Although the government has taken several steps to counter the effects

But in option B ... wouldn't the sentence read "questions continue to linger about for how long it will continue"
is this correct?

My answer is (B). It took me 01:39.

(A) At first glance, (A) seems to be ok. It is only after I read (B) that I realized the issue with (A): we cannot say "how deep this slowdown will continue".
(B) It fixed the issue in (A). This is a rather long list consisting of 4 items.
(C) See (A).
(D) Lack of parallelism.
(E) So poorly written that it can never be a plausible answer. It is also the longest verion.

Although the government has taken several steps to counter the effects of the debilitating recession that has gripped the nation over the past six months, questions continue to linger about how deep and for how long this slowdown will continue, which companies will be most affected by it, and what further steps will be required to recover from it.

Underline part is telling about questions related to recession. Here they are four and all shall be in parallel.

A) how deep and for how long this slowdown will continue, which companies will be most affected by it, and what further steps will be required to recover from it.
Meaning is changed. It reflects "how deep this slowdown will continue"

B) how deep the slowdown is, for how long it will continue, which companies will be most affected by it, and what further steps will be required to recover from it.
Error highlighted in A is adressed here.

C) how deep and for how long this slowdown will continue, which companies will be most affected by it, as well as about further steps that will be required to recover from it.
Same error mentioned in A. Also parallelism issue in last clause

D) how deep the slowdown is and for how long it will continue, the companies will be most affected by it, and further steps will be required to recover from it.
Parallelism issue in last two clauses

E) how deep and for how long this slowdown will continue as well as the companies that will be most affected by it, along with further steps that will be required to recover from it.
Parallelism issue

IMO B

IMO B


A) how deep and for how long this slowdown will continue, which companies will be most affected by it, and what further steps will be required to recover from it. - Incorrect
Illogical. how deep this slowdown will continue ??.

B) how deep the slowdown is, for how long it will continue, which companies will be most affected by it, and what further steps will be required to recover from it. - Correct

C) how deep and for how long this slowdown will continue, which companies will be most affected by it, as well as about further steps that will be required to recover from it. Incorrect
Illogical. how deep this slowdown will continue ??.

D) how deep the slowdown is and for how long it will continue, the companies will be most affected by it, and further steps will be required to recover from it. Incorrect
Parallelism issue. the part before the comma are 2 question, but the other two portions after the comma with and are clauses

E) how deep and for how long this slowdown will continue as well as the companies that will be most affected by it, along with further steps that will be required to recover from it. Incorrect
Parallelism issue. As well as is a parallelism marker and the part before it is a question but after the marker we have a clause

Aswin12 , you ask a good question, albeit one whose answer contains nuances, most of which you would not be expected to understand.

Essentially,
(1) we need "for" because the time period is unspecified and "for how long" means "for what length of time," in which case, the preposition is needed;
(2) "about for" is not a thing;
(3) items in parallel lists must be similar parts of speech and must play the same logical role in the sentence, but the items do not have to be structured identically; and
(4) this list is a collection of WH words: what, how, and which.

I agree that the word "for" makes the list stutter a bit, but that stutter is probably unavoidable because "for" is often required when duration is not specified.
Parallelism does not require that the items be written in identical formats.

If you want to skip the discussion of "for how long" and "how long," read
→ "About for": Preposition + Preposition?
After that part, skip down to the bolded bullet point (•• A simpler approach) to find what I think is the simplest approach.

A good handful of you will not be satisfied with "simple." Don't blame the messenger if you don't skip to the bullet point.

→ "About for": Preposition + Preposition?

Think about the fact that about is used as a preposition in this context. See the Oxford online dictionary, here.

Now, what part of speech is "for"? A preposition.

In English, phrasal prepositions exist.

Phrasal prepositions contain more than one preposition.
Examples include along with, according to, in front of, and on the basis of.

About for is not a recognized phrasal preposition.

About for contains back-to-back prepositions, a usage that is both not standard and usually ungrammatical.

Finally, about for does not actually mean anything to a native speaker. The phrase is nonsensical.

→ "FOR how long" vs "how long"?

There is a bit of a squabble about whether how long and for how long are different and whether for is needed.

In spoken English, when we are asking about the time period during which an event lasts, "for" is often dropped, but such usage is not okay across the board.

Let's look at statements and the way in which they would be turned into questions.

When specific time periods are given (durations, really), for is often not needed and sometimes wrong.

