12 Days of Christmas GMAT Competition - Day 6: Many economists contend

(A) leading neither to higher standards of living, a greater equality among social classes, or

neither...or is a wrong usage. The list items are not parallel and has comma splicing issue. Eliminate

(B) leading neither to higher standards of living nor a greater equality among social classes, or
In this option we see nested list:
leading [neither to....nor a], or empowering
Inner list parallelism between 'neither to'...'nor a...' is not correct, though outer list 'is not leading or empowering' is parallel.
Eliminate.

(C) not leading to either higher standards of living nor to more of a greater equality among social classes, and neither is it
not leading to [either...nor...], neither is it...
Outer list is parallel and correct: 'is not leading'....',and neither is it empowering..'.
But inner list, Either...nor usage is wrong. eliminate.

(D) not leading to higher standards of living or to greater equality among social classes, nor is it

not [leading to ...or to], nor is it.

The outer list is parallel and correct: not...nor is it.....
Example: The movie is not running in theaters anymore, nor is it going to be available in satellite channels.

not leading [to higher... or to greater...] - Inner list is parallel.

Keep option D.

(E) not leading to higher standards of living, more of a greater equality among social classes, and it is not

Parallelism is the worst in this choice due to comma splicing and dissimilar list items. In this simple single list, the second item( more of a greater...) seems to be modifier instead of a list item. Eliminate.

So the best answer choice is D.

(A) leading neither to higher standards of living, a greater equality among social classes, or Idiom error need neither nor.
(B) leading neither to higher standards of living nor a greater equality among social classes, orParallelism error, Neither to, nor to...
(C) not leading to either higher standards of living nor to more of a greater equality among social classes, and neither is it Idiom error, either ...or
(D) not leading to higher standards of living or to greater equality among social classes, nor is ithold seems parallel, leading to... leading to ... Parallel
(E) not leading to higher standards of living, more of a greater equality among social classes, and it is not

B/w D and E.
(D) not leading to higher standards of living or to greater equality among social classes, nor is it Error

(E) not leading to higher standards of living, more of a greater equality among social classes, and it is not


Hence E is better option

IMO E

Many economists contend that, contrary to popular belief, increased economic liberalization in Asia is leading neither to higher standards of living, a greater equality among social classes, or empowering traditionally oppressed groups.

(A) leading neither to higher standards of living, a greater equality among social classes, or - Incorrect because wrong Idiom, and also not parallel
(B) leading neither to higher standards of living nor a greater equality among social classes, or - Incorrect - Underlined Portion is not Parrallel
(C) not leading to either higher standards of living nor to more of a greater equality among social classes, and neither is it - Incorrect "It" Pronoun error and Incorrect Idiom "Nor" with either
(D) not leading to higher standards of living or to greater equality among social classes, nor is it -Incorrect "It" Pronoun error
(E) not leading to higher standards of living, more of a greater equality among social classes, and it is not - Correct Option "It" is reflecting to "increased economic liberalization in Asia"

Option E- Correct

(A) leading neither to higher standards of living, a greater equality among social classes, or --> wrong parallelism
(B) leading neither to higher standards of living nor a greater equality among social classes, or --> correct answer
(C) not leading to either higher standards of living nor to more of a greater equality among social classes, and neither is it --> wrong parallelism
(D) not leading to higher standards of living or to greater equality among social classes, nor is it --> wrong
(E) not leading to higher standards of living, more of a greater equality among social classes, and it is not --> wrong

Many economists contend that, contrary to popular belief, increased economic liberalization in Asia is leading neither to higher standards of living, a greater equality among social classes, or empowering traditionally oppressed groups.

