An automobile’s transmission allows for both wheel rotation rates lowe

Question

An automobile’s transmission allows  for both wheel rotation rates lower than the engine and for higher torque  at lower speeds.

A. for both wheel rotation rates lower than the engine and for higher torque
B. for both wheel rotation rates that are lower than that of the engine and for higher torque
C. both for wheel rotation rates lower than that of the engine and for higher torque
D. both the wheels to turn more slowly than that of the engine and the torque to be higher
E. both a rate of wheel rotation lower than the engine and higher torques

Akash720 · Answer

+1 for C

Split 1:
Idiom used Both X and Y. X and Y must be parallel.
Only C and D maintain the above I.e., Both for X and for Y
Hence, eliminate A, B, E

Between C and D, option D changes the meaning by bringing in new information. Hence, eliminate D.

Option C is our winner

Posted from my mobile device

rahulkashyap · Answer

C does not have a clear referent for "that"

Posted from my mobile device

Akash720 · Answer

In C, 'that' refers to Rotation rates, same as D.

rahulkashyap · Answer

Rates is plural and would thus need "those"

Posted from my mobile device

Kritika2008poddar · Answer

An automobile’s transmission allows for both wheel rotation rates lower than the engine and for higher torque at lower speeds.

A. for both wheel rotation rates lower than the engine and for higher torque - both is misplaced

B. for both wheel rotation rates that are lower than that of the engine and for higher torque - same as A and also changes the meaning of the sentence
C. both for wheel rotation rates lower than that of the engine and for higher torque - both X and Y 
D. both the wheels to turn more slowly than that of the engine and the torque to be higher - both is correctly used but changes the meaning of the sentence
E. both a rate of wheel rotation lower than the engine and higher torques -both a rate is incorrect and not parallel

Posted from my mobile device

Akash720 · Answer

Looks like D can be the best possible answer.

I eliminated D because it changed the sentence, but the meaning stays the same.But still I'm not 100% convinced. Let's wait for the OA and OE

rahulkashyap · Answer

chetan2u  could you help with this

Posted from my mobile device

aragonn · Answer

Here is a hint guys - Sometime Parallelism need a word to make sure that with what part parallelism starts. if not, multiple such case of parallelism can exist and that makes the whole thing complex. Many gmat OG questions have such options. e.i. I have seen 'That' in many case needed just for this. All I am saying is you can not drop every thing to make sentence concise.

Akash720 - good job at first explanation. Why you think there is a meaning difference between C and D. You should elaborate on these points. How about you try one more time?

Akash720  - good job at first explanation. Why you think there is a meaning difference between C and D. You should elaborate on these points. How about you try one more time?

rahulkashyap · Answer

What exactly is the usage of "that" in the options? I'm not able to understand the usage behind it in this question

Posted from my mobile device

chetan2u · Answer

rahulkashyap ..

errors..
1)  ALLOW FOR  ;- correct idiom is  allow for  and means  plan for  .. so the automobiles transmission caters/plans for ...
2)  BOTH x AND y  :- correct idiom ...  x and y  should be parallel
3)  COMPARISON   :- rotation rate of  wheel  with rotation rate of  engine ..  THAT  stands for  rotation rate

C

Akash720 · Answer

Option D is far far away from C to be correct in terms of meaning.

Thanks  aragonn

C. both for wheel rotation rates lower than that of the engine and for higher torque
 Meaning:  
Its clear that an automobile’s transmission allows two things here. 
(i) wheel rotation rates lower than that of the engine
(ii) higher torque at lower speeds.

D. both the wheels to turn more slowly than that of the engine and the torque to be higher
 Meaning: 
Here the sentence says - "both the wheels turn more slowly", meaning an automobile’s transmission allows only one thing here i.e., "both the wheels to turn more slowly than that of the engine". Both X and Y idiom is not in action here, its talking about both wheels. The second part " the torque to be higher" is something else. Hence not parallel.

Hope this is clear now.

vaibhav1221 · Answer

A, B, and E are out because they are not parallel. C and D perfectly parallel. 
D is incorrect because of a major reason that it changes the meaning -  both the wheels  to turn.. and the torque...
 both the wheels to turn more slowly  means that the transmission allows 'both wheels of the car' to turn more slowly. This doesn't make sense and definitely changes the intended meaning. Also,  allows...for  is the correct usage.

aragonn · Answer

Exactly my friend. Keep your base solid and don't change it unless you have to. I saw you were right at first instance then some how you got distracted. Hope it was a good learning for you.

rahulkashyap · Answer

Hi  chetan2u  as far as I know if a plural exists before, in this case "rates", you need a plural pronoun and not a singular - that. Can you please clear this point? There is no "rate" in option c

Posted from my mobile device

aragonn · Answer

for both wheel rotation rates - 1 wheel has one rotation rate at one time, what both have will be plural.
An engine has one rotation rate at one time. 
So it is singular. just some twisted meaning.

rahulkashyap · Answer

Hi  aragonn  I understand what the meaning is meant to be. But what I mean is grammatically, to use "that" you need a singular referent previously. We do not have a singular "rate" present in the statement.

Posted from my mobile device

aragonn · Answer

If i understand it correctly, you are saying "Those of engines" is the correct phrase here.

rahulkashyap · Answer

That is correct or the other way is if it said "wheel rotation rate" because then "that" would make sense with this singular phrase "rotation rate"

Posted from my mobile device

aragonn · Answer

Official Explanation 
A question about an automobile’s transmission system.

Split #1: idiom

The verb “allow,” by itself, means to give permission. The subject could be a human being (or a governmental body) who is in position to grant permission.

The teachers allows student to chew gum in class.

The law does not allow car drivers to talk on the phone.

The subject also could be something inanimate, perhaps mechanical: here, it would not be about “permission,” but about accommodating a possible range, as of motion, within the mechanical tolerance of the construction. In this construction, we also need the infinite: allow X to do Y. This is the structure that choice (D) has.

The idiomatic structure “allow for” is used only for inanimate objects, primarily mechanical objects: it also indicates a possible range.

Amphibious vehicles allow for travel on both land and water.

The human shoulder joint allows for 360° rotation in a vertical plane. 
In this SC question, we are discussion an “automobile’s transmission,” an inanimate mechanical object. We could use this second idiom, “allow for.” Choice (A) & (B) & (C) make this choice.

Choice (E) doesn’t follow either pattern correctly and is idiomatically incorrect.

Split #2: the Inside/Outside rule

One important rule about parallelism is the Once Outside, Twice Inside rule. This rule comes into effect when we have correlated conjunctions—that is, a coupled pair of conjunctions marking the two halves of the parallelism: examples include “both X and Y,” “neither X nor Y,” “not X but Y,” and “not only X but also Y.” When any of these are used, the parallelism has a clear start at the beginning of the first word. Anything that is within the “both X and Y” structure is “inside,” and anything that comes before or after it is “outside.” Now, suppose a preposition applies to words in both branches of the parallelism. We have two options:

Once Outside: to both X and Y

Twice Inside: both to X and to Y

In this question, we could have

Once Outside: allow for both X and Y

Twice Inside: allow both for X and for Y

Choice (A) & (B) have the mistake pattern, once-outside-and-once-inside. Both of those are incorrect.

Choice (D) has an incorrect comparison: “allows … the wheels to turn more slowly than that of the engine.” The antecedent of the pronoun “that” is the action of the verb “to turn more slowly.” A pronoun can have the action of a verb as its antecedent. This choice is incorrect.

The only possible choice is (C).

An automobile’s transmission allows for both wheel rotation rates lowe

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

An automobile’s transmission allows for both wheel rotation rates lowe

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards