In Bananas Web Designs, much of the regional developers

In Bananas Web Designs, much of the regional developers' creativity was utilized for the building of the company website and when they designed and implemented the back-end server that stored it.

(A) much of the regional developers’ creativity was utilized for the building of the company website and when they designed and implemented the back-end server that stored it
Wrong.
- Parallelism problem: Much of the regional developers' creativity was utilized for X and when they designed...... Not parallel.
- Pronoun ambiguity: Technically, "they" refers to "developers", however, the antecedent "developers' creativity" - possessive antecedent - is very ambiguous in GMAT.

(B) much of the regional developers' creativity was utilized on the building of the company website and on design and implementation of the back-end server in which it was stored
Correct.
- Parallelism: ... was utilized on X and on Y
- Pronoun: "it" refers to "the company website" correctly.

(C) much of the regional developers’ creativity was utilized on the building of the company website as well as designing and implementing the back-end server in which they were stored
Wrong.
- Parallelism problem: ....was utilized on X as well as Y <== wrong. The correct one is: ...was utilized on X and on Y
- Pronoun problem: "the company website" is singular ==> "they" (plural) is wrong.

(D) building the company website accounted for much of the regional developers' creativity, and also designing and implementing the back-end server storing them
Wrong.
- Change meaning: in this sentence, developers' creativity || designing || implementing. That is wrong meaning.
- Redundant: "and also" is redundant.

(E) the creating of the company website accounted for much of the regional developers' creativity as well as design and implementation of the back-end server that stored it
Wrong.
- Change meaning: in this sentence, developers' creativity || design || implement. That is wrong meaning.
- Pronoun ambiguity: "it" is very ambiguous. It refers to what? creativity, implementation or website? We don't know.

Hope it helps.

(A) much of the regional developers’ creativity was utilized for the building of the company website and when they designed and implemented the back-end server that stored it
they does not have antecedent

(B) much of the regional developers' creativity was utilized on the building of the company website and on design and implementation of the back-end server in which it was stored
Correct

(C) much of the regional developers’ creativity was utilized on the building of the company website as well as designing and implementing the back-end server in which they were stored
they does not havevantecedent

(D) building the company website accounted for much of the regional developers' creativity, and also designing and implementing the back-end server storing them
not clear what is them used for also "and also designing and implementing the back-end server storing them"
it is dependent clause which does not have SV

(E) the creating of the company website accounted for much of the regional developers' creativity as well as design and implementation of the back-end server that stored it
X as well AS Y does not followed correctly here. X is clause where Y phrase.

Hi pghai ,
need some discussion on this.

(B) much of the regional developers' creativity was utilized on the building of the company website and on design and implementation of the back-end server in which it was stored
Correct.
- Parallelism: ... was utilized on X and on Y
- Pronoun: [color=#0000ff]"it" refers to "the company website" correctly.[/color]===>as you said in option E IT is ambiguous...same is the case here....please correct me if i am wrong.
IT can refer to CREATIVITY//WEBSITE //IMPLEMENTATION.



(E) the creating of the company website accounted for much of the regional developers' creativity as well as design and implementation of the back-end server that stored it
Wrong.
- Change meaning: in this sentence, developers' creativity || design || implement. That is wrong meaning.
- Pronoun ambiguity: "it" is very ambiguous. It refers to what? creativity, implementation or website? We don't know.

my question in this is: whether THE CREATING of ....==>is this is right construction.IMO this is not


regards

Hi blueseas,

I agree with you. The "creating" does not seem correct in option E.

I had negated option E because of that error.



Regards

Argha

First of all, thanks so much for analyzing my answer (I love discussing )

As far as I know, the pronoun should refer to the closest eligible antecedent. However, one of the most important note is that the antecedent & pronoun must make sense together. You can plug in "the creativity" or "implementation" to "it" to test. Does that make sense? I don't think they could be "stored" in the server. So only "website" makes sense.




I think the structure "the creating of..." itself has no problem (in grammar). The main problem (IMO) is parallelism.
The structure is: "X accounted for much of Y as well as Z" means:

X accounted for Y
AND, separately
X accounted for Z

So the creating of the website accounted for design and implementation of the back-end server? No, it does not make sense. That's why I said E changes meaning.

Regards.

