Many criminologists argue that a substantial increase in the

Question

Many criminologists argue that a substantial increase in the number of police personnel "walking the beat" should lead to lowering rates of crime, as well as lowering fears about public safety, a surge in public confidence in the police, and a lessening of the economic burden of street crime.

b) a lowering of crime rates and of fears about public safety

a) lowering rates of crime, as well as lowering fears about public safety

b) a lowering of crime rates and of fears about public safety

c) a lowering of crime rates, along with fears about public safety

d) crime rates being lowered, along with fears about public safety

e) crime rates and fears about public safety being lowered, with.

sivasanjeev · Accepted Answer

Many criminologists argue that a substantial increase in the number of police personnel "walking the beat" should lead to lowering rates of crime, as well as lowering fears about public safety, a surge in public confidence in the police, and a lessening of the economic burden of street crime.

b) a lowering of crime rates and of fears about public safety

a) lowering rates of crime, as well as lowering fears about public safety 
'rates of crime' is wrong usage. for ex. tax rates of Europe, marginal rates of substitution. Also, 'lowering rates...' is not parallel with', 'a surge...' and 'a lessening of ..'

the entities in parallel are noun phrases == noun + prepositional phrase type.

b) a lowering  of crime rates  and  of fears about public safety 
 Parallelism(stated in option a) maintained.

c)  a lowering of crime rates , along with  fears about public safety 
Parallelism is ruined because crime rates and fears are parallel (within the parallel structure). But this option states that 'lowering of crime rates' and 'fears about public safety' are parallel. This is wrong parallelism.

d) crime rates being lowered, along with fears about public safety
e) crime rates and fears about public safety being lowered, with.
 D & E not parallel for reasons mentioned in A

riteshgupta1 · Answer

B it is,

Lowering is used for crime rates and fears both...

Rest all have problems. They use along with, as well as and other unncessary wordier words...

karthikmeda · Answer

Yes you guys are right. OA is B.

When i posted this question I had a question regarding the use of 'and'. But i looked up a similar question in OG and found that 'along with' is wrong because it seems as if 'along with fears about public safety' is a seperate effect. But infact the 'a lowering of crime rates' is what also causes a 'lowering of fears about public safety' so it should be co-ordinated with 'and'

So from this is it safe to say: We use 'and' in a series such as  the  one we have here, when we want to emphasize an effect (lowering of fears about public safety ) because of another related cause (a lowering of crime rates) ?

cmclaurin · Answer

And choice 'e' is the passive voice. Incorrect. Must be 'b'.

HarveyS · Answer

Guys,

I am not clear why " a" is wrong?

naval.sheth@gmail.com · Answer

I am still not clear about "and" in b and "along with" in c....can anyone explain..pls..........

hdwnkr · Answer

Many criminologists argue that a substantial increase in the number of police personnel "walking the beat" should lead to lowering rates of crime, as well as lowering fears about public safety, a surge in public confidence in the police, and a lessening of the economic burden of street crime.

b) a lowering of crime rates and of fears about public safety

Parallelism is the key here.

I read a book, the apple was eaten by me and my friends were watching the show. This statement uses three different verb forms and hence violates parallelism, which requires that all verbs be in form (of course not at a cost of logic). In the question, the underlined part should be parallel to the boldfaced part.

a) lowering rates of crime, as well as lowering fears about public safety   not parallel

b) a lowering of crime rates and of fears about public safety   Parallel: a lowering of, a surge in, a lessening of

c) a lowering of crime rates, along with fears about public safety   Parallel, but loses the meaning. 'Along with' is changing the mean of what is decreasing'

d) crime rates being lowered, along with fears about public safety   Not parallel

e) crime rates and fears about public safety being lowered, with.   Not parallel

HKD1710 · Answer

a) lowering rates of crime, as well as lowering fears about public safety
lowering fears is wrong.

b) a lowering of crime rates and of fears about public safety 
a lowering of X AND Y :  of crime rates and of fears  - parallelism.

c) a lowering of crime rates, along with fears about public safety
Meaning is changed- a lowering of crime rates, along with fears (too awkward).

d) crime rates being lowered, along with fears about public safety
lead to X is fine. but lead to being X is incorrect. hence- being lowered is incorrect.

e) crime rates and fears about public safety being lowered, with.
Same as D.

