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555-605 Level|   Parallelism|   Verb Tense/Form|   Verb Tense/Form|   Verb Tense/Form|                     
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YangYichen
if parallelism is the deciding factor, why not add a "to" after the "rather than", this can be true parallel

We are not repeating to because we have a rule 'Once outside or Twice Inside".

So, both ways the sentence should be correct.
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YangYichen
if parallelism is the deciding factor, why not add a "to" after the "rather than", this can be true parallel

We are not repeating to because we have a rule 'Once outside or Twice Inside".

So, both ways the sentence should be correct.
could you please elaborate on 'Once outside or Twice Inside" rule?
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YangYichen
could you please elaborate on 'Once outside or Twice Inside" rule?

Sure.

As per this rule, we can have either "to both X and Y" or "both to X and to Y".

Notice, in the first one I kept to outside once and this would be used for both X and Y while in the second one, I used to with both X and Y. Hence, in the letter part we have Twice Inside.

Here are the great questions that work on the same principle.

https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-para ... ce-inside/
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A recent study has found that within the past few years, many doctors had elected early retirement rather than face the threats of lawsuits and the rising costs of malpractice insurance.

(A) had elected early retirement rather than face - past perfect had elected is incorrect
(B) had elected early retirement instead of facing - same as A
(C) have elected retiring early instead of facing - instead of is used to show a preference
(D) have elected to retire early rather than facing - to retire is not parallel to facing
(E) have elected to retire early rather than face - Correct

Answer E
If in option A, had elected is changed to have elected, then we have
(A)' have elected early retirement rather than face -- is there a parallelism error here?
why can't the parallel structures be - many doctors have elected early retirement
rather than face -- in this case have elected and face are both verbs and can't they be parallel?

AjiteshArun , GMATNinja ,egmat , mikemcgarry , daagh , sayantanc2k - please help .
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Answer E
If in option A, had elected is changed to have elected, then we have
(A)' have elected early retirement rather than face -- is there a parallelism error here?
why can't the parallel structures be - many doctors have elected early retirement
rather than face -- in this case have elected and face are both verbs and can't they be parallel?

AjiteshArun , GMATNinja ,egmat , mikemcgarry , daagh , sayantanc2k - please help .
Face is not a (full) verb. It's an infinitive. It's slightly hard to see that because the to in to face has been assumed away, leaving only face.

In other words, in the correct option, it is to retire and (to) face that are parallel.
have elected to retire early rather than face
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why is past perfect "had" in option a incorrect?
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rnn

Quote:
why is past perfect "had" in option a incorrect?

Here is A again:

A recent study has found
that
within the past few years, many doctors had elected
early retirement rather than face the threats of lawsuits and the rising costs of malpractice insurance.

Pay special attention to: within the past few years,
It suggests an action started in past and is continuing in present.

Past perfect tense is used to denote earlier of two actions.
Hope this helps. :)
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dont we use had as the action already took place in past and they are telling that now,means doctor already resigned in last few years as mentioned
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Aman1012
dont we use had as the action already took place in past and they are telling that now,means doctor already resigned in last few years as mentioned

Hi Aman

In this case, the sentence tells us about something that has happened over the last few years. It is an ongoing event - there is nothing in the sentence to suggest that this has now stopped. Therefore the correct tense to use would be present perfect. We use the present perfect in two situations:

a) Used to talk about actions that started in the past and are continuous up till now:

eg: I have been a teacher for more than ten years. → I became a teacher ten years ago and I am still one.

b) A past action that has a result in the present:

eg: I have lost my wallet. → I don't have it now.

As you can see, the teachers resigning is an ongoing event which started in the past few years. Hence we must use the present perfect tense.

A past perfect tense (had + past participle) is used when we want to talk about two events in the past and show the chronology between them ie; which happened first. As you can see, there is no second even in the past being referred to in this sentence. Hence a past perfect tense would be incorrect.

Hope this helps.
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Sachin9


1) When do we know that 'to' and be understood and can be omitted?
I eliminated E because I thought 2 structures are not parallel because you dont have a 'to' before face

2) What is wrong with C :shock:
retiring and facing are parallel.

Hi Sachin,

Whenever we have a list, the common items in the first entity of the list may not be repeated before all the entities in the list. OG questions are inundated with such parallel construction. For example the first question of OGV2:

Like ants, termites have an elaborate social structure in which a few individuals reproduce and the rest serve the colony by tending juveniles, gathering food, building the nest, or battling intruders.

