Last visit was: 19 Nov 2025, 00:51 It is currently 19 Nov 2025, 00:51
Home
GMAT
Messages
Tests
Schools
Events
Rewards
Chat
My Profile
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
Back to Forum
Create Topic
   1   2 
705-805 Level|   Parallelism|      
User avatar
sriramsundaram91
User avatar
Joined: 12 Mar 2018
Last visit: 18 Mar 2025
Posts: 47
Own Kudos:
89
 [1]
Given Kudos: 110
GMAT 1: 630 Q49 V27
GPA: 4
Products:
My Reviews
GMAT 1: 630 Q49 V27
Posts: 47
Kudos: 89
 [1]
Gone are the sharp edges and jutting planes of styles from former eras 16 Nov 2018, 16:50
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
sondenso
Gone are the sharp edges and jutting planes of styles from former eras instead, designers of everything from cars to computer monitors have adopted a cornerless style of smooth surfaces and curves that is more ergonomic, conforming to the shape of the body rather than flaunting shape for its own sake.

(A) more ergonomic, conforming to the shape of the body rather than flaunting shape
(B) more ergonomic, conformed to the body's shape and not to flaunting shape
(C) ergonomic, more conformed to the shape of the body and not to shape flaunted
(D) ergonomic, conforming more to the body's shape rather than shape flaunted
(E) ergonomic, conforming more to the shape of the body than flaunting shape
Show more


I took 5 minutes but still got it right.

So the catch is "idiom" more .... than.... is not used properly in C,D,E.
C has more.... but there is no "than" part.
D has more ... rather than.... that is weird
E has more to .... than flaunting; it should be more to .. than to...

Now between A and B, we very well know it is A. verb+ing now represents the result of the main clause .... and reads out well in comparison with B
User avatar
thangvietnam
User avatar
Joined: 29 Jun 2017
Last visit: 09 Mar 2023
Posts: 768
Own Kudos:
418
Given Kudos: 2,198
Posts: 768
Kudos: 418
Gone are the sharp edges and jutting planes of styles from former eras 04 Jan 2019, 02:07
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
pls, look at choice B
"and not" is wrong. it should be " but not'

am I right? pls explain.
User avatar
Doer01
User avatar
Joined: 19 Sep 2017
Last visit: 28 Oct 2021
Posts: 216
Own Kudos:
164
Given Kudos: 160
Location: United Kingdom
GPA: 3.9
WE:Account Management (Other)
Posts: 216
Kudos: 164
Gone are the sharp edges and jutting planes of styles from former eras 18 Jan 2020, 03:08
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
daagh
Here two things are to be noted. A verb+ing word is called a present participle; it is a verbal and never a verb, when not proceeded by an auxiliary verb, such as is / are.

What is the role if verb+ ing word generally and especially in the case. A present participle is an adjectival, when placed at the start of the sentence modifying the noun, immediately after the modification is over, and an adverbial modifier, when placed elsewhere in the sentence, modifying the entire clause lying before or in effect, the gist of it. Here, therefore, the present participles conforming and flaunting are participle.
That the ing word has yet another role of a gerund, is another matter

The second point here is that about comparison: The comparator word ‘than’ is followed flaunting; it is clear, therefore, that the comparison is between flaunting and another similar participle, which in this case, is conforming; We can then see that the participle parallelism is well in place, because ergonomics is more x than y, where x is conforming and y is flaunting
Show more

Hi daagh ,
I have gone through the comments and no one has asked this.
What is "its" in the non-underlined portion referring back to? shape?
User avatar
abhishekmayank
User avatar
Joined: 26 Apr 2016
Last visit: 28 Jan 2024
Posts: 201
Own Kudos:
59
Given Kudos: 6
GMAT 1: 640 Q44 V33
GMAT 1: 640 Q44 V33
Posts: 201
Kudos: 59
Gone are the sharp edges and jutting planes of styles from former eras 26 Jan 2021, 00:02
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
I am curious as to why this question has not been raised in the discussion :

Whether 'more' together with 'rather than' is a correct combination in option A ?

AndrewN
AjiteshArun

Kindly help
avatar
AndrewN
avatar
Volunteer Expert
Joined: 16 May 2019
Last visit: 29 Mar 2025
Posts: 3,502
Own Kudos:
7,511
 [1]
Given Kudos: 500
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 3,502
Kudos: 7,511
 [1]
Gone are the sharp edges and jutting planes of styles from former eras 26 Jan 2021, 05:12
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
abhishekmayank
I am curious as to why this question has not been raised in the discussion :

Whether 'more' together with 'rather than' is a correct combination in option A ?

AndrewN
AjiteshArun

Kindly help
Show more
Hello, abhishekmayank. It has been a while since we crossed paths. I understand your confusion, but be careful: more draws a comparison between styles from former eras and the more ergonomic modern style of design; meanwhile, rather than draws a contrast within the -ing phrase between conforming and flaunting. The two comparative elements do not cross paths in any grammatically unsound way. To illustrate:

Quote:
Gone are the sharp edges and jutting planes of styles from former eras instead, designers of everything from cars to computer monitors have adopted a cornerless style of smooth surfaces and curves that is more ergonomic, conforming to the shape of the body rather than flaunting shape for its own sake.
Show more

That is, the sentence is not drawing an improper more... rather than comparison (when a more than was needed). I hope that helps. Thank you for thinking to ask me.

