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At an orientation meeting, the travelers were told that a visa, a land 10 Aug 2018, 13:10
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sarthak2709
I have read that in the list of items if an item is preceded by an article, then all items should. for ex:- a X, a Y and a Z or else a X , Y or Z. Please clarify my doubt. Thanks in advance
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The rule you have in mind typically applies to the use of prepositions or helping verbs, not articles. For example, you could write, "I enjoy stuffing my face with tacos, with cupcakes, and with bhindi masala." Or one could write, "I enjoy stuffing my face with tacos, cupcakes, and bhindi masala." (Helpful warning derived from personal experience: if you're going to stuff your face with these foods, please do not do so in that order.)

However, articles are a different story, because certain words can't logically be preceded by them. For example, "The Lakers signed a shooting guard, a small forward, and Lebron James." We can't write "a Lebron James!" The world would be a funny place if you could mass produce Lebron James and every team could have one. (My Warriors, of course, would still clobber everybody. A lineup of Curry, Thompson, Green, Durant, and Lebron James's clone? Epic!)

I hope that helps!
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At an orientation meeting, the travelers were told that a visa, a land 09 May 2020, 19:29
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Dear GMATGuruNY AjiteshArun MartyTargetTestPrep,

Is A. wrong just because of a less preferred passive structure?

Are there any other solid issues with A.?
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At an orientation meeting, the travelers were told that a visa, a land 09 May 2020, 19:53
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varotkorn
Dear GMATGuruNY AjiteshArun MartyTargetTestPrep,

Is A. wrong just because of a less preferred passive structure?

Are there any other solid issues with A.?
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There are times when the passive voice is better than and times when it is not as good as the active voice.

In this case, the use of the passive voice results in the emphasis of the sentence illogically being placed on the needed items, as if the main point is not that the travelers would need the items but rather that the items would be needed, and as if the point to be made to the travelers is mainly one about the items rather than one about how they should prepare for the trip.

Thus, the active voice version, (D), makes more sense than (A) makes, because it places the emphasis where it would most logically be placed, on the travelers and what they will need.
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At an orientation meeting, the travelers were told that a visa, a land 09 May 2020, 20:10
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Dear MartyTargetTestPrep,

I have one little question on E.

(E) they would need visas, landing cards, and evidence of inoculation against typhoid fever for each of them

"each of them" modifies the action of the clause "would need", not the noun "typhoid fever" right?

So E. is wrong because of plural "visas" and "landing cards" right?
Since "for each of them" dictates the use of singular noun.
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At an orientation meeting, the travelers were told that a visa, a land 09 May 2020, 20:19
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varotkorn
Dear MartyTargetTestPrep,

I have one little question on E.

(E) they would need visas, landing cards, and evidence of inoculation against typhoid fever for each of them

"each of them" modifies the action of the clause "would need", not the noun "typhoid fever" right?

So E. is wrong because of plural "visas" and "landing cards" right?
Since "for each of them" dictates the use of singular noun.
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Yes, the use of plural nouns there doesn't make sense.

Also, "each of them" is a bit funny too. "They will need x for each of them." Does each one need x for each of the others?
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At an orientation meeting, the travelers were told that a visa, a land 16 Sep 2020, 10:31
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Why is A wrong?
If you see the sentence before that is in passive voice that is...At an orientation meeting,the travellers were told(by them) that....
Please help

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At an orientation meeting, the travelers were told that a visa, a land 10 Oct 2020, 18:34
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GMATNinja
I read your article aroun usage of "being". I didn't reject option B in this question because of "being" and kept it conservatively. But I did reject "D" because there was no clarity of whose inoculation we are talking about. It looks like my lack of clarity is not valid for option D. But am I right if I didn't reject B because of "being"?
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At an orientation meeting, the travelers were told that a visa, a land 18 Nov 2020, 11:11
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amritakeswani
GMATNinja
I read your article aroun usage of "being". I didn't reject option B in this question because of "being" and kept it conservatively. But I did reject "D" because there was no clarity of whose inoculation we are talking about. It looks like my lack of clarity is not valid for option D. But am I right if I didn't reject B because of "being"?
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It might be helpful to ask yourself two questions when it comes to evaluating "being." First, is the construction logical? And second, would I lose anything if I simply cut the word?

When I see the phrase "evidence of their being" in (B), my first thought is "evidence that they exist?" That doesn't make any sense -- travelers are pretty conspicuous. :)

If I reread it, I can figure out what the author means, but it's certainly less than ideal. "Being inoculated," makes it sound as though this is an ongoing process that may well be happening during the orientation meeting. So the meaning is questionable, at best.

Next, I'll ask myself if I lose anything if we cut "being." It would be tough to argue that "evidence of their being inoculated" is any clearer or more logical than "evidence of inoculation," which we have in option (D).

Taken together, "being" creates a confusing meaning, and it's unnecessary. Is it a definitive grammatical error? Not really. But is it inferior to (D), which is clearer and more concise? Absolutely. So (D) wins.

I hope that helps!
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At an orientation meeting, the travelers were told that a visa, a land 12 Jan 2023, 14:07
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daagh

You mentioned in this post that each can be used as noun or adjective

https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-acoma-an ... 78995.html

Could you explain how each work in answer choice D
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At an orientation meeting, the travelers were told that a visa, a land 13 Jan 2023, 06:15
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daagh

You mentioned in this post that each can be used as noun or adjective

https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-acoma-an ... 78995.html

Could you explain how each work in answer choice D
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Hello pan1pan2,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, here "each" acts as an adjective modifying the pronoun "they".

