Tropical bats play important roles in the rain forest ecosystem, aidin

There are two uses of semi-colon:
1) If two independent clauses are closely related, then in such a case we use semi-colon to separate the two clauses and not period.
2) If there is a list and if in that list again there are entities separated by comma, then it would be quite difficult to separate the items of list and entities. For such cases, usage of semi-colon becomes a necessity.

Apart from these two cases, there is no other usage of semi-colon.
Regards,

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended core meaning of this sentence is that tropical bats aid in the dispersal of cashew, date, and fig seeds, pollinate banana, breadfruit, and mango trees, and indirectly help to produce tequila by pollinating agave plants.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Parallelism + Verb Forms

• All elements in a list must be parallel.
• Semicolons and the “comma + conjunction” construction are used to link two independent clauses; commas are used to link an independent clause with a dependent one; comma cannot be used to join two independent clauses.
• The colon is used to introduce a list, a definition/explanation, or an answer/solution.
• For referring to the purpose/intent of an action, the infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb" - "to + produce" in this sentence) is preferred over the present participle ("verb+ing" - "producing" in this sentence).

A: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism among "aiding in the dispersal of cashew, date, and fig seeds", "pollinating banana, breadfruit, and mango trees", and "indirectly help to produce tequila by pollinating agave plants"; please remember, all elements in a list must be parallel.

B: Correct. This answer choice maintains parallelism among "aiding in the dispersal of cashew, date, and fig seeds", "pollinating banana, breadfruit, and mango trees", and "indirectly helping to produce tequila by pollinating agave plants". Further, Option B uses the construction "pollinating..indirectly helping to produce...plants", conveying the intended meaning - that tropical bats pollinate banana, breadfruit, and mango trees, and as a separate action, indirectly help to produce tequila by pollinating agave plants. Additionally, Option B avoids the grammatical construction error seen in Option C, as it does not join any independent clauses. Besides, Option B uses the infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb" - "to + produce" in this sentence) to refer to the purpose/intent of the action "helping".

C: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism among "aiding in the dispersal of cashew, date, and fig seeds", "pollinating banana, breadfruit, and mango trees", and "they indirectly help to produce tequila by pollinating agave plants"; please remember, all elements in a list must be parallel. Further, Option C incorrectly uses the "semicolon + conjunction ("and" in this case)" construction to join the independent clauses "Tropical bats play important roles in the rain forest ecosystem..." and "they indirectly help to produce tequila by pollinating agave plants"; please remember, semicolons and the “comma + conjunction” construction are used to link two independent clauses.

D: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism among "aiding in the dispersal of cashew, date, and fig seeds", "they pollinate banana, breadfruit, and mango trees", and "indirectly help producing tequila by pollinating agave plants"; please remember, all elements in a list must be parallel. Further, Option D uses the present participle ("verb+ing" - "producing" in this sentence) to refer to the purpose of the action "help"; please remember, for referring to the purpose/intent of an action, the infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb") is preferred over the present participle ("verb+ing" - "producing" in this sentence).

E: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase ":indirectly helping...plants"; the use of the semicolon incorrectly implies that tropical bats pollinate banana, breadfruit, and mango trees because they indirectly help to produce tequila by pollinating agave plants; the intended meaning is that tropical bats pollinate banana, breadfruit, and mango trees, and as a separate action, indirectly help to produce tequila by pollinating agave plants; please remember, the colon is used to introduce a list, a definition/explanation, or an answer/solution. Further, Option E uses the present participle ("verb+ing" - "producing" in this sentence) to refer to the purpose of the action "help"; please remember, for referring to the purpose/intent of an action, the infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb") is preferred over the present participle ("verb+ing" - "producing" in this sentence).

Additional Note: In this sentence, semicolons, rather than commas, have been used to separate the elements of a list; for the sake of clarity, this usage of semicolons is considered acceptable if the elements of the list contain commas within them, as is the case in the phrases "aiding in the dispersal of cashew, date, and fig seeds" and "pollinating banana, breadfruit, and mango trees".

Hence, B is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Infinitive vs Present Participles" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



To understand the concept of "Punctuations" on GMAT SC, you may want to watch the following video (~9 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

how can we have a dependent clause after semicolon?

Semicolons can be used to give ideas the same rank

https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/Semicolons.html

Found it here

hi abhimahna,

Can you please tell me, what is wrong with the original sentence:

Tropical bats play important roles in the rain forest ecosystem, aiding in the dispersal of cashew, date, and fig seeds; pollinating banana, breadfruit, and mango trees; and indirectly help produce tequila by pollinating agave plants.

aiding --> verb
pollinating --> verb
help --> verb

Is it that in || ism the tense also has to be maintained?

Definitely a trick used by GMAC here, to test on not so known information about "semicolons"

As Manhattan says: a minor use of the semicolon is to separate items that themselves contain commas

So I think there are two things to keep in mind when it comes to semicolons:

1. Used to connect two independent clauses
2. Used to present a list that involves number of comma's to separate the items in the list

Just my 2 cents : I think semicolon is not used ONLY for separating independent clauses. The semicolon is also used to separate lists which contains many connectors. In this case, all of the lists have their own list. So basically the main function is to prevent the messiness because we have so many AND.

