Although energy prices have tripled in the United States over the last

samark -

Two things should be parallel if they fall into the same category:

Yesterday, I WENT to the store and SAW a movie. (the verbs that fall into the category "things I did yesterday" should be parallel.)

The pirate was famous for his PET PARROT and his WOODEN LEG (the "pet parrot" and "wooden leg" fall into the category "things for which the pirate was famous" and should be parallel)

Over the last decade, I have HIKED a dozen mountains and TRAVELED to over thirty countries. ("hiked" and "traveled" fall into the category "things I have done in the last decade" and thus must be parallel).

The difference with this last one, as you notice, is that the first verb is actually "have hiked." The reason you don't need to repeat the "have" is that the word "have" essentially distributes to both verbs. (Think about this in math terms: If you have the term 3(x+y) you can distribute the 3 and get 3x+3y).

As a result, you don't need to repeat the word "have" with the second verb. That's the principle behind the parallel verbs in choice E above.

Does that help?

Brett

The point is that only FEW People (not MANY People) have done so.

A. few people to have significantly reduced the amount of driving they do, nor are they making - Incorrect. We need indicates "that".

B. few people having significantly reduced the amount of driving they do or made - Incorrect. We need indicates "that".

C. that there are few people who have significantly reduced the amount of driving they do, nor having made - Incorrect.

D. that few people have significantly reduced the amount of driving they do and are not making - Incorrect. "and" is a parallel marker.

E. that few people have significantly reduced the amount of driving they do or made - Correct. "or" is a parallel marker.

Answer: (E).

We use THAT to link a previous clause to a new one. This is extremely common on the GMAT. Notice how in each example below, we have subject + verb + THAT + new subject + new verb.

I think that puppies are very wise.
A study indicates that the regular use of dental floss reduces heart disease.
She suggested that we take an alternative route.

There are other ways we can use the word indicate in particular. We can indicate a noun: "She indicated the door." We can indicate something as a factor: "Smoking has been indicated as a contributor to heart disease." However, we can't indicated "few people" or "indicate X to do Y."
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Hi BKimball

Thanks for the explanation, i have a doubt. In your example can 'HIS' be removed and will it still make sense -

The pirate was famous for his PET PARROT and WOODEN LEG

Where exactly can the split/distribution be, can i assume in the above sentence that HIS distributes the parrot and leg?

I chose E because of two reasons- it correctly uses "that" and "or".
A and B are eliminated because we need that after indicate.
C is out because it is wordy as it unnecessarily uses "there" and "who".
D is eliminated because of two reasons. One is parallelism issue and the other is the use of "and" and "not".
E Perfect answer.

Hi BKimball,

I really appreciate ur help. I was little doubtful whether word "have" can be distributed further. Now, it is clear!

Cheers!

Nice explanation ,, Thanks...

I have a doubt with respect to the events happening in past e.g.

He won the lottery and moved to California. Within five years, he had filed for bankruptcy.

first event - he won the lottery and moved to california.
second event - within five years he had filed for bandfuptcy.

why do we use past particple for the second event , because second event is happening after first event , so i think simple past tense should be ideal.

pls explain

first event - he won the lottery and moved to california.
second event - within five years he had filed for bandfuptcy.

I think you have your past perfect tenses backwards. The older event needs "Had" + Past participle, while the newer event is just simple past.

I can't understand why E is correct. The sentence starts with Although, which means there has to be a contrast. Option E suggests that few people have made fuel efficiency a priority while shopping for cars whereas the intended meaning is they have not.
Experts- Please comment.

After indicate is it necessary to use that, is it a rule or something?

Posted from my mobile device

why "that" to be used after indicates???

This question is based on Idiomatic Usage, Parallelism, and Construction.

The verb ‘indicates’ is usually followed by a noun clause beginning with the relative pronoun ‘that’. Since the relative pronoun is missing in Options A and B, these two options can be eliminated. There is also a lack of parallelism in Option A.

The last part of the sentence conveys two things that people have failed to do -reduce the amount of driving they do and make fuel efficiency a priority when shopping for cars. These two actions must be parallel but the verbs ‘reduced’ and ‘are making’ are not parallel to each other. So, Options A and B can be ruled out.

Option C lacks parallelism. The perfect participle ‘having made’ is not parallel to ‘reduced’. The conjunction ‘nor’ is also incorrect since the negative is already implied by the adjective ‘few’. So, Option C can also be eliminated.

Option D also lacks parallelism. The verb in the present continuous tense ‘are making’ is not parallel to the verb in the simple past tense ‘reduced’. So, Option D can also be ruled out.

Option E maintains parallelism - that few people have significantly reduced the amount of driving they do or made fuel efficiency a priority when shopping for cars . The conjunction ‘or’ is also appropriate. Therefore, E is the most appropriate option.


Jayanthi Kumar.
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