Until Berta and Ernst Scharrer established the concept of neurosecreti

cells either secreted hormones... or conducted electical impulses
It should be between D and E

in which case they were endocrine cells ... || in which case they were nerve cells
D is correct.

E .. not parallel.

D for parallelism !

Until Berta and Emst Scharrer established the concept of neurosecretion
in 1928, scientists believed that cells either secreted hormones, in which case they were endocrine cells and thus part of the endocrine system, or conducted
electrical impulses, in which case they were nerve cells and thus part of the
nervous system.

D for me.

E is not parallel and also "which" incorrectly refers to "secreted hormones"

Until Berta and Emst Scharrer ........, scientists believed that cells either secreted hormones, in which case they were endocrine cells and thus part of the endocrine system, or conducted electrical impulses, in which case they were nerve cells and thus part of the nervous system - parallel. Hence D

i agree with D as well,

but everyone is saying that "in which" modifies the clause the precedes it... I'm not so sure about that.

"in which" (just like "which") is a relative pronoun that modifies the noun that precedes it. or should i think of "in which case" a prepositional phrase?

Clearly D,

A, B, C are not parallel so they out.

btw D and E, I was confused what to select, decided to read the sentence till the end, after this I chose D.

IMO D
cells must come before either...or and E is eliminated because which is placed next to hormones incorrectly

This has been discussed in another forum post, but before I address the pronoun issue, let me give a quick explanation.

Following rules of parallelism, cells either A or B, hence (D) or (E).

Next case of parallelism is 'in which case' - notice that the non-underlined part contains this phrase and to maintain parallelism the answer has to as well.

Now for the pronoun issue. 'They' is only ambiguous if it could reasonably refer to more than one plural subject. To say that scientists were nerve cells or endocrine cells is clearly absurd and thus not reasonable. Therefore, there is no ambiguity in the use of 'they.'

Hope that helps

I was confused between B and D.
B] ", making them..." could be verb+ing modifier, in which case later phrase has to modify the entire previous clause. Here is modifying only "cells". This makes is a bad choice
D] is good from point of view of parallelism
A and E have wrong use of "which"
C is changing the meaning of sentence.
Thus D prevails.

Until Berta and Ernst Scharrer established the concept of neurosecretion in 1928, scientists believed that either cells secreted hormones, which made them endocrine cells and thus part of the endocrine system, or conducted electrical impulses, in which case they were nerve cells and thus part of the nervous system.

a) either cells secreted hormones, which made them
The idiom is either A or B, A and B should be structurally parallel. Here "cells secreted hormones", a clause, and "conducted electrical impulses", a verb phrase, are not parallel. So to make them parallel cells should be placed before either. Also pronoun them has no clear referrent.
b) either cells secreted hormones, making them
either...or.... structure violation.

c) either cells secreted hormones and were
either... or violations. Also "and were" changes the meaning and also grammatically wrong in this sentence.
d) cells either secreted hormones, in which case they were
Correct. either...or.... structure is fine. Also in which they were is parallel to the structure in the later part of the sentence.
e) cells either secreted hormones, which made them
either ...or.... structure is fine. "which made them" is not parallel to "in which case they were..." and also changes the meaning. hormones doesn't made them endocrine cells, but they are identified as endocrine cells.

The original sentence uses an either..or... construct.
In the non underlined part, 'or' starts with a verb. So 'either' should also start with a verb. Hence A,B and C are eliminated

(E) 'which' refers to hormones'. This changes the meaning - now it seems hormones made them endocrine cells.

D = correct

[quote="tarek99"]Until Berta and Ernst Scharrer established the concept of neurosecretion in 1928, scientists believed that either cells secreted hormones, which made them endocrine cells and thus part of the endocrine system, or conducted electrical impulses, in which case they were nerve cells and thus part of the nervous system.

a) either cells secreted hormones, which made them ==> Either X or Y do somthing, put either here we find no verb to complete the clause. Moreover, X and Y in the sentence are not parallel.

b) either cells secreted hormones, making them ==> not parallel, and putting either before cells makes the clause incomplete

c) either cells secreted hormones and were ==> very incorrect

d) cells either secreted hormones, in which case they were ==> Correct. This answer completes the clause, and satisfies the parallelism

e) cells either secreted hormones, which made them ==> not parallel

Parallel makers
And ==> X and Y
X,Y, and Z
Both==> Both X and Y
Either ==> Either X or Y.
Find more in Chapter 4 Paralellism MGMAT

Either X Or Y should be parallel

Cells either "secreted hormones, in which case they were" is parallel to "conducted ..., in which case they were...."

A,B,E are out because they all change the meaning of the sentence.
Does the secretion of hormone made (or Converted) the cells into endocrine cells. Nope .
The sentence is trying to tell- because the cells secreted hormone, they were CATEGORISED as endocrine cells.

C and E remaining as valid options.

E is parallel and correctly use the idiom "either or"
EITHER cells either secreted hormones, in which case they were blah , blah blah, OR conducted electrical impulse, in which case they were nerve cell blah blah blah..


C is wrong because it is not parallel.


ANSWER IS C


Until Berta and Ernst Scharrer established the concept of neurosecretion in 1928, scientists believed that either cells secreted hormones, which made them endocrine cells and thus part of the endocrine system, or conducted electrical impulses, in which case they were nerve cells and thus part of the nervous system.

a) either cells secreted hormones, which made them

b) either cells secreted hormones, making them

c) either cells secreted hormones and were

d) cells either secreted hormones, in which case they were

e) cells either secreted hormones, which made them

A lot has already been talked about the answer choices in this thread.
Here is something to think about parallelism. This will sound very mechanical to some folks for sure

When we say either x or y , x and y must be parallel items
1)either cells secreted or cells conducted --good
2)cells either secreted or conducted -- good
3)either cells secreted or conducted --nope not good.

The construction of #2 is against #3 and in GMAT view, that is wrong.
We can write cells secreted or conducted, but with either or we need to be strict.

Until Berta and Ernst Scharrer established the concept of neurosecretion in 1928, scientists believed that cells either secreted hormones, in which case they were endocrine cells and thus part of the endocrine system, or conducted electrical impulses, in which case they were nerve cells and thus part of the nervous system.

Correct aswer must be (D) for the correct idiomatic usage and Parallelism ...

This is a pure paralyse questions where the two ends of either or needs to be parallel and cells have to come before either to maintain parallelism .

Until Berta and Ernst Scharrer established the concept of neurosecretion in 1928, scientists believed that either cells secreted hormones, which made them endocrine cells and thus part of the endocrine system, or conducted electrical impulses, in which case they were nerve cells and thus part of the nervous system.

a) either cells secreted hormones, which made them - Parallelism issue - Either X or Y -- no subject for conducted

b) either cells secreted hormones, making them - same as A

c) either cells secreted hormones and were - same as A

d) cells either secreted hormones, in which case they were - Parallelism

e) cells either secreted hormones, which made them - illogical - The hormones did not make the cells endocrine cells. The fact that the cells produced these hormones shows that the cells are endocrine cells ; parallelism is better in D


Answer D