Last visit was: 20 Nov 2025, 03:11 It is currently 20 Nov 2025, 03:11
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
User avatar
aragonn
User avatar
Retired Moderator
Joined: 23 Sep 2015
Last visit: 30 Sep 2019
Posts: 1,230
Own Kudos:
5,890
 [10]
Given Kudos: 416
Products:
Posts: 1,230
Kudos: 5,890
 [10]
2
Kudos
Add Kudos
7
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
User avatar
vishalkazone
Joined: 08 Sep 2008
Last visit: 22 Mar 2024
Posts: 102
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 17
Location: India
Concentration: Operations, General Management
Schools: ISB '20
GPA: 3.8
WE:Operations (Transportation)
Schools: ISB '20
Posts: 102
Kudos: 111
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
User avatar
surendrasaini1
Joined: 15 Feb 2017
Last visit: 25 Oct 2025
Posts: 242
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 50
Location: India
Schools: Stern '26
Schools: Stern '26
Posts: 242
Kudos: 126
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
User avatar
Abhishek009
User avatar
Board of Directors
Joined: 11 Jun 2011
Last visit: 18 Jul 2025
Posts: 5,934
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 463
Status:QA & VA Forum Moderator
Location: India
GPA: 3.5
WE:Business Development (Commercial Banking)
Posts: 5,934
Kudos: 5,329
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
aragonn
Italy is famous for its composers and musicians, France, for its chefs and philosophers, and Poland, for its mathematicians and logicians.

A. Italy is famous for its composers and musicians, France, for its chefs and philosophers, and Poland, for its mathematicians and logicians.

B. Italy is famous for its composers and musicians, France for its chefs and philosophers, Poland for its mathematicians and logicians.

C. Italy is famous for its composers and musicians. France for its chefs and philosophers. Poland for its mathematicians and logicians.

D. Italy is famous for their composers and musicians; France, for their chefs and philosophers; Poland for their mathematicians and logicians.

E.Italy, France, and Poland are famous for their composers and musicians, chefs and philosophers, and mathematicians and logicians.
The correct answer must be (A) for the highlighted errors in other options....
User avatar
dave13
Joined: 09 Mar 2016
Last visit: 12 Aug 2025
Posts: 1,108
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 3,851
Posts: 1,108
Kudos: 1,113
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
aragonn
Italy is famous for its composers and musicians, France, for its chefs and philosophers, and Poland, for its mathematicians and logicians.

A. Italy is famous for its composers and musicians, France, for its chefs and philosophers, and Poland, for its mathematicians and logicians.

B. Italy is famous for its composers and musicians, France for its chefs and philosophers, Poland for its mathematicians and logicians.

C. Italy is famous for its composers and musicians. France for its chefs and philosophers. Poland for its mathematicians and logicians.

D. Italy is famous for their composers and musicians; France, for their chefs and philosophers; Poland for their mathematicians and logicians.

E.Italy, France, and Poland are famous for their composers and musicians, chefs and philosophers, and mathematicians and logicians.

hello generis, why in option A, Italy is not followed by comma? this thing confused I thought "hey man its not parallel" and clicked on B which at first sight looks okay :)

here are 2 reasons to choose B :grin:
B has a verb "IS"
B is separated by commas (parallelism)
User avatar
generis
User avatar
Senior SC Moderator
Joined: 22 May 2016
Last visit: 18 Jun 2022
Posts: 5,272
Own Kudos:
37,391
 [3]
Given Kudos: 9,464
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 5,272
Kudos: 37,391
 [3]
3
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
dave13
aragonn
Italy is famous for its composers and musicians, France, for its chefs and philosophers, and Poland, for its mathematicians and logicians.

A. Italy is famous for its composers and musicians, France, for its chefs and philosophers, and Poland, for its mathematicians and logicians.

B. Italy is famous for its composers and musicians, France for its chefs and philosophers, Poland for its mathematicians and logicians.
hello generis, why in option A, Italy is not followed by comma? this thing confused I thought "hey man its not parallel" and clicked on B which at first sight looks okay :)

here are 2 reasons to choose B :grin:
B has a verb "IS"
B is separated by commas (parallelism)
dave13 - This question tests quite a few concepts, but the most important one is ellipsis, also known as "omitting extra words."

For parallel lists in which elliptical construction is used to shorten the sentence:
(1) We make the other items' meaning parallel to that of the first item, checking to see whether the ellipsis mechanism works, and

(2) We do not try to make the structure of the first item "match" the structure of the other items that contain ellipsis.

The first item in an elliptical, parallel list must be complete and clear. The first item is the blueprint or template from which other items are derived and compressed.

A comma after Italy would ruin the template. The result would be ungrammatical and nonsensical.
Quote:
B has a verb "IS"

True. :lol:
And when was the last time you saw a comma between an adjacent subject and verb in a full sentence? ;)

I can understand the confusion, however. Elliptical construction in lists can be really confusing. (What gets omitted? How, exactly, does the parallel construction work?)

Let's back up a bit.

Relationship between first list item and other items

Item #1 is a template for the other items. Its meaning must be captured by the other items, which are constructed in shortened form.

In this case that shortened form is created by an "elliptical comma" right after France and Poland. The comma both stands for "is famous" (in one piece, no comma) and omits that phrase.

