERVATIONS. Why are these ideas being made parallel? Is this really a study combining children with American Indians of all ages? That seems unlikely. D makes much more sense.
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Sambon

(B) The analysis includes data from ... children ... in five states ... including selected American Indian reservations.

For example, "five states including Ohio" would make sense. We are saying that one of the included states is Ohio.
But five states including American Indian reservations makes no sense because the American Indian reservations are not states.

For "including..." to be a participle phrase at the end of the sentence modifying the previous clause, I would expect a comma before it.
The analysis includes data from ... , including ...
Even then, "including" is modifying "includes" which is rather odd.


As for this parallelism you mention:

The analysis includes data from more than three million children younger than 15 [in five states] — New York, New Jersey, Ohio, North Carolina and Oregon — as well as [from selected American Indian reservations as well.]

To clarify this parallelism, one would write:
The analysis includes data from more than three million children younger than 15 [in five states] ... as well as [in selected American Indian reservations.]

Now I know that we are talking about children in 5 states and children in selected American Indian reservations. Option (D) does something like this but has a redundant "as well" at the end.

Option (C)
The analysis includes data from .. children ... in five states as well as from selected American Indian reservations.

Tells us that data is from children in 5 states and from selected American Indian reservations (whether only children or all we don't know).
This is acceptable.

That is why (C) is the best answer.
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But KarishmaB, both C and D say "as well," and there's nothing inherently correct about using this with "and." Are you sure D wasn't the intended answer? If not, I'd say this one needs revision.
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DmitryFarber, since (D) has redundancy (I don't need to use "as well" when I am already using "and"), I would prefer (C) which uses only "as well as". To me, it is certainly conceivable that an analysis used data from children of some states and data from selected American Indian reservations - perhaps a study on the impact of rampant use of technology on our children and how they compare with the children and adults who do not use technology much etc. Hence (C) looks better.
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Generally, as well at the end of a sentence serves to modify an action that is performed in addition to a previously discussed action.
Last year, John read To Kill a Mockingbird; he saw the play as well.
Here, as well serves to modify saw, an action performed in addition to a previously discussed action (read).

D: The analysis includes data from more than three million children younger than 15 in five states and in selected American Indian reservations as well.
Here, there is only one action -- includes -- so the usage of as well seems inappropriate.
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DmitryFarber GMATGuruNY KarishmaB

Thank you all for the much needed help on this question

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