HKD1710 · Answer

a) lowering rates of crime, as well as lowering fears about public safety 
lowering rates, lowering fears are incorrect. who is lowering the rate? here lowering is the gerund not verb. "lowering of" is appropriate. hence wrong. lowering is repeated so not a better choice.

b) a lowering  of crime rates and of fears  about public safety 
lowering of X and of Y. parallel.

c) a lowering of crime rates, along with fears about public safety 
crime rates along with fears - wrong.

d) crime rates being lowered, along with fears about public safety 
being is inappropriately used here.

e) crime rates and fears about public safety being lowered, with. 
being!!

devikeerthansr · Answer

a) lowering rates of crime, as well as lowering fears about public safety
'rates of crime' is wrong usage and 'lowering rates...' is not parallel with', 'a surge...' and 'a lessening of ..'

b) a lowering of crime rates and of fears about public safety
Parallelism maintained. correct answer

c) a lowering of crime rates, along with fears about public safety
Parallelism is ruined because crime rates and fears are parallel (within the parallel structure). But this option states that 'lowering of crime rates' and 'fears about public safety' are parallel. This is wrong parallelism.

d) crime rates being lowered, along with fears about public safety
not parallel for reasons mentioned in A 
e) crime rates and fears about public safety being lowered, with.
not parallel for reasons mentioned in A

push12345 · Answer

B is the correct answer

a lowering of crime rates and of fears about public safety

A lowering of crime rates 
A lowering of fears about public safety

D and E uses being 
A uses lowering twice creating redundancy

Give kudos if it helps

vikrant92 · Answer

Only a Complex Gerund can be parallel to Action Noun. 
"lowering rates"-Simple Gerund, "a surge"-action noun & "a lessening of.."- Complex Gerund.
So in option B "a lowering of..." is a Complex Gerund.

AliciaSierra · Answer

GMATNinja ,

Happy Holidays!

I have a doubt in this SC question. Is " A  lowering " correct ? Shouldn't it be just "lowering".

thanks

GMATNinjaTwo · Answer

Happy Holidays,  ammuseeru !

I'm not sure what the source of this question is, but it appears to be nearly identical to  this official question .

I'd recommend reviewing that thread first, and, if you still have questions, feel free to tag  GMATNinja  again. Thanks!

CAMANISHPARMAR · Answer

Option B has a grammatically correct parrallel structure and is the correct answer.

Anuj6221 · Answer

A parallelism marker here

a lowering___ , a surge ___ ,and a lessening >> B and C remains . C can be eliminated as it distorts the meaning . (Lowering of crime rates , along with fears about public safety : what about public safety is it lowered /increased could not figure out from the intended sentence ) ; Option B omits the word Lowering (refer omitting words/phrases in parallelism )

EtaCarnia · Answer

Many criminologists argue that a substantial increase in the number of police personnel "walking the beat" should lead to lowering rates of crime, as well as lowering fears about public safety, a surge in public confidence in the police, and a lessening of the economic burden of street crime.

b) a lowering of crime rates and of fears about public safety

a) lowering rates of crime, as well as lowering fears about public safety
 lowering rates, a surge in public and a lessening : Not Parallel

b) a lowering of crime rates and of fears about public safety
Parallelism 1 : a lowering of crime , a surge in public confidence and a lessening of the economic burden
Parallelism 2 : of crime rates and of fears about public safety 
Correct choice

c) a lowering of crime rates, along with fears about public safety
Parallelism 1: correct
Parallelism 2 : of crime rates / with fears Not parallel

d) crime rates being lowered, along with fears about public safety
Parallelism 1: crime rates , , a surge in public confidence and a lessening of the economic burden Not parallel 
e) crime rates and fears about public safety being lowered, with.
Same as D

Many criminologists argue that a substantial increase in the

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Many criminologists argue that a substantial increase in the

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