For several hundred years, caravaners on cross-continental voyages

Question

For nearly a millennium, Silk Road tradesmen on cross-continental voyages across the harsh Taklimakan Desert navigated to remote oases known only by memory and oral tradition and acquired the water necessary for the journey by filling a large leather bladder with several gallons of water,  then allow it to sit in the water for at least thirty minutes, and let  the bladder expand to over 4 times its original size.

Ⓐ then allow it to sit in the water for at least thirty minutes, and let
Ⓑ then allow them to sit in the water for at least thirty minutes, and let
Ⓒ allowing it to sit in the water for at least thirty minutes, and letting
Ⓓ allowing them to sit in the water for at least thirty minutes, and let
Ⓔ allowing it to sit in the water for at least thirty minutes, and let

dominicraj · Answer

allowing and letting are parallel.

"then" is not required as per the context of the sentence..

So C is the clear winner.

Regards,
Dom.

knitgroove04 · Answer

"allowing", "letting" are forming parallel construction with "filling" , grammatically it looks correct but logically it would mean 3 actions in parallel without any dependency on previous action.

I believe A is correct as it correctly depicts logical sequence of actions one followed by other.

Expert comments

b9n920 · Answer

Dear knitgroove04,

In A, 'then' cannot join two independent clauses. FANBOYS are required. B is also wrong for the same reason. 
C, D, and E use a verb+ing modifier to tackle the problem. D is wrong cos it uses them to refer 'a large leather bladder'. E is wrong since 'allowing' and 'let' are not parallel.
C is correct in using parallel participles: 'allowing' and 'letting'.

"allowing" and "letting" are participles modifying the whole preceding clause and are in line with its subject: Silk Road tradesmen.

Thanks.

rezaulnsu · Answer

For nearly a millennium, Silk Road tradesmen on cross-continental voyages across the harsh Taklimakan Desert navigated to remote oases known only by memory and oral tradition acquired the water necessary for the journey by filling a large leather bladder with several gallons of water, then allow it to sit in the water for at least thirty minutes, and let the bladder expand to over 4 times its original size.

Ⓐ then allow it to sit in the water for at least thirty minutes, and let
Ⓑ then allow them to sit in the water for at least thirty minutes, and let
Ⓒ allowing it to sit in the water for at least thirty minutes, and letting
Ⓓ allowing them to sit in the water for at least thirty minutes, and let
Ⓔ allowing it to sit in the water for at least thirty minutes, and let

A ,as well as B has wrong structure. E and D are not parallel;moreover, them is wrong pronoun here.
C is parallel and grammartically correct.

mmagyar · Answer

There is a typo or a grammatical error in the original sentence. "acquired" makes no sense. Either "oral tuition" is acquiring the water (illogical) or "tradesmen" are acquiring the water (ungrammatical). You probably missed an "and" between "tradition" and "acquired", which would put "acquired" in parallel with "navigated" and make them both actions taken by "tradesmen"

sunny91 · Answer

Hi, 
I am having a query with option C. Why there is a comma (, and letting). Thus we cant say allowing is parallel to letting. Had the sentence be- , allowing it to sit in the water for at least thirty minutes and letting.... makes sense.

chesstitans · Answer

the content of this question is a kind of unusual, but the grammar is clear. C is the answer.
" let the bladder expand" must be an action that goes after another action "allow it to sit in the water"

VerbalBot · Answer

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For several hundred years, caravaners on cross-continental voyages

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For several hundred years, caravaners on cross-continental voyages

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