Manhattan Prep Instructor
Joined: 21 Jan 2010
Affiliations: ManhattanGMAT
Posts: 323
Location: San Francisco
It has been said that all one can do for a sprained ankle is leave it
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12 Apr 2017, 21:14
The difference between "all one can do" and "the only that can be done" is problematic. I prefer the former, by a long shot, even though the "OA" (I put it in quotes, because it has no OFFICIAL source.) for the first question here chooses the latter. I'm not sure if it's a straight issue, but I think it's quite unclear who is doing the action in that answer.
It has been said that all one can do for a sprained ankle is leave it alone while it heals itself, ice it, and to lie with it in a slightly elevated position.
(A) all one can do for a sprained ankle is leave it alone while it heals itself, ice it, and to
PROBLEM: The list starts after the word "is". Then we get a list, meaning we need parallelism. "leave" and "ice" are parallel. But "to lie" is not.
(B) all one can do for a sprained ankle is to leave it alone to heal itself, to ice it, and
PROBLEM: This time, we lost the "to" on the last item".
(C) all one can do for a sprained ankle is leave it alone while it heals itself, and then ice it and
PROBLEM: This doesn't make sense. If you the "then" in, it sounds like you're icing it after leaving it alone while it heals. But that's illogical.
(D) the only thing that can be done for a sprained ankle is leave it alone while it heals itself, ice it, and
ANSWER: Leave, ice, and lie are all parallel. However, I still hold "the only thing...is leave, ice..., and elevate..." is ridiculous on two separate levels. First, how is that a thing? Secondly, how is that ONE thing?
(E) the only thing that can be done for a sprained ankle is to leave it alone while it heals itself, to ice it, and
PROBLEM: We lost our last "to" again.