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Hello expert,
I ruled out B for this reason: we know “AND” is a parallelism trigger, but I can not see any structure that can parallel to “there is no demand for new construction.”
"There is no demand" is an independent clause. All we need is an independent clause earlier in the sentence that can be parallel to this one. "Federal incentives now encourage investing capital in commercial office buildings," is also an independent clause, so the parallelism is fine.

Quote:
I picked D, although I know it might be kind of ambiguous. According to RON, “with” can modify either preceding noun or preceding sentence, so I think “with” can modify the preceding sentence “vacancy rates in existing structures that are exceptionally high”.
Any expert can help? Thanks in advance.
Part of the problem with (D) is that "with" could function in multiple ways and none of them make much sense. Take another look:

Quote:
The vacancy rates are exceptionally high in existing structures with no demand for new construction.
One interpretation is that "with no demand" is modifying the noun "structures." What kind of structures have high vacancy rates? The kind of structures with no demand for new construction. This interpretation seems debatable, at best -- if the structures already exist, you can't really say they're with low demand for new construction, can you? What would that even mean? That the few people who live in the existing low-vacancy buildings don't want new buildings? Nah.

But if we interpret the "with" modifier to describe the clause, "vacancy rates are exceptionally high" it's still off. How can the lack of demand for new construction describe the vacancy rates of current buildings?

So now in (D) we've got multiple meanings that aren't great. Contrast that with (B), which introduces a new clause altogether. This seems way more logical. One clause talks about what's happening in existing buildings -- they have low vacancy. And the other talks about demand for new construction -- it's low.

If (B) is clearer and more logical, it's better.

I hope that clears things up!
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GMATNinja thanks for your reply expert. Yes I know the use of “with” is not good, but another expert told me by responding another question: if 2 independent clauses parallel, we should use “comma + and” rather than “and” alone (like this question: https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-normativ ... 99971.html). So I think B has a grammatical error and rule out it.
Now really confused...Could you explain further? Thanks.
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Mavisdu1017
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Hello expert,
I ruled out B for this reason: we know “AND” is a parallelism trigger, but I can not see any structure that can parallel to “there is no demand for new construction.”
"There is no demand" is an independent clause. All we need is an independent clause earlier in the sentence that can be parallel to this one. "Federal incentives now encourage investing capital in commercial office buildings," is also an independent clause, so the parallelism is fine.

Quote:
I picked D, although I know it might be kind of ambiguous. According to RON, “with” can modify either preceding noun or preceding sentence, so I think “with” can modify the preceding sentence “vacancy rates in existing structures that are exceptionally high”.
Any expert can help? Thanks in advance.
Part of the problem with (D) is that "with" could function in multiple ways and none of them make much sense. Take another look:

Quote:
The vacancy rates are exceptionally high in existing structures with no demand for new construction.
One interpretation is that "with no demand" is modifying the noun "structures." What kind of structures have high vacancy rates? The kind of structures with no demand for new construction. This interpretation seems debatable, at best -- if the structures already exist, you can't really say they're with low demand for new construction, can you? What would that even mean? That the few people who live in the existing low-vacancy buildings don't want new buildings? Nah.

But if we interpret the "with" modifier to describe the clause, "vacancy rates are exceptionally high" it's still off. How can the lack of demand for new construction describe the vacancy rates of current buildings?

So now in (D) we've got multiple meanings that aren't great. Contrast that with (B), which introduces a new clause altogether. This seems way more logical. One clause talks about what's happening in existing buildings -- they have low vacancy. And the other talks about demand for new construction -- it's low.

If (B) is clearer and more logical, it's better.

I hope that clears things up!
GMATNinja thanks for your reply expert. Yes I know the use of “with” is not good, but another expert told me by responding another question: if 2 independent clauses parallel, we should use “comma + and” rather than “and” alone (like this question: https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-normativ ... 99971.html). So I think B has a grammatical error and rule out it.
Now really confused...Could you explain further? Thanks.
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Hello Mavisdu1017,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, "vacancy rates in existing structures are exceptionally high" and "there is no demand for new construction" are not independent clauses in this sentence; rather, they are both part of a dependent clause that begins with "even though".

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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Mavisdu1017
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Mavisdu1017
Hello expert,
I ruled out B for this reason: we know “AND” is a parallelism trigger, but I can not see any structure that can parallel to “there is no demand for new construction.”
"There is no demand" is an independent clause. All we need is an independent clause earlier in the sentence that can be parallel to this one. "Federal incentives now encourage investing capital in commercial office buildings," is also an independent clause, so the parallelism is fine.

Quote:
I picked D, although I know it might be kind of ambiguous. According to RON, “with” can modify either preceding noun or preceding sentence, so I think “with” can modify the preceding sentence “vacancy rates in existing structures that are exceptionally high”.
Any expert can help? Thanks in advance.
Part of the problem with (D) is that "with" could function in multiple ways and none of them make much sense. Take another look:

Quote:
The vacancy rates are exceptionally high in existing structures with no demand for new construction.
One interpretation is that "with no demand" is modifying the noun "structures." What kind of structures have high vacancy rates? The kind of structures with no demand for new construction. This interpretation seems debatable, at best -- if the structures already exist, you can't really say they're with low demand for new construction, can you? What would that even mean? That the few people who live in the existing low-vacancy buildings don't want new buildings? Nah.

But if we interpret the "with" modifier to describe the clause, "vacancy rates are exceptionally high" it's still off. How can the lack of demand for new construction describe the vacancy rates of current buildings?

