Last visit was: 20 Nov 2025, 08:04 It is currently 20 Nov 2025, 08:04
Home
GMAT
Messages
Tests
Schools
Events
Rewards
Chat
My Profile
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.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
Back to Forum
Create Topic
   1   2 
555-605 Level|   Parallelism|      
User avatar
Bunuel
User avatar
Math Expert
Joined: 02 Sep 2009
Last visit: 20 Nov 2025
Posts: 105,420
Own Kudos:
778,537
Given Kudos: 99,987
Products:
GMAT Club Tests Forum Quiz
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 105,420
Kudos: 778,537
Located at the very coal mines that provided them with fuel, the use 30 Jul 2020, 22:12
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
800Dreamer
Hi Bunuel,

This question is a prep ques. Can you please mark the same?
Show more

_________________
Done. Thank you.
User avatar
gmexamtaker1
User avatar
Joined: 16 Jul 2018
Last visit: 13 Feb 2023
Posts: 210
Own Kudos:
79
Given Kudos: 261
Products:
My Reviews
Posts: 210
Kudos: 79
Located at the very coal mines that provided them with fuel, the use 18 Apr 2021, 12:33
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hello experts a prompt question regarding answer choice C, is it acceptable to say that the steam engines "allowed" ?
User avatar
Basshead
User avatar
Joined: 09 Jan 2020
Last visit: 07 Feb 2024
Posts: 925
Own Kudos:
302
Given Kudos: 432
Location: United States
Posts: 925
Kudos: 302
Located at the very coal mines that provided them with fuel, the use 09 Oct 2021, 10:45
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
UNSTOPPABLE12
Hello experts a prompt question regarding answer choice C, is it acceptable to say that the steam engines "allowed" ?
Show more

I'm not sure whether 'allowed' is technically wrong, but it's certainly redundant in choice C:

"...steam engines in eighteenth-century England allowed an increase in coal production by permitting the drainage of mine water and permitting.."
avatar
MayankDimri
avatar
Joined: 24 Nov 2019
Last visit: 07 Feb 2022
Posts: 22
Own Kudos:
8
Given Kudos: 77
Posts: 22
Kudos: 8
Located at the very coal mines that provided them with fuel, the use 10 Oct 2021, 00:16
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
I chose option D as the answer and after reading the explanations I can understand why it is wrong. However, I am not too confident of marking option B. Does the phrase 'drainage of mines' have similar meaning as 'mines to be drained of water' (original sentence)? I don't think so and feel there is some meaning change with the avoidance of the word 'water' from answer choice B. Requesting expert opinion on how parallelism trumps meaning aspect and in general how to select an option choice wherein one aspect is right and other is wrong. (hypothetical case)
User avatar
harish555
User avatar
Joined: 10 Apr 2019
Last visit: 15 Apr 2025
Posts: 157
Own Kudos:
37
Given Kudos: 386
Location: India
Concentration: Marketing, Strategy
Schools: Kelley '24 (A$$)
GMAT 1: 640 Q48 V30
GPA: 3.03
WE:Marketing (Retail Banking)
Schools: Kelley '24 (A$$)
GMAT 1: 640 Q48 V30
Posts: 157
Kudos: 37
Located at the very coal mines that provided them with fuel, the use 18 Jan 2022, 03:31
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Located at the very coal mines that provided them with fuel, the use of steam engines in eighteenth-century England increased coal production by allowing for mines to be drained of water and permitting extraction of deeper layers of coal.

