Business owners who have relocated from large urban areas to small tow

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION



THE PROMPT



THE OPTIONS

• in small towns, long-term customers:
(1) are difficult to find
(2) are not as wealthy as their urban counterparts, and
(3) are somewhat reluctant to spend money.
• the linking verb [i]are correctly connects long-term customers with three adjective phrases
• I see no issues. KEEP


• the word "but" is not
• the phrase but are not as wealthy as urban counterparts has no logically contrasting relationship with "difficult to find."
-- long-term customers are both difficult to find and not as wealthy as their urban counterparts
• be on guard when a list is "broken up" by conjunctions (e.g. and, but, or




• when speech is reported, the word "state" should be followed by that
• a verb or other word to which each item is connected should be placed before only the first list item or all three list items
• almost always, GMAC places the word before only the first item. (I can't think of an official example in which "are" is repeated, but there may be a few such examples)
ELIMINATE C


• the trap answer: we do not need to "fix" the "not" in the second adjective by setting off the second item in some way.
• the verb are ruins parallelism because it is repeated before the second item (and not the third)
• the conjunction "and" belongs before the last time (without exception, the last item in a list is preceded by comma+ conjunction)
Correct: X, Y, and Z
Wrong: X, and Y, Z
ELIMINATE D


• as in (C), "that" is missing
• as in (B), "but" implies illogical contrast
• "or" is confusing in this sentence because it reinforces the error created by "but."
ELIMINATE E

The best answer is A

• NOTES

Subject complements
The word "are" is a linking verb that connects the subject to the adjectives, nouns, or pronouns that describe the subject.
In a list, those descriptors, called "subject complements," should be parallel.

We have three adjective phrases that are parallel, as I laid out just below (A).
In this case, the word "not" does not make the phrase function differently from the other two phrases: "not as rich as their urban counterparts" describes the customers.


Repeating verbs in a list
Although placing the verb "are" before each item would not be wrong in a strict sense, doing so would not be concise or stylistically preferred.
I do not recall an official sentence in which the same linking verb was repeated before each list item. In any case, repetition is rare.

COMMENTS

Good news: explanations in these posts range from excellent to outstanding. Nicely done! Happy kudos!