So now in (D) we've got multiple meanings that aren't great. Contrast that with (B), which introduces a new clause altogether. This seems way more logical. One clause talks about what's happening in existing buildings -- they have low vacancy. And the other talks about demand for new construction -- it's low.

If (B) is clearer and more logical, it's better.

I hope that clears things up!
GMATNinja thanks for your reply expert. Yes I know the use of “with” is not good, but another expert told me by responding another question: if 2 independent clauses parallel, we should use “comma + and” rather than “and” alone (like this question: https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-normativ ... 99971.html). So I think B has a grammatical error and rule out it.
Now really confused...Could you explain further? Thanks.
Show more
Two points here. First, as Experts Global noted, these two clauses in question aren't independent. Consider another example:

    Although Tim is tall and his wingspan rivals that of Tacko Fall, every time he tries to dunk he tears multiple menisci.

The portion in red functions as one idea: Tim should be able to dunk without injuring himself. And the portion in blue functions as a contrasting idea: he actually suffers terrible injuries when he tries to dunk.

And really, there's no reason to get into the weeds of identifying independent versus dependent clauses Throwing in a comma between "Tim is tall" and "his wingspan rivals" would make it sound like these were separate ideas, when they're not. Because a comma there would be confusing, there's no reason to use one. After all, the whole point of grammar rules is to make sentences clearer!

The second issue: while it's common practice to separate two independent clauses with a comma, and the GMAT nearly always does so, it's not an ironclad rule. And because there are so few rules governing comma use, it's generally not a great decision point.

I hope that clears things up!
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Dear Experts,
I eliminated C,D and E but was stuck between A and B.
Although the use of that in A in confusing,I eliminated B because I thought it violated parallelism.
Although there are posts in this thread which address parallelism, don't we need the same parts of speech to make two structures parallel?
How can vacancy rates be // to there is?

Thanks in advance.
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Sachinpri
How can vacancy rates be // to there is?
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'Vacancy rates' is not parallel to 'there is'.

The clause 'vacancy rates in existing structures are exceptionally high' is parallel to the clause 'there is no demand for new construction'.

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Sachinpri
How can vacancy rates be // to there is?
'Vacancy rates' is not parallel to 'there is'.

The clause 'vacancy rates in existing structures are exceptionally high' is parallel to the clause 'there is no demand for new construction'.

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Thanks for the reply
When do we compare entire clauses and when do we compare part of speech following the parallel marker?
For example in not only..but also.. structures,whatever part of speech follows not only must follows but also.
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Sachinpri
When do we compare entire clauses and when do we compare part of speech following the parallel marker?
For example in not only..but also.. structures,whatever part of speech follows not only must follows but also.
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It's not about 'whatever part of speech follows'. We always look at the meaning and see what the connector connects.

So we could say, 'Our phones are so powerful that they change not only what we do but also who we are'
'What we do' and 'who we are' are parallel.

In the current sentence, the AND does not connect vacancy rates with anything.

If the sentence were something like '...even though vacancy rates and (something else) are exceptionally high', then vacancy rates would need to be parallel with (something else).

The current sentence is '... even though (reason-1) and (reason-2)'.
Reason-1 is 'vacancy rates are exceptionally high'.
Reason-2 is 'there is no demand for new construction'.

Reason-1 is a statement (independent clause) and so is Reason-2.

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Sachinpri

Thanks for the reply
When do we compare entire clauses and when do we compare part of speech following the parallel marker?
For example in not only..but also.. structures,whatever part of speech follows not only must follows but also.
Show more

You're correct that the second parallel part should immediately follow the parallel marker ("and").

To decide how big the parallel pieces are, use the intended common-sense meaning of the sentence—ask yourself "what makes sense as thing #1 and thing #2, or as two 'bullet points', here?"

In this sentence, as vv65 points out, the two 'bullet points' are two observations that both ought to discourage investment in commercial real estate, each written as a whole clause [complete sentence]. The second of these does, indeed, immediately follow "and".
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GMATNinja, Experts, Anyone, In Option A, posts in the forum are saying the word "that" seems to modify "Existing Structures" but as per GMATNinja's post on the "That" word, you mentioned that if a Noun is followed by a preposition phrase modifying that noun and then "that" is used, then "that" modified the noun. So in this case, "that" should modify "Vacancy rates", right? Can you please tell me where my understanding is wrong?
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GMATNinja, Experts, Anyone, In Option A, posts in the forum are saying the word "that" seems to modify "Existing Structures" but as per GMATNinja's post on the "That" word, you mentioned that if a Noun is followed by a preposition phrase modifying that noun and then "that" is used, then "that" modified the noun. So in this case, "that" should modify "Vacancy rates", right? Can you please tell me where my understanding is wrong?
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Your understanding is accurate. "That" can be understood to modify "vacancy rates" here.
It's better to use a completely unambiguous phrasing, though. Since there are other choices that don't have this issue, you can strike A.

Another fault you can find with that part of choice A is the abject lack of parallelism. ("Vacancy rates in existing structures that are exceptionally high AND demand for new construction that is nonexistent" would have better parallelism, but only at the cost of making both parts unnecessarily wordy and circuitous.)
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Hi @AjiteshArun/@GMATNinja/@EMPOWERgmatVerbal/@DmitryFarber/@egmat/MartyTargetTestPrep/ExpertsGlobal5/KarishmaB

I have 2 doubts.
1- If the correct option 'B' doesnt have comma before 'Even though', then also is it fine ?
2- if Option A doesnt have the 'that' issue and rather have 'despite exceptionally high rates and no demand..', then is it correct ?

Kindly help
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