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Among the numerous techniques for building political alliances, the

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Among the numerous techniques for building political alliances, the [#permalink] New post   09 Jun 2019, 14:13
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Among the numerous techniques for building political alliances, the most widely practiced method has been to form a grassroots campaign and then, despite the numerous logistical challenges, activate the network ahead of election day.

(A) to form a grassroots campaign and then, despite the numerous logistical challenges, activate

(B) to form a grassroots campaign and then, despite the numerous logistical challenges, to activate

(C) forming a grassroots campaign and then, despite the numerous logistical challenges, activating

(D) forming a grassroots campaign and then, activate, despite the numerous logistical challenges,

(E) to form a grassroots campaign and then, activating, despite the numerous logistical challenges,

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Re: Among the numerous techniques for building political alliances, the [#permalink] New post   09 Jun 2019, 14:38
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MikeScarn wrote:
Among the numerous techniques for building political alliances, the most widely practiced method has been to form a grassroots campaign and then, despite the numerous logistical challenges, activate the network ahead of election day.

(A) to form a grassroots campaign and then, despite the numerous logistical challenges, activate

(B) to form a grassroots campaign and then, despite the numerous logistical challenges, to activate

(C) forming a grassroots campaign and then, despite the numerous logistical challenges, activating

(D) forming a grassroots campaign and then, activate, despite the numerous logistical challenges,

(E) to form a grassroots campaign and then, activating, despite the numerous logistical challenges,


Split #1: to form vs forming

In our non-underlined portion, we have the present perfect verb "has been", so we are talking about something that has been done in the recent past.

"the most widely practiced method has been forming a grassroots campaign and then, ...." - This is illogical.
Eliminate (C) and (D)

Split #2: activate vs to activate vs activating

If we strip out some of the modifiers to make the sentence shorter, we can compare our verb forms easier.

(E) "the most widely practiced method has been to form X and then, activating the network ahead of election day."

(E)'s verb forms are not parallel. Eliminate.

Between (A) and (B)

We have a parallel structure, so there is no need to use "to" again.

"the most widely practiced method has been to form X and then, (to) activate Y."

Therefore we can eliminate (B).

This is a very difficult question in my opinion.
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Re: Among the numerous techniques for building political alliances, the [#permalink] New post   09 Jun 2019, 15:03
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Really appreciate the step by step analysis.

I narrowed down the answer choices to A & B but was not able to identify the parallel structure correctly and thus went for B.

Certainly educational, thanks for sharing!
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Re: Among the numerous techniques for building political alliances, the [#permalink] New post   09 Jun 2019, 19:13
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Arro44 wrote:
I narrowed down the answer choices to A & B but was not able to identify the parallel structure correctly and thus went for B.
I don't think that you made a mistake in identifying the parallel elements there.

This question:
... the most widely practiced method has been to form a grassroots campaign and then, despite the numerous logistical challenges, activate the network ahead of election day.

An official question (this one):
... the most extensively used method has been to form the mud or clay into bricks, and, after some preliminary air drying or sun drying, to lay them in the wall in mud mortar.
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Re: Among the numerous techniques for building political alliances, the [#permalink] New post   10 Jun 2019, 02:16
AjiteshArun wrote:
Arro44 wrote:
I narrowed down the answer choices to A & B but was not able to identify the parallel structure correctly and thus went for B.
I don't think that you made a mistake in identifying the parallel elements there.

This question:
... the most widely practiced method has been to form a grassroots campaign and then, despite the numerous logistical challenges, activate the network ahead of election day.

An official question (this one):
... the most extensively used method has been to form the mud or clay into bricks, and, after some preliminary air drying or sun drying, to lay them in the wall in mud mortar.


Thank you for that insight, although I am now slightly confused regarding the original question/answer choice

Does the OA still hold after the comparison to an OG question with a similar structure but different answer?
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Re: Among the numerous techniques for building political alliances, the [#permalink] New post   10 Jun 2019, 07:33
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Arro44 wrote:
Thank you for that insight, although I am now slightly confused regarding the original question/answer choice

Does the OA still hold after the comparison to an OG question with a similar structure but different answer?
That's a tough one, but I wouldn't say that A/B is an unfair split. The person who made this question took a certain call, and that's fine.