By the way, I really believe that we have previous discussion about this question. You can google it first to see complete discussion.

I understand how option B is correct is correct taking into consideration that semicolons can also be used when there are lists within lists or when too many commas have been used.

Now, w.r.t to this rule, can someone please explain why is option D wrong. As I see it, the second semicolon correctly joins 2 independent clauses and the 3 semicolon correctly joins two lists as there are lists within these lists inside the second clause.

Also, the meaning of the sentence doesnot change as the lists in option B describes how bats help. In option D, the first list does d same as do the lists after the 2nd semicolon.

Expecting an explanation by an expert.

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In D the three actions compared are not parallel in forms.
aiding in the dispersal is not parallel with they pollinate banana... and help producing tequila ...

In D, why do we need to consider parallelism between aiding in the dispersal and they pollinate banana? As I have mentioned earlier, we can treat they pollinate banana...as a separate clause altogether. In that case, parallelism is not required between " aiding in the dispersal and they pollinate banana"

Hi aviejay, the sentence starts by stating that Tropical bats play important roles in the rain forest ecosystem. Thereafter, three different ways are suggested in which Tropical bats play important roles, all three related by virtue of three parallel Participial phrases.

Hence, parallelism is crucial here.

Hello Everyone!

This looks like an excellent example of a list question you would see on the GMAT exam! Let's start by taking a close look at the question, and highlight any major differences between each option in orange:

Tropical bats play important roles in the rain forest ecosystem, aiding in the dispersal of cashew, date, and fig seeds; pollinating banana, breadfruit, and mango trees; and indirectly help produce tequila by pollinating agave plants.

(a) pollinating banana, breadfruit, and mango trees; and indirectly help produce
(b) pollinating banana, breadfruit, and mango trees; and indirectly helping to produce
(c) pollinating banana, breadfruit, and mango trees; and they indirectly help to produce
(d) they pollinate banana, breadfruit, and mango trees; and indirectly help producing
(e) they pollinate banana, breadfruit, and mango trees: indirectly helping the producing of

After a quick glance over the options, 3 major differences appear:

1. pollinating / they pollinate
2. help / helping
3 produce / producing

Instead of tacking one issue at a time, let's first take a look at the type of sentence we're dealing with - a LIST QUESTION. Whenever we see a question that deals with a list on the GMAT, it's a major hint that we're going to deal with PARALLELISM!

One of the list items is not underlined: aiding in the dispersal of cashew, date, and fig seeds

The correct option MUST be written using parallel structure that matches the non-underlined part of the sentence. Let's see how each option holds up in terms of parallel structure:

(a) aiding in the dispersal of cashew, date, and fig seeds; pollinating banana, breadfruit, and mango trees; and indirectly help produce --> NOT PARALLEL

(b) aiding in the dispersal of cashew, date, and fig seeds; pollinating banana, breadfruit, and mango trees; and indirectly helping to produce --> PARALLEL

(c) aiding in the dispersal of cashew, date, and fig seeds; pollinating banana, breadfruit, and mango trees; and they indirectly help to produce --> NOT PARALLEL

(d) aiding in the dispersal of cashew, date, and fig seeds; they pollinate banana, breadfruit, and mango trees; and indirectly help producing --> NOT PARALLEL

(e) aiding in the dispersal of cashew, date, and fig seeds; they pollinate banana, breadfruit, and mango trees: indirectly helping the producing of --> NOT PARALLEL

Option B is the only one that follows parallel structure by using -ing verbs to introduce each item on the list, so it is the correct choice!


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.

The official explanation of choice E, it states that this version maintains parallelism throughout and the phrase 'helping the producing' is incorrect construction because of which this option is incorrect.

Though I understand that this option is incorrect, I am not able to understand why OE says that 'it maintains parallelism throughout'. Can someone help me understand the same?

aviejay




Aviejay

To understand your query better, may I ask as to which is the third semicolon in option D, or for that matter in any other choice.

You might also consider that a semicolon separates the parallel arms of a list or joins two independent clauses. However, it may do both at the same time, since the arms of a list are unlikely to be independent clauses.

It might also be seen that In choice D, the semicolon after the mango trees separates an IC and a just a subjectless and verbless phrase. It is also true that in B also the semicolon just doesn't separate an IC after mango trees. What comes in B after trees namely 'helping' is simply a participle phrase in rhyme with the prior 'aiding, and pollinating" So it passes the parallelism test.

I repeat that B is only a simple sentence in which the use of the semicolon is limited to just enlisting the three arms of a list and is not intended for joining ICs. D doesn't do a neat job of enlisting three parallel arms by 'verbing' the second arm.

If you can kindly give concrete shape to your ideas, it might be more helpful

In these examples the semicolon no more strictly requires the portion following it to be independent by itself. It more requires it to be parallel to the other entities in the sentence...
Am I correct?

Correct. That's a good observation!