Natural GDP, Price/wage spiral and Non-Accelerating Inflation

teaserbae Here is my shot at the explanation:

Structure of the original sentence seems to be something like this:
A, B & C are being studied for their potential to be triggers of X(noun), Y(veb-ing) and Z(noun)

Here we have make X, Y, and Z in the same form and format and we need to make sure that our sentence is grammatically and logically correct.
E1: triggers of inflation
E2: causing increased shoe leather costs
E3: contributors of redistribution

Using the word "to" in front of one element means you probably want to use the same word in front of other elements to maintain the parallel. Also "to something" is infinitive in other words it shows an intention.

Now if we use "as" in front of one element we will probably use "as" in front of other elements as well to maintain parallelism. For example, John uses his car as a private vehicle, as a taxi and as a place to sleep in an emergency. However, It may be that the same sentence could also be said as following John uses his car as a private vehicle, a taxi and a place to sleep in an emergency. I will ask an expert GMATNinja, egmat to confirm if I am correct?

Now both to and as are prepositions, so what we can say is that we need to keep all the three elements consistent that means in the prepositional phrase while maintaining the similar structure of all the three elements.

Natural GDP, Price/wage spiral and Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment, are increasingly being studied for their potential to be triggers of inflation, possibly causing increased shoe leather costs, and significant contributors to redistribution.

A. to be triggers of inflation, possibly causing increased shoe leather costs, and ( Structure of three elements here is: to be X(noun), Y(Y is in a Verb-ing form), and Z(noun form)- therefore not parallel)

B. to be triggers of inflation, possibly increasingly causing shoe leather costs, and even as ( Structure: to be x(noun), Y(used as verb-ing), and as Z(noun- We cant use "to" for element 1 & as for element 3) therefore wrong

C. as triggers of inflation, possibly causing increasing shoe leather costs, and (structure: as X(Noun), Y(verb-ing form), Z (Noun). Does not maintain parallelism therfore wrong)

D. as triggers of inflation, and the possible cause of increasing shoe leather costs, (Structure: as X(noun), and Y(Y here is in clause form not a phrase), Z(noun). Breaking the parallelism so wrong

E. as triggers of inflation, as possible causes of increasing shoe leather costs, and even as ( Structure: as X(noun), as Y(noun-causes is used as a noun here) and as Z(noun). Hence all three elements maintain a prepositional phrase with the use of the word "as" and all elements are in noun form- Correct)


Any feedback is much appreciated.

Just a friendly reminder: please please please always include your source whenever you post questions in the forums! Especially verbal questions, since it's really, really hard for anybody to write anything that even vaguely resembles official GMAT verbal questions.

Unfortunately, I'm deeply skeptical of this one, and it clearly comes from a non-official source. There are punctuation and capitalization errors in the non-underlined portion, sadly. So I wouldn't recommend spending any time on this question at all.

That said... nice work on the parallelism issue, Rocket7!

Yes, you're correct. Either version of that sentence would technically be completely fine, and in real life, the decision to include or omit "as" in all three elements just comes down to the author's stylistic choice.

I hope this helps a little bit, even with the dodgy original question!

GMATNinja Charles a pad on the back from you is an unbelievable feeling! I am a huge fan of yours and thank you for responding to my PM back in Feb. Your videos, explanations and a phenomenal up front no BS personality is much appreciated during this grueling process of learning GMAT topics. You are one hell of a man! Proud of you and I hope to see you in Colorado one day!

Thank you so much for the kind words, Rocket7! And wait... I actually responded to a PM!?! I get a MOUNTAIN of them, and have zero prayer of keeping up. And feel terrible about it most of the time. Glad to hear that yours escaped the pile!

GMATNinja I am happy that it did and I truly appreciate the valuable advice.