Heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved from the previous year, only

Full disclosure: I missed this one the first time I saw it, mostly because I was too mechanical about “pronoun ambiguity.”

On the explanation of GmatNinja for answer D, I wonder whether that the "or with..." phrase is problematic since there is no prep phrase before that? In other words, if the prep phrase need to be parallel with another prep phrase?

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GMATNinja

Really enjoyed your youtube webinar on parallelism!

I picked D as my answer. Can you help clarify two 2 points:

1) Are 'have plenty of bumps and bruises' and 'are often green and striped' parallel because they're both verb phrases? (I eliminated this because I didn't think they were parallel but I guess now I do since they're both verb phrases.
2) Is there a rule as to why we need a clause following "although"? Is that just idiomatic?

Thanks!

2) Is there a rule as to why we need a clause following "although"? Is that just idiomatic?

Thanks!

Full disclosure: I missed this one the first time I saw it, mostly because I was too mechanical about “pronoun ambiguity.” But as you might have noticed in our YouTube webinar on pronouns, pronoun ambiguity isn’t an absolute rule.

Plus, there’s a nuance to this particular situation: in (D) and (E), the subject of the second independent clause is a pronoun, and I’m pretty sure that the subject of the second clause can refer unambiguously to the subject of the first clause – even if there are a ton of other potential referents in between those two subjects. More on that in the YouTube webinar, too.


This isn’t technically a run-on sentence, but it feels like one. It’s oddly tricky to pin down the exact errors, even though it’s clearly a mess. I guess I’d start with the parallelism: “or” is a parallelism trigger, so the verb phrase “have plenty of bumps and bruises” must be parallel to some other verb phrase. But the only other verb phrase is “look less appetizing”: “Heirloom tomatoes… only look less appetizing than their supermarket cousins… or have plenty of bumps and bruises.”

That doesn’t make sense. Why are we using an “or” there? Those two verb phrases support each other, and both are true.

Plus, the placement of “often green and striped” could be better. It looks like the “supermarket cousins” are “green and striped” – but that’s not right. The heirlooms are green and striped. So we have plenty of reasons to ditch (A).


This is an even hotter mess than (A). I can’t figure out what to do with the “or with plenty of bumps and bruises” here, either – nothing is reasonably parallel to the prepositional phrase “with plenty of bumps and bruises”, since there really aren’t any prepositional phrases earlier in the sentence that could possibly work.

Plus, that last bit is weird: “Heirloom tomatoes… only look less appetizing than their (supermarket cousins)…, although more flavorful.” I could go for “although they are more flavorful”, but the sentence doesn’t make sense the way it’s written. “Although” requires a clause in this situation, not just a random adjective.

Oh yeah – and the “often green and striped” is still in a weird location. (B) is out.


This is getting better, but the “often green and striped” is still arguably misplaces, and we still have a parallelism issue with the “or.” “Heirloom tomatoes… only look less appetizing than their (supermarket cousins)…, or they have plenty of bumps and bruises.” Again, the two phrases on either side of the “or” just don’t make sense: both are true, and the two phrases actually support each other. Eliminate (C).


If you’re being too mechanical, you might conclude that “they” is ambiguous, because it could refer to “cousins”, “seeds”, or “tomatoes.” But we’re OK here: “they” is the subject of the second clause, and I don’t think there’s any ambiguity in GMAT-land if the subject of the second clause (“they”) refers back to the subject of the first clause (“heirloom tomatoes”).

And both the “or” and the “green and striped” finally make sense! Trouble is, we have that little problem with “although more flavorful” at the end of the sentence. In this situation, we’d need a clause following “although”, not just a random adjective. (D) is better than (A), (B), and (C), but it’s still flawed.

Heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved from the previous year, only look less appetizing than their round and red supermarket cousins, often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises, but are more flavorful.


Great. The pronouns are all nice and clear, according to GMAT rules: the subject of the second (“they are often green and striped”) and third clauses (“they are more flavorful”) refer back to the subject of the first clause (“heirloom tomatoes”). The verb phrase “have plenty of bumps and bruises” is appropriately parallel to “are often green and striped” – and the “or” makes sense.

(E) is our winner, and now I really want a gigantic salad.

Hi - So even though there i pronoun ambiguity in option E, we selecting this because there is no other option left and its not an absolute rule? Wat if in option E. The first "they" was replaced by heirloom tomatoes - would that be better? Thanks!

I understand the rest of the statements are wrong, but i need more clarity on why "comma" is required before "or"

If you’re being too mechanical, you might conclude that “they” is ambiguous, because it could refer to “cousins”, “seeds”, or “tomatoes.” But we’re OK here: “they” is the subject of the second clause, and I don’t think there’s any ambiguity in GMAT-land if the subject of the second clause (“they”) refers back to the subject of the first clause (“heirloom tomatoes”).

