LoneSurvivor wrote:
Off-shoring technology jobs has allowed American companies to significantly cut their operating expenses, but it has also been blamed for cutting hundreds of domestic jobs, affecting thousands of American citizens, and greatly increasing the unemployment rate.
Meaning: Sending jobs overseas . . . has been blamed for X, Y, and Z. Those three items must be parallel.
The non-underlined portion contains the first item in the list.
Cutting is a gerund. (A verbING.) It acts as a noun does but keep verb-like qualities.
We need three gerunds.
We find them in A and B, but the third item in B is ungrammatical and a stylistic disaster.
Quote:
A) Off-shoring technology jobs has allowed American companies to significantly cut their operating expenses, but it has also been blamed for cutting hundreds of domestic jobs, affecting thousands of American citizens, and greatly increasing the unemployment rate.
• blamed for . . . cutting, . . . affecting, . . . and increasing. • I see no problems.
It does not matter that an adjective precedes the gerund (verbING) in the third item.
All three are gerund phrases: a noun-like thing and modifiers.
KEEP.Quote:
B) Off-shoring technology jobs has allowed American companies to significantly cut their operating expenses, but it has also been blamed for cutting hundreds of domestic jobs, affecting thousands of American citizens, and causing great increase in the unemployment rate.
• the phrase
causing great increase in the unemployment rate is
not grammatical.
-- The noun needs an article, this way: causing A great increase.
-- Even then, the phrase is not idiomatic.
Wrong: Journalists have chronicled
great increase in the rate of hate crimes since the election of Donald Trump.
Wrong: The blizzard created
great increase in the rate of car accidents.
• not idiomatic. We say "A steep, sharp, or rapid" increase in
the rate of unemployment, but not "great increase."
• the phrase is clumsy and strange,
• OR, simply compare to option (A).
A) . . . greatly increasing the unemployment rate
B) . . .causing great increase in the unemployment rate
-- If nothing else, go with concision in (A).
Eliminate B.
Quote:
C) Off-shoring technology jobs has allowed American companies to significantly cut their operating expenses, but it has also been blamed for cutting hundreds of domestic jobs, thousands of American citizens affected, and the unemployment rate greatly increased.
• the objects of the preposition for (blamed for) are not parallel: cutting [jobs], thousands [affected], unemployment rate [increased]
gerund + object, noun+ past participle, noun + past participle.
Eliminate C
Quote:
D) Off-shoring technology jobs has allowed American companies to significantly cut their operating expenses, but it has also been blamed for cutting hundreds of domestic jobs and thousands of affected American citizens [comma?] and greatly increasing the unemployment rate.
• The meaning is absurd:
. . . also been blamed for cutting . . . thousands of affected Americans?No. What, with knives? Nonsense.
Eliminate D[/color]
Quote:
E) Off-shoring technology jobs has allowed American companies to significantly cut their operating expenses, but it has also been blamed for cutting hundreds of domestic jobs, thousands of American citizens affected, and great increase in the unemployment rate.
. . . "blamed for"cutting jobs, thousands affected,and great increase in the unemployment rate.
Not parallel; the errors are similar to those in C.
The problem in B returns in E. The phrase "blamed for
great increase in the unemployment rate" is not grammatical, idiomatic, or rhetorically sound.
Eliminate E.
The answer is A.
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