This is the sentence with correct answer choice E. Notice the entities in the sub-list. Termites serve the colony by:
a. tending juveniles,
b. gathering food,
c. building the nest, or
d. battling intruders.

In the sentence, only the first entity is preceded by “by”. It is understood before other entities. This is a very common structure. Here comes the need to identify the correct entities that are intended to make the correct intended parallel list. Try out this official question:

The computer software being designed for a project studying Native American access to higher education will not only meet the needs of that study, but also has the versatility and power of facilitating similar research endeavors.

(A) but also has the versatility and power of facilitating
(B) but also have the versatility and power to facilitate
C) but it also has the versatility and power to facilitate
(D) and also have the versatility and power of facilitating
(E) and it also has such versatility and power that it can facilitate

Now let’s analyze, why choice C is incorrect.

C) have elected retiring early instead of facing: Notice the use of “elected” here. The way it has been used in this choice and the original sentence as well, it seems to suggest that the doctors have cast their votes for an entity named “retiring” instead of another entity “facing”. This is the incorrect use of the word. The intended meaning is that they have elected to – chose to – do one thing rather than the other. This incorrect use of “elected” makes this choice incorrect.

Hope this helps. :)
Thanks.
Shraddha

(A) but also has the versatility and power of facilitating
(B) but also have the versatility and power to facilitate
C) but it also has the versatility and power to facilitate
(D) and also have the versatility and power of facilitating
(E) and it also has such versatility and power that it can facilitate


I am confused with (B) and (C)

(B) but also have the versatility and power to facilitate
C) but it also has the versatility and power to facilitate

On one hand in (C) I believe there is an idiom error --> Not only X but it also Y is incorrect
On the other hand in (B) the verb "have" is plural for the singular subject "computer software.

If I had to chose, I'll go for (C) because (B) is a SV error, which according to me is a deterministic error as compared to the idiom error in (C)
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Quote:
A recent study has found that within the past few years, many doctors had elected early retirement rather than face the threats of lawsuits and the rising costs of malpractice insurance.

(A) had elected early retirement rather than face
(B) had elected early retirement instead of facing
(C) have elected retiring early instead of facing
(D) have elected to retire early rather than facing
(E) have elected to retire early rather than face

GMATNinja AjiteshArun VeritasKarishma

"and" is the parallelism trigger here.
Phrases before and after "and" seem parallel.
"facing the threats of lawsuits" is parallel to "rising costs of malpractice insurance".
Hence option D should be correct.
Where am I wrong here ?
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Harsh2111s
"and" is the parallelism trigger here.
Phrases before and after "and" seem parallel.
"facing the threats of lawsuits" is parallel to "rising costs of malpractice insurance".
Hence option D should be correct.
Where am I wrong here ?



Hello Harsh2111s,

Although your question is not for me, I would still like to help you understand what's actually going on with this question. So, let's look at what the sentence actually says:


A recent study has found

that within the past few years, many doctors

    had elected early retirement rather than

    face

    the threats of lawsuits and

    the rising costs of malpractice insurance
    .


So, a recent study shows that many doctors prefer to retire early than to face a few issues. Now, these issues have been divided into two - the threats of lawsuits and the rising costs of malpractice insurance.

The meaning of this sentence is fairly easy to understand. Grammatically, there are two lists in the sentence per the original sentence.

The first list: had elected and face - two verbs. Of course, the usage of the past perfect tense is incorrect because there is no sequence between these two actions. So, here we have the verb tense error really.

The second list: the threats of lawsuits and the rising costs of malpractice insurance. This list is perfect. No issues here.

So now, the structure of the first list changes slightly in Choices C, D, and E. In these choices the verb "have elected" is out of the list now.

In Choice D, the list is incorrect because "to retire" - the "to verb" phrase - is not parallel to "facing" - a verb-ing word.

Choice E is correct because "to retire" and "(to) face" is correct as these entities are perfectly parallel.


Hope this helps. :-)
Thanks.
Shraddha
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Hoozan
(A) but also has the versatility and power of facilitating
(B) but also have the versatility and power to facilitate
C) but it also has the versatility and power to facilitate
(D) and also have the versatility and power of facilitating
(E) and it also has such versatility and power that it can facilitate


I am confused with (B) and (C)

(B) but also have the versatility and power to facilitate
C) but it also has the versatility and power to facilitate

On one hand in (C) I believe there is an idiom error --> Not only X but it also Y is incorrect
On the other hand in (B) the verb "have" is plural for the singular subject "computer software.

If I had to chose, I'll go for (C) because (B) is a SV error, which according to me is a deterministic error as compared to the idiom error in (C)


Hello Hoozan,
Allow me to help you with this one.

Let's start with the structure of this long sentence to make sure we understand the usage of every entity correctly and do not miss out any usage:


The computer software being designed for a project studying Native American access to higher education will

    not only meet the needs of that study,

    but also has the versatility and power of facilitating similar research endeavors.



Since the meaning is pretty simple to understand, let me talk about the structure. The sentence uses the idiom not only X but also Y. In Choice A, the idiom is worded correctly. But the error is that the verb will meet is correct, but the verb will has is ungrammatical. The helping verb will MUST be followed by the plural verb have.


Lo and behold, Choice B does just that. In addition, it also uses the correct expression power to facilitate. Hence, this choice is correct.

As you rightly said, Choice C uses the incorrect idiom or write the idiom incorrectly. Hence, it is incorrect.


Hope this helps. :-)
Thanks.
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"facing the threats of lawsuits" is parallel to "rising costs of malpractice insurance".

face should be verb

rising is adjective to costs
now re-read

A recent study has found that within the past few years, many doctors had elected early retirement rather than face the threats of lawsuits and the rising costs of malpractice insurance.

WRONG: A recent study has found that within the past few years, many doctors have elected to retire early rather than facing the threats of lawsuits and the rising costs of malpractice insurance.
face should be in parallel with retire
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cyberjadugar
Hi,

I am confused between (D) & (E), could anyone please explain?

Regards,

Hi there,

This is the sentence with choice D:

A recent study has found that within the past few years, many doctors have elected to retire early rather than facing the threats of lawsuits and the rising costs of malpractice insurance.

The original sentence means that according to a recent study, in the last few years many doctors have chosen to do X rather than Y. Here, X and Y should be parallel. Per this choice (D),
X = to retire early
Y = facing the threats of…
These two entities are not parallel because X is “to verb” while Y is written in verb-ing form. Hence, we have parallelism error in this sentence.

Choice E corrects this error. This is the sentence with choice E:

A recent study has found that within the past few years, many doctors have elected to retire early rather than face the threats of lawsuits and the rising costs of malpractice insurance.

X = to retire early
Y = (to) face the threats of…
The two entities are parallel here, and hence choice E is the correct answer.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

Doesn't E also create a ||ism error for ' rather than FACE the threats of lawsuits AND THE RISING costs of malpractice insurance'?
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Doesn't E also create a ||ism error for ' rather than FACE the threats of lawsuits AND THE RISING costs of malpractice insurance'?


Hello livfcind,
Thank you for the query. :-)

Choice E uses the phrase the rising costs of malpractice insurance. In this phrase, the word rising acts as an adjective for the noun costs. But the core noun element in this phrase is costs that is perfectly parallel to the noun entity the threats of lawsuits. Please note that the modifiers associated with the core parallel elements in the list do NOT affect the parallelism between/among the parallel entities in the list.


Hope this helps. :-)
Thanks.
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Harsh2111s
Quote:
A recent study has found that within the past few years, many doctors had elected early retirement rather than face the threats of lawsuits and the rising costs of malpractice insurance.

(A) had elected early retirement rather than face
(B) had elected early retirement instead of facing
(C) have elected retiring early instead of facing
(D) have elected to retire early rather than facing
(E) have elected to retire early rather than face

GMATNinja AjiteshArun VeritasKarishma

"and" is the parallelism trigger here.
Phrases before and after "and" seem parallel.
"facing the threats of lawsuits" is parallel to "rising costs of malpractice insurance".
Hence option D should be correct.
Where am I wrong here ?

'and' does combine two elements of a list but which two elements are they?
'the threats of lawsuits' and 'the rising costs of malpractice insurance'
threats and rising costs.

There is another pair of parallel elements - 'retire early' rather than 'face the threats ...'
They need to be parallel too so (D) is incorrect 'retire early' rather than 'facing the threats...'
(E) does this correctly.
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