(A) the use of steam engines in eighteenth-century England increased coal production by allowing for mines to be drained of water and permitting

(B) steam engines increased coal production in eighteenth-century England by permitting the drainage of mines and the

(C) steam engines in eighteenth-century England allowed an increase in coal production by permitting the drainage of mine water and permitting

(D) steam engines increased coal production in eighteenth-century England by allowing water to be drained out of mines and

(E) eighteenth-century use of steam engines increased English coal production by draining mines and

A very important question of modifiers and parallelism.
How to eliminate errors:
Given information:
Located at - that’s the clue . What is located at the coal mines ? We can easily arrive to B, C, D. A and E are out .
Check for any other clue in the given information- extraction - noun . Check for another noun , which can form parallelism.
B- drainage and extraction- so far so good. Keep B
C- why do we have to use permitting two times. It’s not required. Also, C is wordy and it has its own problems.
D- to be drained out - we are talking about 18 century. Can we use - to be drained out. Also meaning issue.
We are left with B and C.
I go with B because it’s straight, meaningful and elegant.

Posted from my mobile device
User avatar
ExpertsGlobal5
User avatar
Experts' Global Representative
Joined: 10 Jul 2017
Last visit: 20 Nov 2025
Posts: 5,198
Own Kudos:
4,771
Given Kudos: 43
Location: India
GMAT Date: 11-01-2019
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 5,198
Kudos: 4,771
Located at the very coal mines that provided them with fuel, the use 18 Jan 2022, 05:47
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
MayankDimri
I chose option D as the answer and after reading the explanations I can understand why it is wrong. However, I am not too confident of marking option B. Does the phrase 'drainage of mines' have similar meaning as 'mines to be drained of water' (original sentence)? I don't think so and feel there is some meaning change with the avoidance of the word 'water' from answer choice B. Requesting expert opinion on how parallelism trumps meaning aspect and in general how to select an option choice wherein one aspect is right and other is wrong. (hypothetical case)
Show more

Hello MayankDimri,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the omission of "water" from the phrase "drainage of mines" does not change the meaning of the sentence; the inclusion of "of water" in Option A is superfluous, as it can be understood that "water" is what is drained from a mine.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
User avatar
SolankiDas
User avatar
Joined: 21 Jan 2022
Last visit: 01 Jun 2023
Posts: 27
Own Kudos:
4
Given Kudos: 44
Posts: 27
Kudos: 4
Located at the very coal mines that provided them with fuel, the use 06 Aug 2022, 18:30
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Option C- steam engines in eighteenth-century England allowed an increase in coal production
by permitting the drainage of mine water
and
permitting
Here modifier "by permitting.. (prepositional phrase) and "permitting" (-ing modifier) ... are both parallel and also it does not omit the word "water"
please explain how this this wrong.

The OA has omitted the word "water"
User avatar
RonTargetTestPrep
User avatar
Target Test Prep Representative
Joined: 19 Jul 2022
Last visit: 07 Nov 2022
Posts: 430
Own Kudos:
537
Given Kudos: 1
GMAT 1: 800 Q51 V51
Expert
Expert reply
GMAT 1: 800 Q51 V51
Posts: 430
Kudos: 537
Located at the very coal mines that provided them with fuel, the use 08 Aug 2022, 07:14
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
The sentence lists two ways in which steam engines increased coal production.

Ask yourself—Between drainage of mines (B) and drainage of mine water (C), which one more directly accounts for an increase in coal-mine production?
The answer to that one is definitely drainage of mines: Once you've drained the mine, you can get more coal out of it (the mine). The water, on the other hand, isn't directly related to coal production.


Quote:
The OA has omitted the word "water"
Show more
Two ways to figure this one out:
• A steam engine creates steam. Steam comes from boiling water.
AND/OR
• Out there in the real world, are there any other liquids that fill up holes in the ground (such as open mines), besides water?
User avatar
VerbalBot
User avatar
Non-Human User
Joined: 01 Oct 2013
Last visit: 04 Jan 2021
Posts: 18,833
Own Kudos:
986
Posts: 18,833
Kudos: 986
Located at the very coal mines that provided them with fuel, the use 27 Aug 2023, 07:35
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.
   1   2 
Moderators:
GMATNinja
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
7443 posts
GMATNinjaTwo
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
231 posts
miag
189 posts