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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At an orientation meeting, the travelers were told that a visa, a land 16 Jan 2023, 12:42
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pan1pan2
daagh

You mentioned in this post that each can be used as noun or adjective

https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-acoma-an ... 78995.html

Could you explain how each work in answer choice D

Hello pan1pan2,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, here "each" acts as an adjective modifying the pronoun "they".

We hope this helps.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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Thank you for your reply Experts' Global Team!

Could I ask one more question? If "each" acts as an adjective, why is it not placed closed to the noun (they)?
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At an orientation meeting, the travelers were told that a visa, a land 24 Jan 2023, 09:29
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pan1pan2
daagh

You mentioned in this post that each can be used as noun or adjective

https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-acoma-an ... 78995.html

Could you explain how each work in answer choice D
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Luckily, you'll never be asked to label modifiers on the GMAT, so let's think about this from a meaning perspective. Here, have some examples:

    1. "Tim and Izzy need a passport."

This suggests that the two people (Tim and Mike) need only ONE single passport. But what happens when we throw an "each" in there?

    2. "Tim and Izzy each need a passport."

The little word "each" changes the meaning entirely. Now TWO passports are needed -- one for Tim and one for Izzy. And what exactly is the grammatical function of "each" here? Is it an adjective? An adverb? A pronoun? A determiner? :( :sleep:

Better question: does it really matter? Regardless of you label it, the function of "each" (and thus the meaning of the sentence) is perfectly clear.

    3. "Tim and Mike were told that they would each need a passport."

Same thing here. Without worrying about grammatical labels, we know exactly what "each" is doing in this sentence, and there's not much room for confusion or interpretation.

And the same is true in choice (D). Our choice of label for "each" has absolutely no effect on the meaning, so it's really not worth splitting hairs over something like this.

I'm not sure if that's what you were looking for, but I hope it helps a bit!
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At an orientation meeting, the travelers were told that a visa, a land 06 Feb 2023, 22:02
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I am able to eliminate all the options except (D). So it is the answer that I got with the help of elimination. But I just have one concern - (d) also misses on parallelism part. The right order on parallelism should be -
they would each need a visa, a landing card, and an evidence of inoculation against typhoid fever

Please tell me what am I doing wrong?
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At an orientation meeting, the travelers were told that a visa, a land 06 Feb 2023, 22:57
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DeepanshuGupta
I am able to eliminate all the options except (D). So it is the answer that I got with the help of elimination. But I just have one concern - (d) also misses on parallelism part. The right order on parallelism should be -
they would each need a visa, a landing card, and an evidence of inoculation against typhoid fever

Please tell me what am I doing wrong?
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Hi Deepanshu, you are overdoing parallelism :) .

Basically, presence of absence of "articles" (a/an/the) does not affect parallelism in any way.

"a visa", "a landing card" and "evidence..." are all noun-phrases and hence parallel.

In other words, when thinking about parallelism, do not look for "word-on-word" parallelism.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses this aspect of parallelism. Have attached the corresponding section of the book, for your reference.
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Parallelism.pdf [535.8 KiB]
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At an orientation meeting, the travelers were told that a visa, a land 06 Feb 2023, 23:29
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EducationAisle
DeepanshuGupta
I am able to eliminate all the options except (D). So it is the answer that I got with the help of elimination. But I just have one concern - (d) also misses on parallelism part. The right order on parallelism should be -
they would each need a visa, a landing card, and an evidence of inoculation against typhoid fever

Please tell me what am I doing wrong?
Hi Deepanshu, you are overdoing parallelism :) .

Basically, presence of absence of "articles" (a/an/the) does not affect parallelism in any way.

"a visa", "a landing card" and "evidence..." are all noun-phrases and hence parallel.

In other words, when thinking about parallelism, do not look for "word-on-word" parallelism.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses this aspect of parallelism. Have attached the corresponding section of the book, for your reference.
Show more



So it means that it is not a must. If "articles" are present in parallelism then it is well and good, if not then also not a big deal. Right?
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At an orientation meeting, the travelers were told that a visa, a land 07 Feb 2023, 00:51
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DeepanshuGupta
I am able to eliminate all the options except (D). So it is the answer that I got with the help of elimination. But I just have one concern - (d) also misses on parallelism part. The right order on parallelism should be -
they would each need a visa, a landing card, and an evidence of inoculation against typhoid fever

Please tell me what am I doing wrong?
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There is evidence. (Looks good)
There is an evidence. (Yikes)

Using AN with evidence doesn't "work", if you wanted to check it out this way.

Consider thinking of this more like a list of nouns.

...they would each need
-a visa
-a landing card
-evidence

Worth noting you can't use some of these nouns without an A. You can't say, for example: He has landing card. You would say: He has A landing card. Checking out some of the other Sentence Corrections that have similar "lists" could be helpful to see how the GMAT tests this concept.
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At an orientation meeting, the travelers were told that a visa, a land 15 Feb 2023, 02:09
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how is parallelism justified here?, Shouldn't it be "a visa, a landing card, an evidence of..."
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At an orientation meeting, the travelers were told that a visa, a land 15 Feb 2023, 05:23
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shubhamahuja
how is parallelism justified here?, Shouldn't it be "a visa, a landing card, an evidence of..."
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Don't look for word on word parallelism Shubham.

The absence of an before "evidence" does not make the overall structure any less parallel, since all three are still noun-phrases.

In any case, the following does make sense, doesn't it?

...they would each need evidence of inoculation against typhoid fever.
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