(A) leading neither to higher standards of living, a greater equality among social classes, or
incorrect use of neither...nor

(B) leading neither to higher standards of living nor a greater equality among social classes, or
incorrect parallelism

(C) not leading to either higher standards of living nor to more of a greater equality among social classes, and neither is it
parallelism error

(D) not leading to higher standards of living or to greater equality among social classes, nor is it
parallelism correct in this option

(E) not leading to higher standards of living, more of a greater equality among social classes, and it is not
changes the meaning..also, parallelism error

IMO, (D) will be the correct option

Many economists contend that, contrary to popular belief, increased economic liberalization in Asia is leading neither to higher standards of living, a greater equality among social classes, or empowering traditionally oppressed groups.

(A) leading neither to higher standards of living, a greater equality among social classes, or
<<neither to>> should be followed by <<nor to>>. The choice has an incorrect idiomatic usage. INCORRECT!

(B) leading neither to higher standards of living nor a greater equality among social classes, or
<<neither to>> should be followed by <<nor to>>. The choice has an incorrect idiomatic usage. INCORRECT!

(C) not leading to either higher standards of living nor to more of a greater equality among social classes, and neither is it
In this choice << either >> should be followed by <<or>>. INCORRECT!

(D) not leading to higher standards of living or to greater equality among social classes, nor is it
The use of <<or>> here is incorrect. The phrase << greater equality among social classes>> is further elaboration of << to higher standards of living>>. INCORRECT!

(E) not leading to higher standards of living, more of a greater equality among social classes, and it is not

Here the parallelism is maintained. The pronoun <<it>> clearly referring back to << increased economic liberalization in Asia>>. There are no errors present in this answer choice. Correct!

Answer: Option E

The obvious focus of this task is to correctly use negation of three, not two items - to do it in a parallel fashion.
Let's see the options that we have:

• neither + nor and either + or: they both require only two items, otherwise it's impossible to contrast things properly.

This means that A, B and C are all out of the running.

• sth negative + nor sth else: theoretically, it should also work with two items only, but what if we combine several things within the first component?

This is done in the option D, whose structure goes as follows: not X or Y, nor Z.
In general, it looks like a job well done, so D seems to be correct.

• just giving a list of things with commas and 'and' conjunctions: it works with as many items as possible, but it has to be done smoothly and correctly.

That is the approach of E - however, it breaks the list by suddenly adding 'and it is not', which makes the sentence unparallel.
They could've just made a list: <this> is not leading to X, Y, and Z. However, by adding the new subject and predicate they break the parallelism, hence making E invalid.

Therefore, the right answer is D.

(A) leading neither to higher standards of living, a greater equality among social classes, or -Parallelism error ,OUT
(B) leading neither to higher standards of living nor a greater equality among social classes, or--Parallelism error ,OUT
(C) not leading to either higher standards of living nor to more of a greater equality among social classes, and neither is it--Ether/or is correct,OUT
(D) not leading to higher standards of living or to greater equality among social classes, nor is it---Correct
(E) not leading to higher standards of living, more of a greater equality among social classes, and it is not--Parallelism error ,OUT

OA:D

(A) leading neither to higher standards of living, a greater equality among social classes, or - Incorrect - broken list, and parallelism issue
(B) leading neither to higher standards of living nor a greater equality among social classes, or - Correct
(C) not leading to either higher standards of living nor to more of a greater equality among social classes, and neither is it - Incorrect it after neither is unnecessary
(D) not leading to higher standards of living or to greater equality among social classes, nor is it - Incorrect it after neither is unnecessary, and additionally list is ...broken liberalization is is it... is broken we don't need is it after nor
(E) not leading to higher standards of living, more of a greater equality among social classes, and it is not -Incorrect it after neither is unnecessary

OA) B
Many economists contend that, contrary to popular belief, increased economic liberalization in Asia is leading neither to higher standards of living, a greater equality among social classes, or empowering traditionally oppressed groups.

