The simple concept of personal computing, hatched by several Silicon V

Hi abhi398.
I'm glad to help.

The simple concept of personal computing, hatched by several Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and permeating almost all of modern society, remains perhaps the most important technological idea of the last 50 years.

a) hatched by several Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and permeating almost all of modern society
Correct. "hatched" (Verb-ed modifier) || permeating (Verb-ing modifier) <== both modify "the simple concept of PC".
Note:
* Verb+ed modifier ==> always modifies a preceding NOUN - a concept of personal computing. The modifier does not modifies the nearest noun - personal computing because of the critical mission preposition "OF".
* Verb-ing modifier + comma ==> modifies a preceding clause. The preceding part is not a clause, but a noun phrase. ==> "permeating" modifies "the simple concept of PC".

b) which was hatched by several Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and that permeated almost all of modern society
Wrong. Parallelism problem.

c) which was hatched by several Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and permeating almost all of modern society
Wrong. Parallelism problem.

d) hatched by several Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, and which permeates almost all of modern society
Wrong. Parallelism problem.

e) a concept hatched by several Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and that permeated almost all of modern society
Wrong. Parallelism problem.

Hope it helps.

Until now I thought that for parallelism, one side needs to be parallel with the other i.e. -ed / -ed, or -ing / -ing. Now this jumps off!
a) thanks for the explanation
b) can you pinpoint to some references? I can't find something similar in the MGMAT SC guide...

A is the only answer choice that maintains parallel structure.

"The simple concept of personal computing" is modified by:
- hatched by several Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. Verb-ED Modifier
- and permeating almost all of modern society. Verb-ING Modifier (with no comma)

Even if it sounds counterintuitive, a Verb-ED Modifier and a Verb-ING Modifier (with no comma) are parallel.

Another way to think about this is that they are both phrases that modify a noun.
You can mix phrase + phrase (answer choice A) but you cannot mix phrase + clause (answer choices C, D, and E)

The simple concept of personal computing, hatched by several Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and permeating almost all of modern society, remains perhaps the most important technological idea of the last 50 years.


The question becomes very simple if you just rearrange the parts of the sentence as follows :

Hatched by several Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and permeating almost all of modern society, the simple concept of personal computing remains perhaps the most important technological idea of the last 50 years.

This makes it very clear that the modifying clause "hatched by ....& permeating almost...." is modifying the SUBJECT "The simple concept" ...

If we don't do this, the original sentence gives you an impression that "hatched" (a verb-ed modifier) is modifying the noun "personal computing" which is right before the modifier... (I made this mistake and got the question wrong)

Once you do this, the question becomes a parallelism question and you just have to check whether "hatched" and "permeating" are parallel to each other ...and yes they are ...

This structure is not present in any of the answer choices except A ..

Hence A is correct.
a) hatched by several Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and permeating almost all of modern society
b) which was hatched by several Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and that permeated almost all of modern society
c) which was hatched by several Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and permeating almost all of modern society
d) hatched by several Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, and which permeates almost all of modern society
e) a concept hatched by several Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and that permeated almost all of modern society
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Why is option E wrong
That in D refers to concept so i think it is alright and is parallel .
Am i correct in my reasoning ?
Please explain

In option E "hatched" and "that permeating" are not parallel....

Hence, E is incorrect...

Had it been "a concept THAT hatched...and THAT permeating..." than it would have been grammatically parallel ...

Does this makes sense ?


Sent from my iPhone using GMAT Club Forum mobile app
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mikemcgarry sayantanc2k
Can "that" and "which" be parallel ?

(A) hatched by several Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and permeating almost all of modern society

(B) which was hatched by several Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and that permeated almost all of modern society

(C) which was hatched by several Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and permeating almost all of modern society

(D) hatched by several Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, and which permeates almost all of modern society

(E) a concept hatched by several Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and that permeated almost all of modern society


A. "hatched" and "permeating" are participles correctly modifying subject of the sentence before the comma.

B. "which" and "that" wrongly modifying personal computing.

C. Same as B

D. parallelism error between "hatched" and "which permeates"

E. parallelism error
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GMATNinjaTwo , broall , hazelnut , daagh

I rejected A because a Verb-ing modifier preceded by a comma cannot modify a noun phrase. It can modify a clause.
Also What is wrong with D and E??

daagh sir

Doesn't "permeating" which happens to be a verb-ing modifier modify a noun phrase? Is this acceptable?

Moreover in the following question:

Using technical knowledge and experience, clay is manipulated by ceramic artists with an endless amount of creative sculpting and firing methods.


D. Ceramic artists, using technical knowledge as well as experience, manipulate clay with an endless amount of creative sculpting and firing methods


Here option D is the wrong answer just because a v-ing modifier is modifying a noun phrase

D. Ceramic artists, using technical knowledge as well as experience, manipulate clay with an endless amount of creative sculpting and firing methods

When the modification is not apparent, we have to go by logic since nobody other than the artists could have used technical knowledge as well as experience. I would say that a noun phrase interrupted by a modifier and separated from its verb is somewhat stylistically inferior to the choice that uses the modifier as an adjectival modifier and modifies the noun immediately after as seen in C.
Similarly, in the given case, two modifiers that come after it as in A. modify the noun phrase in the front.
You might see all other choices from B to E falter on parallelism.
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A - looks good for its parallel structure
B - "which" and "that" are not parallel
C - the similar issue
D - the similar issue, but this case introduces ",' that is required when there are more than 2 elements in the list.
E - verb -ed and that are not parallel

Answer is A

look at c, c is parallel.
was hatched and "was" permeating
this is parallel.
but the problem is that "was permeating" is wrong. permeating still exist. so, it is good to use " has permeating" or dont say about time at all as in choice a, " permeating"

this is the error of c. not parallel error.

am i correct. ?

daagh , MartyMurray

How does B falter on parallelism. I am finding it difficult to eliminate. Can anybody help?

(B) which was hatched by several Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and that permeated almost all of modern society

The problem with B is the use of the word "that" before "permeated".

The use of the comma after "computing" and the use of the word "which" have already set up the modifier "which was hatched by several Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and that permeated almost all of modern society" to be a non-essential modifier. Also, the context in which the modifier appears and what it says clearly indicate that a non-essential modifier is called for and that the modifier is, in fact, a non-essential modifier.

So, the use, later in the modifier, of "that", which is generally considered the pronoun used to indicate that a modifier is essential, rather than non-essential, does not make sense.
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OFFICIAL EXPLANATION FROM VERITAS


Solution: A

Explanation: Participles such as “hatched” and “permeating” are adjectives that can be mixed and matched as long as the meaning is correct. The forms do not have to match: “ed”s can go with “ing”s! Given that, (A) is the only correct sentence: the concept was hatched and continues permeating almost all of modern society. All the others contain fatal flaws: “which was hatched and that permeated” is clearly not parallel as the which goes with both: which that permeated is wrong. “which was hatched and permeating” is also structurally incorrect so (C) is wrong. “hatched by and which permeates” is also a sentence construction so similarly (D) is wrong. Lastly, (E) is incorrect for the same reason as “a concept hatched and that permeated is clearly not parallel. Answer is (A): the concept, hatched….and permeating, remains….” is perfectly parallel and the only choice that does not contain a construction error.

Is this question's quality any good?
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