The largest trade-book publisher in the United States has announced th

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 the crucial part of this sentence is that the trade book publisher will publish about 20 purely digital works that are meant to be sold online as either electronic books or as downloadable copies that can be printed upon purchase.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Verb Forms + Grammatical Construction + Parallelism + Idioms

• “neither A nor B” and “either A or B” are idiomatic uses and are only used when referring to two elements; A and B must be parallel.
• Semicolons and the “comma + conjunction” construction are used to link two independent clauses; commas are used to link an independent clause with a dependent one; commas cannot be used to join two independent clauses.
• "will/would + base form of verb" is the correct simple future tense construction.
• If a list contains only two elements, they must be joined by a conjunction.

A: Correct. This answer choice uses the phrase “to be sold”, conveying the intended meaning – that the trade book publisher will publish about 20 purely digital works that are meant to be sold online. Further, Option A avoids the grammatical construction errors seen in Options C and D, as it features only one independent clause and no lists. Moreover, Option A avoids the verb form error seen in Option D, as it uses the infinitive verb form "to + be sold" rather than the simple future tense. Additionally, Option A maintains parallelism between A (“electronic books”) and B (“downloadable copies that can be printed upon purchase”) in the idiomatic construction “either A or B”.

B: This answer choice alters the meaning of this sentence through the phrase “to sell them online”; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that the trade book publisher will publish about 20 purely digital works for the purpose of selling them online itself; the intended meaning is that the trade book publisher will publish about 20 purely digital works that are meant to be sold online. Further, Option B fails to maintain parallelism between A (“as electronic books”) and B (“downloadable copies that can be printed upon purchase") in the idiomatic construction “either A or B”; remember, “neither A nor B” and “either A or B” are idiomatic uses and are only used when referring to two elements; A and B must be parallel.

C: This answer choice alters the meaning of this sentence through the phrase “and it will sell them online”; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that the trade book publisher will publish about 20 purely digital works, and the publisher itself will sell the books online; the intended meaning is that the trade book publisher will publish about 20 purely digital works that are meant to be sold online. Further, Option C incorrectly uses conjunction (“and” in this case) to join the independent clauses “The largest trade-book publisher in the United States has announced...works” and “it will ...purchase”; remember, semicolons and the “comma + conjunction” construction are used to link two independent clauses; commas are used to link an independent clause with a dependent one; comma cannot be used to join two independent clauses. Additionally, Option C fails to maintain parallelism between A (“electronic books”) and B (“as downloadable copies that can be printed upon purchase") in the idiomatic construction “either A or B”; remember, “neither A nor B” and “either A or B” are idiomatic uses and are only used when referring to two elements; A and B must be parallel.

D: This answer choice alters the meaning of this sentence through the phrase “and selling them online”; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that the trade book publisher will publish about 20 purely digital works, and the publisher itself will sell the books online; the intended meaning is that the trade book publisher will publish about 20 purely digital works that are meant to be sold online. Further, Option D fails to maintain the correct simple future tense construction "will + base form of verb", as it uses the present participle ("verb+ing" - "selling" in this sentence); remember, "will/would + base form of verb" is the correct simple future tense construction. Additionally, Option D incorrectly uses the “comma + conjunction (“and” in this case)” construction to join two elements in a list - “publish” and "selling”; remember, if a list contains only two elements they must be joined by a conjunction. Besides, Option D fails to maintain parallelism between A (“electronic books”) and B (“as downloadable copies that can be printed upon purchase") in the idiomatic construction “either A or B”; remember, “neither A nor B” and “either A or B” are idiomatic uses and are only used when referring to two elements; A and B must be parallel.

E: This answer choice alters the meaning of this sentence through the phrase “and it will sell them online”; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that the trade book publisher will publish about 20 purely digital works, and the publisher itself will sell the books online; the intended meaning is that the trade book publisher will publish about 20 purely digital works that are meant to be sold online. Further, Option E fails to maintain parallelism between A (“as electronic books”) and B (“downloadable copies that can be printed upon purchase") in the idiomatic construction “either A or B”; remember, “neither A nor B” and “either A or B” are idiomatic uses and are only used when referring to two elements; A and B must be parallel.

Hence, A is the best answer choice.

To understand the use of punctuation on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~10 minutes):



To understand the concept of "Either-Or" and "Neither-Nor" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

According to me the correct sentence should either use the format "as either X or Y" or it should use "either as X or as Y". Only A and E does that.