(A) leading neither to higher standards of living, a greater equality among social classes, or
--> standards and equality , both are in parallel with empowering which is -ing verb which is wrong

(B) leading neither to higher standards of living nor a greater equality among social classes, or

(C) not leading to either higher standards of living nor to more of a greater equality among social classes, and neither is it
--> Many economists contend that..neither is it.. : which is wrong

(D) not leading to higher standards of living or to greater equality among social classes, nor is it is it
--> Many economists contend that..is it.. : which is wrong

(E) not leading to higher standards of living, more of a greater equality among social classes, and it is not
--> need conjunction to connect standards and equity

(A) Many economists contend that, contrary to popular belief, increased economic liberalization in Asia is leading neither to higher standards of living, a greater equality among social classes, or empowering traditionally oppressed groups. - Neither nor construction missing, Eliminate
(B) Many economists contend that, contrary to popular belief, increased economic liberalization in Asia is leading neither to higher standards of living nor a greater equality among social classes, or empowering traditionally oppressed groups. - Wrong meaning, Eliminate
(C) Many economists contend that, contrary to popular belief, increased economic liberalization in Asia is not leading to either higher standards of living nor to more of a greater equality among social classes, and neither is it empowering traditionally oppressed groups. -Either nor construction missing, Eliminate
(D) Many economists contend that, contrary to popular belief, increased economic liberalization in Asia is not leading to higher standards of living or to greater equality among social classes, nor is it empowering traditionally oppressed groups. - Correct, consice
(E) Many economists contend that, contrary to popular belief, increased economic liberalization in Asia is not leading to higher standards of living, more of a greater equality among social classes, and it is not empowering traditionally oppressed groups. - Incorrect meaning, Eliminate

Ans : D

(A) leading neither to higher standards of living, a greater equality among social classes, or
--> "neither" should be followed by "nor"

(B) leading neither to higher standards of living nor a greater equality among social classes, or
--> Correct usage

(C) not leading to either higher standards of living nor to more of a greater equality among social classes, and neither is it
--> The sentence is constructed in a way that "increased economic liberalization in Asia" should ideally be followed by "leading" as it stresses the point. If the sentence were "increase in economic liberalization" then such a construction would have made sense. Additionally "either" has been paired with "nor"

(D) not leading to higher standards of living or to greater equality among social classes, nor is it
--> Same as B. Additionally "either" has been paired with "nor"

(E) not leading to higher standards of living, more of a greater equality among social classes, and it is not
--> Same as B. "more of" is not parallel

IMHO Option B

Many economists contend that, contrary to popular belief, increased economic liberalization in Asia is leading neither to higher standards of living, a greater equality among social classes, or empowering traditionally oppressed groups.

(A) leading neither to higher standards of living, a greater equality among social classes, "incorrect neither.. economic liberalization is not leading a greater equality among social class"

(B) leading neither to higher standards of living nor a greater equality among social classes, or "incorrect economic liberalization not empowering the traditionally oppressed groups"

(C) not leading to either higher standards of living nor to more of a greater equality among social classes, and neither is it for last neither nor is missing incorrect.

(D) not leading to higher standards of living or to greater equality among social classes, nor is it "correct meaning and structure"

(E) not leading to higher standards of living, more of a greater equality among social classes, and it is not "incorrect not leading to more of a greater equality among social classes incorrect. Also more of a greater convey similar meaning hence one is redundant

Hence IMO D.

Correct Idioms are : Neither X nor Y, Either X or Y (X and Y should follow Parallelism)

Keeping this in mind, we can eliminate incorrect choices:

Many economists contend that, contrary to popular belief, increased economic liberalization in Asia is leading neither to higher standards of living, a greater equality among social classes, or empowering traditionally oppressed groups.