FIRSTLY i will say refering to your explanation is always good way to learn...and my intention was not to analyze your answer but rather to learn from your thoughts.
moreover i wanted this discussion just to clear my doubts...and i am glad to know that you are happy in this.

i got your point that ITmeaningwise can refer to website...in option B....BUT isnt the same case with option E...There also meaning wise IT can only refer to WEBSITE...(IN OPTION E IT is ambiguous as per your explanation)
Please suggest if i am interpreting wrong.

moreover article THE before creating makes it a GERUND
the creating of.....but i cant frame any sentence having the same structure.
if possible can you just refer any sentence having the same construction the creating of.....in which creating is acting as gerund/noun.
NOTE: I AGREE WITH PARALLELISM ERROR IN OPTION E

THANKS

Hi blueseas

My pleasure.

Frankly, I just imitate the analyses of Mike (mikemcgarry), a legend GMAT instructor in the forum, for the "same" question. Please refer to the link below:
in-ancient-thailand-much-of-the-local-artisans-creative-125866.html?kudos=1
I bet you can learn a lot from him.

For the use of gerund/noun at the beginning of a sentence, you can refer to question of "nipun1987" in the thread below:
verb-ed-modifiers-vs-verb-ing-modifiers-125611.html
egmat confirms we can use gerund which plays as subject at the start of a sentence.

Hope it helps a bit.

Cheer.

Hi,

I was following up on your posts and wanted to make this observation.

As suggested by pghai, a complex gerund phrase like "the creating" can be treated as parallel element to an action noun like "design", "implementation".

However, if an appropriate action noun exists, then it is preferable to use that noun only. In this case, since "creation" exists, guess that would sound more logical than "the creating".



Regards

Argha

Thanks Argha.

IMO, before we say which one is better, we should apply grammars correctly. Like nouns, gerunds and gerund phrases can function as subjects, objects, and complements. There is not a "hard" rule to say that nouns are more preferable than gerunds. In this sentence, "creating" acts like a subject, it does not have to be parallel with "design" or "implementation" which are objects (in option E). I think both "the creating" and "the creation" are ok.

Regards.

Hi pghai,

Please note that I indicated a preference and did not mention the word "better".

Additionally, the observation was not mine but that of MGMAT SC(refer page 219) which mentions this preference of using an appropriate action noun(if available) in place of a gerund.

Lastly, design and implementation are not the objects of the sentence in option E(assuming the meaning that "creating", "design" & "implementation" accounted for much of the regional developer's creativity).



Regards

Argha

Hi Argha.

I did not say you're wrong. (nothing in my post indicated that). You may be right. I'm not sure because I'm not native speaker and not verbal expert . Any discussion is welcome.

But I think the structure of E:
"X accounted for Y as well as Z" means
X accounted for Y
AND, separately,
X accounted for Z (design and implementation)

Thus, Y and Z should be the objects of the sentence. If you say Y and Z are not objects, please tell me what are they? I really appreciate.

Regards.

Hi pghai,

Believe me, I am far from being an expert though your signature reveals so.

According to me, "the creating of the company website" is what is doing the action and hence that should be the subject.

Further, "the creating...", "design" and "implementation" are all on the same side- ie. all of them accounted towards much of the regional developer's creativity).

So, they should not be objects for sure.

Waiting to hear from experts if I am wrong.



Regards

Argha

"The creating" - is the action of the verb "to create"
think of it as "the act of creating"

"The act of creating" is NOT consistent with design and implementation.

If you want to make it consistent, it would have to be:

the CREATION....DESIGN, and IMPLEMENTATION

CREATING - is of a different form...that would go with "the DESIGNING of" and "the IMPLEMENTING"---really this is not a preferred form. It's better to keep it simple with the original noun forms - rather than a fancy -ING verb form.

Hi Gmatpill,

Thanks for the explanation.

It is always better to have an action noun(if available) instead of a gerund form.

Thus "creation" should have been used along with "design" and "implementation", thereby making option E wrong.



Regards

Argha

hi,

Sorry for bring up this post. I have a question in B. Please clarify if "implementation of the back end server" is an element of any paralellism? Because i see it followed "and"
thank you.

Yes, there is an element of parallelism in the structure in option B. And is the parallel marker . X and Y

X = on the building of the company website
& Y = on the desing and implementation of back end server ...

X & Y - Parallel

Hope it helps.

A = wrong - they ?
B = Hold it found no mistakes.
C = wrong - they ?
D = Awkward - passive
E = Awkward >
So answer is B.

does a website have a building?