Parallel list, ellipsis: The first item
Unlike its shortened parallels, the first item must contain all the words that other items omit.

The first item uses a structure that is different from that of subsequent items.

If we put a comma between "Italy" and "is," our blueprint becomes
Italy, is famous for its composers and musicians

That setup does not work on its own, let alone as a basis from which to derive other items.

We must have the initial full clause without strange commas in strange places to understand that
France [is famous] for X, and Poland [is famous] for Y

Our first item is a "regular" independent clause (IC), a sentence, and is punctuated as such.

In sentences, we do not put a comma between subjects and verbs that are right next to each other.

If in doubt, remove the rest of the sentence. See what happens.

Italy, is famous for its composers and musicians. :(
Italy is famous for its composers and musicians. :)

Jennifer, moved the furniture. :(
Jennifer moved the furniture. :)

I hope that helps. If I have failed to address any of your concerns, tag me again.

Today is International World Development Information Day.
dave13 , however uninformative THAT description is, Happy World Development Information Day!
User avatar
dave13
Joined: 09 Mar 2016
Last visit: 12 Aug 2025
Posts: 1,108
Own Kudos:
1,113
 [1]
Given Kudos: 3,851
Posts: 1,108
Kudos: 1,113
 [1]
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
generis
dave13
aragonn
Italy is famous for its composers and musicians, France, for its chefs and philosophers, and Poland, for its mathematicians and logicians.

A. Italy is famous for its composers and musicians, France, for its chefs and philosophers, and Poland, for its mathematicians and logicians.

B. Italy is famous for its composers and musicians, France for its chefs and philosophers, Poland for its mathematicians and logicians.
hello generis, why in option A, Italy is not followed by comma? this thing confused I thought "hey man its not parallel" and clicked on B which at first sight looks okay :)

here are 2 reasons to choose B :grin:
B has a verb "IS"
B is separated by commas (parallelism)
dave13 - This question tests quite a few concepts, but the most important one is ellipsis, also known as "omitting extra words."

For parallel lists in which elliptical construction is used to shorten the sentence:
(1) We make the other items' meaning parallel to that of the first item, checking to see whether the ellipsis mechanism works, and

(2) We do not try to make the structure of the first item "match" the structure of the other items that contain ellipsis.

The first item in an elliptical, parallel list must be complete and clear. The first item is the blueprint or template from which other items are derived and compressed.

A comma after Italy would ruin the template. The result would be ungrammatical and nonsensical.
Quote:
B has a verb "IS"

True. :lol:
And when was the last time you saw a comma between an adjacent subject and verb in a full sentence? ;)

I can understand the confusion, however. Elliptical construction in lists can be really confusing. (What gets omitted? How, exactly, does the parallel construction work?)

Let's back up a bit.

Relationship between first list item and other items

Item #1 is a template for the other items. Its meaning must be captured by the other items, which are constructed in shortened form.

In this case that shortened form is created by an "elliptical comma" right after France and Poland. The comma both stands for "is famous" (in one piece, no comma) and omits that phrase.

Parallel list, ellipsis: The first item
Unlike its shortened parallels, the first item must contain all the words that other items omit.

The first item is structured differently than subsequent items.

If we put a comma between "Italy" and "is," our blueprint becomes
Italy, is famous for its composers and musicians

That setup does not work on its own, let alone as a basis from which to derive other items.

We must have the initial full clause without strange commas in strange places to understand that
France [is famous] for X, and Poland [is famous] for Y

Our first item is a "regular" independent clause (IC), a sentence, and is punctuated as such.

In sentences, we do not put a comma between subjects and verbs that are right next to each other.

If in doubt, remove the rest of the sentence. See what happens.

Italy, is famous for its composers and musicians. :(
Italy is famous for its composers and musicians. :)

Jennifer, moved the furniture. :(
Jennifer moved the furniture. :)

I hope that helps. If I have failed to address any of your concerns, tag me again.

Today is International World Development Information Day.
dave13 , however uninformative THAT description is, Happy World Development Information Day!

generis thank you for a great explanation :) thank you ! i didnt know yesterday was International World Development Information Day :)

Today is International Day when the deadline comes to close :) So Happy International Day When the Deadline Comes Too Close ! :grin:
Attachments

when deadline comes to close.jpg
when deadline comes to close.jpg [ 37.68 KiB | Viewed 4784 times ]

User avatar
generis
User avatar
Senior SC Moderator
Joined: 22 May 2016
Last visit: 18 Jun 2022
Posts: 5,272
Own Kudos:
37,391
 [1]
Given Kudos: 9,464
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 5,272
Kudos: 37,391
 [1]
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
dave13


generis thank you for a great explanation :) thank you ! i didnt know yesterday was International World Development Information Day :)

Today is International Day when the deadline comes to close :) So Happy International Day When the Deadline Comes Too Close ! :grin:
dave13 :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Best Visual of the Year.
User avatar
VerbalBot
User avatar
Non-Human User
Joined: 01 Oct 2013
Last visit: 04 Jan 2021
Posts: 18,832
Own Kudos:
Posts: 18,832
Kudos: 986
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.
Moderators:
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
7443 posts
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
231 posts
189 posts