I chose A. In B: "either as....or", we need "as" after "or". In C: we have "as either"..."or as"-wrong. In D: the same problem, plus "selling" which is wrong. E affects the meaning of the sentence, because it says that the books will be sold under the "new digital imprint division".

i choose A. (E) breaks the paralelism. We dont use the structure " and it" when we have "it" as referent to the same subject "The largest trade-book publisher in the US". you can study more the grammar point in Ron's explanation here:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/sc- ... 19-15.html
hope it helps

The catch here is the while the original simply says that the company will publish the digital works to be sold, it does not state that the company itself is going to sell them. May be the selling is going to be through some third party arrangement, whereas, E categorically states that the company will sell them; this is a deliberate distortion of the original intent and hence E is not to be preferred

I didn't even get my eyeballs to the end of the answer choices. If you look at just the first few words of (C), (D), and (E) you'll quickly get the sense they are on the wrong track.

(A) is what we want - simple and clear.

The intent of the text is that the company will (only) publish the works: it does not make it explicit that the co. itself is going to sell them. May be it may sell through some third party arrangement or give the rights to some Amazon.com. But meaning-wise, all choices, B through E mean to say that the company itself intends to sell the works, a factor that distorts the original meaning.
But this topic also tests correlative conjunctional //ism.

A) works to be sold online as either electronic books or ….. either electronic books or downloadable copies; correct correlative conjnl. //ism.

B) works to sell them online, either as electronic books or … either as x or y; //ism missing
C) works and it will sell them online as either electronic books or as; as either x or as y; // distorted.
D) works, and selling them online as either electronic books or as ; as either x or as y - //ism distorted.
E) works, and it will sell them online as either electronic books or ; as either x or y. //ism ok but intent distorted.

Can anyone explain why C is wrong. the sentence says 'it will publish....' So shouldn't it be it will sell??
Even the idiom either or is maintained. I am a little confused over here.

The text says that the company will publish; it does not say that the company will sell. We cannot assume that the company will also sell just because the company will publish; probably it might be tempting to think so, because it is paralleling or rhyming well, but it distorts the content and concept of the original.

Hi Daagh,

As far as meaning goes, I understand your logic about (A). However, what is the correct way to use "either/or" along with "as". Would (A) still be correct if it is rephrased as "works to be sold online either as electronic books or as" ..............Note here that I have placed "as" after "either" and have placed another "as" after "or".

Meaning wise, is either of the following same:
1) As either X or Y
2) Either as X or as Y

Thanks.

Yes. You are absolutely right; both are correct as per the tenets of correlative conjunctional use. What comes after Either should be repeated after Or

C and D are out right away because "as either" should be "either as" to match "or as." B is out because "or" should have "as" after it to match "either as." These are very easy parallelism issues to catch.

The easiest way to get rid of E is to notice that "them" is trying to refer to something in the subordinate clause.

A's parallel structures and pronouns are all correct.

The largest trade-book publisher in the US has announced the creation of a new digital imprint division, under which it will publish about 20 purely digital works to be sold online as either electronic books or downloadable copies that can be printed upon purchase.

A) works to be sold online as either electronic books or - CORRECT
B) works to sell them online, either as electronic books or - WRONG - either as X.... or Y (should be either as X or as Y)
C) works and it will sell them online as either electronic books or as - WRONG - as either X .... or as Y (should be as either X or Y)
D) works, and selling them online as either electronic books or as - WRONG - as either X....or as (should be as either X or Y)
E) works, and it will sell them online as either electronic books or - WRONG - same subject, so "it" is redundant. Moreover, never use a comma before and to link two dependent clauses.

Responding to a pm:

There are two issues at work here:

1. Passive voice

I will sell these books.
These books will be sold by me.

"be sold" is passive voice which we need because we don't know who will sell these books.

2. Modifers
Verbs have tenses. The verb uses "will" to show future.
Here, "to... " is not an actual verb. It acts as a modifier. It modifies works.

Hence, the structure "works, to be sold online..." is correct.

I understand that Parallelism needs to be on both sides of an idiomatic expression.

For example.
Let's consider the case of Either x or y

I want either tea or coffee. This is correct. x is tea; y is coffee.
I either want tea or coffee. This is incorrect x is want tea; y is coffee.

This helps eliminate B,C,D. Now A v.s E. I selected A, because it is less wordy. But, what is the grammar behind this selection?

Pls help!

(E) has issues in meaning.
The "imprint division" cannot be expected to sell. It is much more reasonable that it will publish works which will be sold subsequently by some other division. So (A) is better than (E).

A looks fine to me.
B - either X or Y - so idiom error can be spotted right away.
C - IT is who? publisher or division? + idiom error.
D - 2 clauses connected with only AND - not correct. idiom error again
E - it who? publisher or division?