(A) leading neither to higher standards of living, a greater equality among social classes, or -> neither or is incorrect
(B) leading neither to higher standards of living nor a greater equality among social classes, or -> neither nor or incorrect
(C) not leading to either higher standards of living nor to more of a greater equality among social classes, and neither is it -> either nor and neither are incorrect
(D) not leading to higher standards of living or to greater equality among social classes, nor is it -> to higher...to greater follows parallelism and usage of nor is also correct.
(E) not leading to higher standards of living, more of a greater equality among social classes, and it is not -> to higher ...more should be connected with "or" or "and" -> incorrect

ExpertsGlobal5
MartyTargetTestPrep
KarishmaB

Experts - I have two queries on this sentence correction question -

Question 1) The stem of this sentence is indicated in blue, and the sentence has two parallel parts indicated in red. If I understand the concept of parallelism correctly, to determine if the sentence has the right parallel structure, each of the parallel element should align correctly with the stem.

Example: The boy not only ate ice-cream but also ate chocolates.

The boy ate ice cream.
The boy ate chocolates.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

My Question: In the correct answer, option D, if we put the second element after the base stem, doesn't the word "is" repeat twice (once from the base stem and once from the parallel element). Wanted to check if this is expected and acceptable ?

Many economists contend that, contrary to popular belief, increased economic liberalization in Asia is
not
leading to higher standards of living or to greater equality among social classes,
nor
is it empowering traditionally oppressed groups.

Writing each parallel element with the base stem -

1) Many economists contend that, contrary to popular belief, increased economic liberalization in Asia is leading to higher standards of living or to greater equality among social classes, --> This is correct

2) Many economists contend that, contrary to popular belief, increased economic liberalization in Asia is is it empowering traditionally oppressed groups. --> Wanted to understand if the highlighted portion is correct.

Question 2) My second question is on the parallel structure itself. I think the first part of the parallel structure starts with a gerund while the the second part is a clause (not sure, but I think it's an inverted sentence, hence a clause). Wanted to check if these elements can be parallel.

Many economists contend that, contrary to popular belief, increased economic liberalization in Asia is
not
leading to higher standards of living or to greater equality among social classes, ---> Gerund
nor
is it empowering traditionally oppressed groups. ---> Clause

I came across an official question which had the similar sentence structure. However, in the official question, the parallelism was stated incorrect. I apologize that I am unable to post the link as I am a new member here, hence quoted the official question below for reference.

My Question : In the explanations provided the highlighted portion of option B is stated incorrect as it lacks parallelism. I found both the structures seemingly similar, hence unable to determine why have we concluded that the parallelism in option D of this question correct while the parallelism in option B of the official question was stated as incorrect. Wanted your inputs on the same.



Thanks a lot for your inputs.

Hi VoxNihili.

There are key differences between what's going on in the sentence you're asking about and the sentence in the above official question.

For one thing, the sentence you're asking about uses "not" and then "nor," whereas the official question use "neither ... nor."

So, the two structures are quite different.

Here's the sentence you're asking about.

Many economists contend that, contrary to popular belief, increased economic liberalization in Asia is not leading to higher standards of living or to greater equality among social classes, nor is it empowering traditionally oppressed groups.

The portions of the sentence highlighted in green and blue are two separate clauses connected by the coordinating conjunction "nor."

So, what follows "not" and what follows "nor" don't have to be parallel because those two parts of the sentence have different functions.

What follows "not" is part of the verb phrase "is not leading ...."

What follows "nor" is a new clause.

Thank you MartyTargetTestPrep for your inputs.

Can you please let me know if NOT ... NOR can be a parallelism indicator in any scenario or should the parallelism be only considered in scenarios with neither ... nor

After reading your explanation, I realized that I had misread the sentence as

Many economists contend that, contrary to popular belief, increased economic liberalization in Asia is not [performing two things]

A. leading to higher standards of living or to greater equality among social classes
B. is it empowering traditionally oppressed groups

Can you let me know how could I have read better. Essentially, I would appreciate if you could let me know your thought process, as to how did you infer that the parallelism is between "increased economic liberalization in Asia is not leading to higher standards of living or to greater equality among social classes, nor is it empowering traditionally oppressed groups." and not the way I have inferred.

Thanks again for your help.