Quote:
GMATNinja : Can you please explain why D is incorrect?
I picked D(for managing) over E(to manage) as it continued parallel structure.
for exchanging sensitive information
for managing
The choice between "for managing" and "to manage" has absolutely nothing to do with parallelism here. Parallelism is only relevant if you have some sort of trigger that indicates a list (of verbs, nouns, modifiers, etc.). "And" and "or" are the most common parallelism triggers.
In this case, "and" is the parallelism trigger. Here's (D), inserted into the original sentence:
Noting that the company's network is vulnerable to viruses and spyware, the consultant has urged Infotech to upgrade its protection software, institute new policies for exchanging sensitive information, and assemble a special team of information technology specialists for managing network security protocols.
"And" indicates the end of a list of three verbs: "upgrade," "institute", and "assemble." And then the list is over. The stuff that comes after the word "assemble" has nothing to do with the parallel structure. So in this case, both (D) and (E) are 100% fine in terms of the parallelism.
The difference between "for managing" and "to manage" is just an idiom thing, as others here have mentioned. "To manage" is correct here, but I wouldn't lose too much sleep over that particular idiom: you're unlikely to see it again as a deciding factor. Please always keep in mind that this one is NOT an official question...
and there are something like 25,000 idioms in English, so memorizing every single one is a tough thing to do.
We'll also post a
Topic of the Week on parallelism at some point in the next month or two...