And both the “or” and the “green and striped” finally make sense! Trouble is, we have that little problem with “although more flavorful” at the end of the sentence. In this situation, we’d need a clause following “although”, not just a random adjective. (D) is better than (A), (B), and (C), but it’s still flawed.

GMATNinja
Hello Sir,
I did not find any consistency to parallel the open marker (or). It seems that ‘are’ and ‘with’ are not parallel each other. Am I missing anything here?
Thanks__

Full disclosure: I missed this one the first time I saw it, mostly because I was too mechanical about “pronoun ambiguity.” But as you might have noticed in our YouTube webinar on pronouns, pronoun ambiguity isn’t an absolute rule.

Plus, there’s a nuance to this particular situation: in (D) and (E), the subject of the second independent clause is a pronoun, and I’m pretty sure that the subject of the second clause can refer unambiguously to the subject of the first clause – even if there are a ton of other potential referents in between those two subjects. More on that in the YouTube webinar, too.


This isn’t technically a run-on sentence, but it feels like one. It’s oddly tricky to pin down the exact errors, even though it’s clearly a mess. I guess I’d start with the parallelism: “or” is a parallelism trigger, so the verb phrase “have plenty of bumps and bruises” must be parallel to some other verb phrase. But the only other verb phrase is “look less appetizing”: “Heirloom tomatoes… only look less appetizing than their supermarket cousins… or have plenty of bumps and bruises.”

That doesn’t make sense. Why are we using an “or” there? Those two verb phrases support each other, and both are true.

Plus, the placement of “often green and striped” could be better. It looks like the “supermarket cousins” are “green and striped” – but that’s not right. The heirlooms are green and striped. So we have plenty of reasons to ditch (A).


This is an even hotter mess than (A). I can’t figure out what to do with the “or with plenty of bumps and bruises” here, either – nothing is reasonably parallel to the prepositional phrase “with plenty of bumps and bruises”, since there really aren’t any prepositional phrases earlier in the sentence that could possibly work.

Plus, that last bit is weird: “Heirloom tomatoes… only look less appetizing than their (supermarket cousins)…, although more flavorful.” I could go for “although they are more flavorful”, but the sentence doesn’t make sense the way it’s written. “Although” requires a clause in this situation, not just a random adjective.

Oh yeah – and the “often green and striped” is still in a weird location. (B) is out.


This is getting better, but the “often green and striped” is still arguably misplaces, and we still have a parallelism issue with the “or.” “Heirloom tomatoes… only look less appetizing than their (supermarket cousins)…, or they have plenty of bumps and bruises.” Again, the two phrases on either side of the “or” just don’t make sense: both are true, and the two phrases actually support each other. Eliminate (C).


If you’re being too mechanical, you might conclude that “they” is ambiguous, because it could refer to “cousins”, “seeds”, or “tomatoes.” But we’re OK here: “they” is the subject of the second clause, and I don’t think there’s any ambiguity in GMAT-land if the subject of the second clause (“they”) refers back to the subject of the first clause (“heirloom tomatoes”).

And both the “or” and the “green and striped” finally make sense! Trouble is, we have that little problem with “although more flavorful” at the end of the sentence. In this situation, we’d need a clause following “although”, not just a random adjective. (D) is better than (A), (B), and (C), but it’s still flawed.

Heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved from the previous year, only look less appetizing than their round and red supermarket cousins, often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises, but are more flavorful.


Great. The pronouns are all nice and clear, according to GMAT rules: the subject of the second (“they are often green and striped”) and third clauses (“they are more flavorful”) refer back to the subject of the first clause (“heirloom tomatoes”). The verb phrase “have plenty of bumps and bruises” is appropriately parallel to “are often green and striped” – and the “or” makes sense.

(E) is our winner, and now I really want a gigantic salad.

Hi GMATNinja

Isnt there a parallelism issue with option D?
we have green(adjective), striped(adjective) or with bumps(prepositonal phrase). Is this adjective with a prepostional phrase correct?

Also, (embarrassingly late!) thanks AndrewN for the kind words (and the subsequent explanation). I'm not sure how we missed that last year, but it's always really nice to receive praise from a fellow tutor, especially one who consistently writes incredibly smart things here on the forum. I owe you a few beers post-pandemic, Andrew!

Heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved from the previous year, only look less appetizing than their round and red supermarket cousins, often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises, but are more flavorful.


(A) cousins, often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises, but are

(B) cousins, often green and striped, or with plenty of bumps and bruises, although

(C) cousins, often green and striped, or they have plenty of bumps and bruises, although they are

(D) cousins; they are often green and striped, or with plenty of bumps and bruises, although

(E) cousins; they are often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises, but they are