- Andrew
User avatar
abhishekmayank
User avatar
Joined: 26 Apr 2016
Last visit: 28 Jan 2024
Posts: 201
Own Kudos:
59
Given Kudos: 6
GMAT 1: 640 Q44 V33
GMAT 1: 640 Q44 V33
Posts: 201
Kudos: 59
Gone are the sharp edges and jutting planes of styles from former eras 30 Jan 2021, 10:38
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
AndrewN
abhishekmayank
I am curious as to why this question has not been raised in the discussion :

Whether 'more' together with 'rather than' is a correct combination in option A ?

AndrewN
AjiteshArun

Kindly help
Hello, abhishekmayank. It has been a while since we crossed paths. I understand your confusion, but be careful: more draws a comparison between styles from former eras and the more ergonomic modern style of design; meanwhile, rather than draws a contrast within the -ing phrase between conforming and flaunting. The two comparative elements do not cross paths in any grammatically unsound way. To illustrate:

Quote:
Gone are the sharp edges and jutting planes of styles from former eras instead, designers of everything from cars to computer monitors have adopted a cornerless style of smooth surfaces and curves that is more ergonomic, conforming to the shape of the body rather than flaunting shape for its own sake.

That is, the sentence is not drawing an improper more... rather than comparison (when a more than was needed). I hope that helps. Thank you for thinking to ask me.

- Andrew
Show more

Thanks AndrewN for the explanation !!
User avatar
Raman109
User avatar
Joined: 17 Aug 2009
Last visit: 28 Jul 2025
Posts: 805
Own Kudos:
170
Given Kudos: 33
Posts: 805
Kudos: 170
Gone are the sharp edges and jutting planes of styles from former eras 30 Oct 2023, 05:16
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Gone are the sharp edges and jutting planes of styles from former eras; instead, designers of everything from cars to computer monitors have adopted a cornerless style of smooth surfaces and curves that is more ergonomic, conforming to the shape of the body rather than flaunting shape for its own sake.

Option Elimination -
The more complex the questions get, the more we need to look at the meaning. I guess then the better strategy would be to understand the meaning in all questions as we'll not be indicated by some trigger that now we are about to see a difficult question on the actual exam. :). If we do not understand the meaning, we look at options that option E is a wonderful deception (with the right more than idiom on the surface) and option A is on the surface looking ugly (if we go by blind more, rather than - which is a strict no-no) in the right answer.

As someone rightly pointed out in the explanation by Ron. Here, the idea is that the "cornerless style" is more ergonomic. Than what? "Than" the sharp edges. How is it more ergonomic? Because the cornerless style confirms to the shape of the body (which body? The car or computer). Rather than (the sharp edges) flaunting shape - have we seen the old cars? We can see rectangular or whatever shapes very clearly. We use "rather than" to show preference between the choices. More importantly, when we answer "how," "when," "where," and "why" we need adverbial. Comma + ING is adverbial. Comma + ed is not adverbial - Ed will always modify nouns (so option B is wrong anyway).

Option Elimination -

(A) more ergonomic, conforming to the shape of the body rather than flaunting shape - Correctly conveys the meaning and is grammatical + idiomatically perfect. Learning, look for the meaning in the first place so that we don't cross off the ugly-looking correct options.
(B) more ergonomic, conformed to the body's shape and not to flaunting shape - "Ed verbal" can't answer "how." We need adverbial - comma+ING.
(C) ergonomic, more conformed to the shape of the body and not to shape flaunted - same "ed verbal" issue. and "more" and "and" - wrong.
(D) ergonomic, conforming more to the body's shape rather than shape flaunted - more rather than - wrong.
(E) ergonomic, conforming more to the shape of the body than flaunting shape - deceptive wrong option. It means how is it "ergonomic." By confirming more to the shape of the body" than "conforming" flaunting shape. The intent is that it's doing X rather than Y and not more X than Y.
User avatar
Jatin108
User avatar
Joined: 09 Apr 2015
Last visit: 28 Mar 2025
Posts: 26
Own Kudos:
18
Given Kudos: 40
Location: India
Schools: Wharton '26 Columbia CBS'26
GMAT 1: 690 Q46 V38
Schools: Wharton '26 Columbia CBS'26
GMAT 1: 690 Q46 V38
Posts: 26
Kudos: 18
Gone are the sharp edges and jutting planes of styles from former eras 21 Nov 2023, 04:19
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
between A and E
We can think those in terms of below lines

A- conforming to the ideals of the society rather than accepting ideal for my own sake

E - conforming more to the ideals of the society than accepting ideals for my own sake
   1   2 
Moderators:
GMATNinja
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
7445 posts
GMATNinjaTwo
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
234 posts
miag
188 posts