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In MGMAT, Chap 4, it mentioned that two sides of a linking 09 Sep 2012, 21:35
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In MGMAT, Chap 4, it mentioned that two sides of a linking verb (is, was etc) should be parallel.

i.e. The charity work is a doing of good deed. Wrong because charity (noun) is not parallel to a doing (participle).
Instead, it should be The charity work is an act of good deed. charity (noun) is now parallel to an act (noun).

But what about this sentence "The boy is cute" Here we have a noun (the boy) and an adjective (cute) on two sides of the linking verb (is).

How do we know when a linking verb, such as "is" requires the use of parallelism (as in the case of the first example)?

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In MGMAT, Chap 4, it mentioned that two sides of a linking 10 Sep 2012, 02:38
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Wwdrok1
In MGMAT, Chap 4, it mentioned that two sides of a linking verb (is, was etc) should be parallel.

i.e. The charity work is a doing of good deed. Wrong because charity (noun) is not parallel to a doing (participle).
Instead, it should be The charity work is an act of good deed. charity (noun) is now parallel to an act (noun).

But what about this sentence "The boy is cute" Here we have a noun (the boy) and an adjective (cute) on two sides of the linking verb (is).

How do we know when a linking verb, such as "is" requires the use of parallelism (as in the case of the first example)?
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MGAMT doesn't say that these verbs are always use as a linking verb or both the sides of it needs to be parallel always. One can check depending upon the type of the statement is there and what its meaning corresponds to.
I hope this will clarify your doubt.
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In MGMAT, Chap 4, it mentioned that two sides of a linking 21 Jan 2013, 21:15
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Wwdrok1
In MGMAT, Chap 4, it mentioned that two sides of a linking verb (is, was etc) should be parallel.

i.e. The charity work is a doing of good deed. Wrong because charity (noun) is not parallel to a doing (participle).
Instead, it should be The charity work is an act of good deed. charity (noun) is now parallel to an act (noun).

But what about this sentence "The boy is cute" Here we have a noun (the boy) and an adjective (cute) on two sides of the linking verb (is).

How do we know when a linking verb, such as "is" requires the use of parallelism (as in the case of the first example)?
Show more


In 2nd example, "Cute" is a Noun but in this case is working as a Adjective, and thus both sides are parallel.

As far as your 2nd query is concerned, Whenever helping verb is used as Linking verb, both sides must be logically parallel.
Brush up Linking verbs concepts in detail.

Hope it helps
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In MGMAT, Chap 4, it mentioned that two sides of a linking 06 Nov 2017, 01:26
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I'm confused about the same thing. MGMAT says that linking verbs are parallelism markers. According to the guide,
this is right: The bouquet of flowers was a gift of love
this is wrong: The bouquet of flowers was a giving of love
because bouquet is a plain noun, so gift (which is also a plain noun) is right and giving (which is gerund) is wrong

Following that logic, isn't the OP's sentence 'The boy is cute' wrong? Isn't 'Amy was cleaning the house' wrong? Are they really wrong or is there some other explanation? Please help!
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In MGMAT, Chap 4, it mentioned that two sides of a linking 08 Nov 2017, 07:30
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AC07
I'm confused about the same thing. MGMAT says that linking verbs are parallelism markers. According to the guide,
this is right: The bouquet of flowers was a gift of love
this is wrong: The bouquet of flowers was a giving of love
because bouquet is a plain noun, so gift (which is also a plain noun) is right and giving (which is gerund) is wrong

Following that logic, isn't the OP's sentence 'The boy is cute' wrong? Isn't 'Amy was cleaning the house' wrong? Are they really wrong or is there some other explanation? Please help!
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Your analogy is not correct:

You need to maintain parallelism ONLY when a parallel structure exists. None of your examples requires a parallel structure.


"Cute" is an adjective. "He is good", "She is beautiful", "The boy is cute" are all correct sentences. There is no parallel structure in these sentences. You need to seek for parallelism ONLY when there is a requirement of two nouns on two sides of a linking verb.

The other example is even more away from analogy: "Amy was cleaning the room" - there is no linking verb at all. The verb in this sentence is "was cleaning" - no question of parallelism arise.

(Referring to the Manhattan example, please note that gerund is a verbal, which works as a noun - for maintaining parallelism, a noun is preferred with another noun rather than a gerund.)
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In MGMAT, Chap 4, it mentioned that two sides of a linking 08 Nov 2017, 08:39
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I'm confused about the same thing. MGMAT says that linking verbs are parallelism markers. According to the guide,
this is right: The bouquet of flowers was a gift of love
this is wrong: The bouquet of flowers was a giving of love
because bouquet is a plain noun, so gift (which is also a plain noun) is right and giving (which is gerund) is wrong

Following that logic, isn't the OP's sentence 'The boy is cute' wrong? Isn't 'Amy was cleaning the house' wrong? Are they really wrong or is there some other explanation? Please help!

Your analogy is not correct:

You need to maintain parallelism ONLY when a parallel structure exists. None of your examples requires a parallel structure.


"Cute" is an adjective. "He is good", "She is beautiful", "The boy is cute" are all correct sentences. There is no parallel structure in these sentences. You need to seek for parallelism ONLY when there is a requirement of two nouns on two sides of a linking verb.

The other example is even more away from analogy: "Amy was cleaning the room" - there is no linking verb at all. The verb in this sentence is "was cleaning" - no question of parallelism arise.

(Referring to the Manhattan example, please note that gerund is a verbal, which works as a noun - for maintaining parallelism, a noun is preferred with another noun rather than a gerund.)
Show more

I agree, the second example was out of place but I'm still not clear about the justification for the first one going by MGMAT's logic.
MGMAT says that linking verb is a parallelism marker. So, doesn't that mean that wherever there is a linking verb, there have to parallel structures?
If yes, then how do we justify:The bouquet of flowers [noun] was beautiful [adjective] - going by their other example where they say 'The bouquet of flowers was a giving of love' is wrong?

Why is it that the first one (The bouquet of flowers was beautiful) doesn't seek parallelism but the second one (The bouquet of flowers was a giving of love) does?

You said, "You need to seek for parallelism ONLY when there is a requirement of two nouns on two sides of a linking verb," so I guess my question is, how do we know that there is a requirement of two nouns on two sides of a linking verb? Because, as per MGMAT's logic, if there is a linking verb, there is a requirement of parallelism.
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In MGMAT, Chap 4, it mentioned that two sides of a linking 08 Nov 2017, 20:48
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A linking verb as far as it means, just links the subject with the rest of the clause. It doesn't do any thing more. I am not clear about what MGMAT wants to convey if we understand their perspective right.
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In MGMAT, Chap 4, it mentioned that two sides of a linking 09 Nov 2017, 03:25
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I'm sorry, I missed a point by MGMAT - "The subject, bouquet, and the object, gift, have to be parallel."
So, I guess what they meant was that if there is a linking verb which connects a subject and an object, then the subject has to be parallel to the object. I guess that's what sayantanc2k meant too. Thank you!

I think, if we can put it in simple terms it is this: a linking verb is a parallelism marker only if there is also an object in the sentence. In that case, the subject and object have to be parallel.
Please correct me if I am wrong.

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