What I am sure about, however, is that you (and anyone else who picked B) applied parallelism correctly.
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Re: Among the numerous techniques for building political alliances, the [#permalink] New post   10 Jun 2019, 16:05
AjiteshArun, very interesting take. Thanks for sharing and thanks for posting that OG question that is, ~dare I say,~ parallel to this one ;)

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Re: Among the numerous techniques for building political alliances, the [#permalink] New post   10 Jun 2019, 17:34
GMATNinja can you please help with finding the truth? It really does seem that both A and B are correct.
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Re: Among the numerous techniques for building political alliances, the [#permalink] New post   10 Jun 2019, 19:03
can anyone please explain why "ing" form is incorrect with present perfect continuous....? and "to form is correct?
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Re: Among the numerous techniques for building political alliances, the [#permalink] New post   12 Jun 2019, 07:34
GMATNinja
I am slightly confused now. From the OG reference by AjiteshArun it seems that B is the correct answer and the official answer is A. This is wierd.
Which one should we choose in the exam?
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Re: Among the numerous techniques for building political alliances, the [#permalink] New post   12 Jun 2019, 07:43
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GMATNinja
I am slightly confused now. From the OG reference by AjiteshArun it seems that B is the correct answer and the official answer is A. This is wierd.
Which one should we choose in the exam?


This question was created by a test prep company. OG questions used to be official questions. Always proceed with caution with prep company's questions. Always treat OG questions as if they were official GMAT questions.
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Re: Among the numerous techniques for building political alliances, the [#permalink] New post   12 Jun 2019, 10:08
MikeScarn wrote:
MikeScarn wrote:
Among the numerous techniques for building political alliances, the most widely practiced method has been to form a grassroots campaign and then, despite the numerous logistical challenges, activate the network ahead of election day.

(A) to form a grassroots campaign and then, despite the numerous logistical challenges, activate

(B) to form a grassroots campaign and then, despite the numerous logistical challenges, to activate

(C) forming a grassroots campaign and then, despite the numerous logistical challenges, activating

(D) forming a grassroots campaign and then, activate, despite the numerous logistical challenges,

(E) to form a grassroots campaign and then, activating, despite the numerous logistical challenges,


Split #1: to form vs forming

In our non-underlined portion, we have the present perfect verb "has been", so we are talking about something that has been done in the recent past.

"the most widely practiced method has been forming a grassroots campaign and then, ...." - This is illogical.
Eliminate (C) and (D)

Split #2: activate vs to activate vs activating

If we strip out some of the modifiers to make the sentence shorter, we can compare our verb forms easier.

(E) "the most widely practiced method has been to form X and then, activating the network ahead of election day."

(E)'s verb forms are not parallel. Eliminate.

Between (A) and (B)

We have a parallel structure, so there is no need to use "to" again.

"the most widely practiced method has been to form X and then, (to) activate Y."

Therefore we can eliminate (B).

This is a very difficult question in my opinion.


can you please explain the split 1
why can't we use gerund after present perfect verb?
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Re: Among the numerous techniques for building political alliances, the [#permalink] New post   12 Jun 2019, 11:56
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can you please explain the split 1
why can't we use gerund after present perfect verb?


We need the infinitive "to form" from a meaning perspective.

If we use "forming," it reads "the most widely practiced method has been forming a grassroots campaign and then...."

This is literally saying that the method has been forming a grassroots campaign.

Meaning: The method started forming a grassroots campaign and it is still forming a grassroots campaign into the present.

This is not our intended meaning. We want to explain that the method has been to form a grassroots campaign.

The method is to form a grassroots campaign. The method is not itself forming a grassroots campaign.

Does this make any sense at all? I'm struggling to clearly explain it using text.
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Re: Among the numerous techniques for building political alliances, the [#permalink] New post   12 Jun 2019, 20:00
Hi in option A & Option B, can anyone tell me when to use "To" after end and when not to use "TO" to make the structure parallel.
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Re: Among the numerous techniques for building political alliances, the [#permalink] New post   17 Jun 2019, 07:04
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MikeScarn wrote:
vsatyen wrote:
GMATNinja
I am slightly confused now. From the OG reference by AjiteshArun it seems that B is the correct answer and the official answer is A. This is wierd.
Which one should we choose in the exam?


This question was created by a test prep company. OG questions used to be official questions. Always proceed with caution with prep company's questions. Always treat OG questions as if they were official GMAT questions.

Instead of worrying about this one, you might want to check out this official question that has some similar features.

This Question is Locked Due to Poor Quality
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Re: Among the numerous techniques for building political alliances, the [#permalink]
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