Bunuel wrote:
In a recent survey, the Gallup poll discovered that the average American speaks 1.3 languages, buys a new car every 5.2 years,
drinks 14 gallons of alcoholic beverages every year, and forgot to pay at least one bill per quarter.
A. drinks 14 gallons of alcoholic beverages every year, and forgot to pay at least one bill per quarter
B. drinks 14 gallons of alcoholic beverages every year, and forgets to pay at least one bill per quarter
C. can drink 14 gallons of alcoholic beverages every quarter and forgot to pay at least one bill per quarter
D. drinks 14 gallons of alcoholic beverages every year, and forgets at least to pay one bill per quarter
E. drank 14 gallons of alcoholic beverages every year, and forgets to pay at least one bill per quarter
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
Here’s How to Crack ItAs you read the sentence for the first time, run through your checklist: Is there a pronoun? No. Does the sentence begin with a modifying phrase? Yes, but the word after the phrase is what is supposed to be modified, so this is not a misplaced modifier. Is there a series or list of three things or a series of actions? Yes. Let’s see if all the actions are parallel. The average American…
speaks (1.3 languages)
buys (a new car…)
drinks (14 gallons…)
and
forgot (to pay…)
The first three verbs are all in the present tense, but the fourth one is in the past tense. The problem in this sentence is a lack of parallel construction.
Now that you know what the error is, go through the answer choices. Any choice that contains the word forgot is wrong. We can eliminate choices A and C. Choice E, even though it fixes the parallel construction of the fourth verb, changes the construction of the third verb. Eliminate it.
Choices B and D have perfect parallel construction. If you aren’t sure which one is correct, guess and move on.
If you picked choice B, you were right. In choice D, the adjectival phrase at least had to be in front of one bill.