In archaeology, there must be a balance between explanation of the val

Question

In archaeology, there must be a balance  between explanation of the value and workings of archaeology, revealing the mysteries of past and present cultures, and to promote  respect for archaeological sites.

(A) between explanation of the value and workings of archaeology, revealing the mysteries of past and present cultures, and to promote

(B) among explaining the value and workings of archaeology, revealing the mysteries of past and present cultures, and promoting

(C) between explaining the value and workings of archaeology, revealing the mysteries of past and present cultures, and when promoting

(D) among explaining the value and workings of archaeology, the revelation of the mysteries of past and present cultures, and to promote

(E) between explaining archaeology's value and workings, in the revealing the mysteries of past and present cultures, and in promoting

Source  :  GMATPrep Default Exam Pack

MichaelS · Accepted Answer

As other commenters have noted, between is standard for two items, and among for three or more. The split between among and between looks like a great place to start, then, unless you're not quite sure how many items the sentence is talking about. I wasn't sure, so I started with parallelism.

The first and seems merely to link value and workings, and that compound is just the object of a preposition in one item in the longer list of the things that must be balanced, explanation..., revealing..., and to promote..... You could now eliminate answers that use between. (We should be careful that in some answers the list isn't somehow rejiggered to be just two items, each perhaps its own compound, but that doesn't turn out to be an issue here.)

So eliminate A, C, and E.

In B, the three parallel items are all gerunds, explaining..., revealing..., and promoting.... That's perfectly fine.

In D, the three parallel items are the simple gerund explaining, the noun the revelation, and the infinitive to promote. No two of those things are parallel, so eliminate D.

B it is.

By the way, if you'd like to see an earlier post of mine on parallelism issues with gerunds and other nouns, check out mohica-civilization-88664.html

tenaman10 · Answer

In archaeology, there must be a balance  between explanation of the value and workings of archaeology, revealing the mysteries of past and present cultures, and to promote  respect for archaeological sites.

A. between explanation of the value and workings of archaeology, revealing the mysteries of past and present cultures, and to promote

B. among  explaining  the value and workings of archaeology,  revealing  the mysteries of past and present cultures, and  promoting ..parallel and among X,Y and Z format is required ..CORRECT

C. between explaining the value and workings of archaeology, revealing the mysteries of past and present cultures, and when promoting

D. among explaining the value and workings of archaeology, the revelation of the mysteries of past and present cultures, and to promote

E. between explaining archaeologys value and workings,  in the  revealing  the  mysteries of past and present cultures, and in promoting...explaining and in revealing is not parallel ..

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Concepts tested here:Parallelism + Idioms

• All elements in a list must be parallel.
• “between” is used for comparing two elements, and “among” is used for comparing more than two elements.

A:  This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism among “explanation…archaeology”, “revealing…cultures”, and “to promote…sites”; please remember, all elements in a list must be parallel. Further, Option A incorrectly uses “between” rather than “among” to compare more than two elements; please remember, “between” is used for comparing two elements, and “among” is used for comparing more than two elements.

B:   Correct.  This answer choice maintains parallelism among “explaining the value…archaeology”, “revealing the mysteries…cultures”, and “promoting…sites”. Further, Option B correctly uses “among” to compare more than two elements.

C:  This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism among “explaining…archaeology”, “revealing…cultures”, and “when promoting…sites”; please remember, all elements in a list must be parallel. Further, Option C incorrectly uses “between” rather than “among” to compare more than two elements; please remember, “between” is used for comparing two elements, and “among” is used for comparing more than two elements.

D:  This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism among “explaining…archaeology”, “the revelation of…cultures”, and “to promote…sites”; please remember, all elements in a list must be parallel.

E:  This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism among “explaining…archaeology”, “in the revealing…cultures”, and “in promoting…sites”; please remember, all elements in a list must be parallel. Further, Option E incorrectly uses “between” rather than “among” to compare more than two elements; please remember, “between” is used for comparing two elements, and “among” is used for comparing more than two elements.

Hence, B is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Between" vs "Among" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgXJl7DG_4A

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

bigtreezl · Answer

B

if 2 use between if more than two use among

q10nik · Answer

1. Use among when comparing three or more items.
2. Maintain parallelism.

B for me

anairamitch1804 · Answer

This SC is based on a specific style issue and parallelism:

1) "Between" vs. "Among": the word "between" applies to 2 ideas; "among" applies to 3 or more. Here, we have a list of 3 items, so the word "among" is correct. Eliminate A, C and E

2) A 3-item List requires parallel items (in the same format). B uses 3 "-ing" verbs; D uses 1 "-ing" verb, 1 noun and 1 infinitive verb. Eliminate D.

Final Answer: B

moind · Answer

Balance by its own virtue is between two objects/subjects - balance is not generally something you seek among three areas.
Can someone please help explain this?

Given balance was provided in the non-underlined portion, it seemed obvious to choose the options with between and ignore the ones with among

GMATNinja · Answer

As noted by other users, we want to use "between" for two items and "among" for three or more items. Sure, "balance" is often used to describe two objects. But you can certainly have more than two things in balance, either physically or figuratively. For example: dudes in balance.jpg I hope that helps a bit!

Vegita · Answer

Hi GMATNinja , Could you please confirm something for me? Is " the value and workings of archaeology " in the sentence a single noun entity, and is this confirmed by the usage of the denfinite article " the "?

PRNDL · Answer

When I first saw this question, I just saw the 'between X and Y ' structure and started solving the question, considering "revealing the mysteries of past and present cultures" as a modifier of "archeology"

Is there a way to figure when we have a list of 3 items vs. a list of 2 items (where the first item is being modified)

Is there a way to figure when we have a list of 3 items vs. a list of 2 items (where the first item is being modified)

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi  PRNDL , even if you thought that was the case, "revealing the mysteries of past and present cultures" would not modify "archeology"; such participial phrases (towards the end of a clause preceded by a comma) modify the subject of the preceding clause.

afaik, only the  intended meaning  of the sentence can conclusively help you figure this out. However, even if you thought that there are only  two  items in the list, hopefully you should then be in a position to conclude that in options A, C, and E (all of which use  between  that indicates that there are only two elements in the list), these two items are  not  parallel.

Vegita · Answer

EducationAisle

Why does the " the value  and  workings  of archaeology" need not be parallel in the correct option?
Does the usaage of article " the " signifies anything here?

(B) among explaining the value and workings of archaeology, revealing the mysteries of past and present cultures, and promoting

Could you please help explain?

EducationAisle · Answer

Of course they need to be parallel and they  are   Vegita  -  value  and  workings  are both  nouns .

GMATNinja · Answer

"The" is used with plural nouns when you want to specify EXACTLY which nouns you are talking about.

Consider these examples:

1) Tim loves to devour khachapuri and khinkali.

2) Tim loves to devour  the  khachapuri and khinkali served at Pirosmani Restaurant.

In example 2), Tim still loves to devour two separate things: khachapuri and khinkali. "The" is just used to show exactly WHICH khachapuri and khinkali Tim enjoys -- the ones from a specific restaurant. (If you like grammar jargon, "the" is called a definite article -- it limits the meaning of a noun to one particular thing).

Back to the official example: "the" tells us exactly WHICH "value" and "workings" the author cares about: those "of archeology."

So, "the" doesn't imply that the noun is a single entity. Instead, it just limits the meaning of the two nouns a bit.

I hope that helps!

VerbalBot · Answer

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In archaeology, there must be a balance between explanation of the val

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

In archaeology, there must be a balance between explanation of the val

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