Correct: It will take two hours to cook the roast.

Not: It will take for two hours to cook the roast.

Correct question: How long will it take to cook the roast?

Not: For how long will it take to cook the roast?

When the duration of the time period is not specified, we may need for.

Correct in both spoken and written form: We studied worldwide racism for years to understand its societal cost.

Not: We studied worldwide racism years to understand its societal cost.

Correct: For how long did you study worldwide racism?

Informal, common, but probably not grammatical: How long did you study worldwide racism?

If we use for in the statement, we should probably use for in the question.

Correct: The forest fires lasted for weeks.

Not: The forest fires lasted weeks.

We can also look at meaning.
For how long could be replaced with for what length of time.

Correct: We corresponded with each other for years.

Wrong: We corresponded with each other years.

Correct for sure: For what length of time did you correspond with each other?

Informally used but probably not grammatical: What length of time did you correspond with each other?

In order to maintain unnecessarily perfect structural parallelism, some people might be tempted to write, How long will the meeting last for?
Be careful.
GMAC usually frowns on prepositions placed at the end of sentences, but not always.

Again, some disagreement exists about the phrase for how long. (I am with the formalists. I think that the use of "for" in this context is correct.)

Unless we are sure that GMAC has sanctioned a disputed usage (e.g. on the GMAT, "compare with" and "compare to" are interchangeable, so we need not worry about being tested on the distinction between them), we should err on the side of safety.

For those of you who like to read somewhat impenetrable grammar and linguistic analysis (cue yours truly), go here and here. In the second linked page, pay attention to the discussion between Lian and Pete855217.

The answer to the question posed is not straightforward.

I would not worry about these razor-thin distinctions..

•• A simpler approach

I think the better approach is to recognize that

(1) parallelism does not require that all the items be structured identically, and

(2) our job is to eliminate the four worst answers, not to find a perfect answer.

Three of these five options contain serious meaning problems. Incorrect meaning always trumps what might seem like slightly imperfect grammar.

Finally, can you argue that any other option is better? If so, then option B is not the best answer and you are right.

I hope that helps. (Whew!)

Posted from my mobile device

Although the government has taken several steps to counter the effects of the debilitating recession that has gripped the nation over the past six months, questions continue to linger about how deep and for how long this slowdown will continue, which companies will be most affected by it, and what further steps will be required to recover from it.

Pre-thinking: Parallelism with 'wh' questions

A) how deep and for how long this slowdown will continue, which companies will be most affected by it, and what further steps will be required to recover from it.
The meaning of the above highlighted text is 'how deep this slowdown will continue' which does not make sense.

B) how deep the slowdown is, for how long it will continue, which companies will be most affected by it, and what further steps will be required to recover from it.

C) how deep and for how long this slowdown will continue, which companies will be most affected by it, as well as about further steps that will be required to recover from it.

D) how deep the slowdown is and for how long it will continue, the companies will be most affected by it, and further steps will be required to recover from it.
Parallelism with 'wh' questions not present for the last 2 parts.

E) how deep and for how long this slowdown will continue as well as the companies that will be most affected by it, along with further steps that will be required to recover from it.
Parallelism missing similar to Option D.

IMO answer should be Option B.

Although the government has taken several steps to counter the effects of the debilitating recession that has gripped the nation over the past six months, questions continue to linger about how deep and for how long this slowdown will continue, which companies will be most affected by it, and what further steps will be required to recover from it.

A) how deep and for how long this slowdown will continue, which companies will be most affected by it, and what further steps will be required to recover from it. -> how deep and for how long, "And" is incorrect to use. here there are two different list items and other list items follow as well. We need "and" in last list item. Incorrect.

B) how deep the slowdown is, for how long it will continue, which companies will be most affected by it, and what further steps will be required to recover from it. -> Now, we have 4 list items, how deep, for how long, which companies and what further steps. It is parallel. Let's keep it.

C) how deep and for how long this slowdown will continue, which companies will be most affected by it, as well as about further steps that will be required to recover from it. -> Parallelism error. Same error as A.

D) how deep the slowdown is and for how long it will continue, the companies will be most affected by it, and further steps will be required to recover from it. -> Same error as A.

E) how deep and for how long this slowdown will continue as well as the companies that will be most affected by it, along with further steps that will be required to recover from it. ->Parallelism error.

So, I think B.

Although the government has taken several steps to counter the effects of the debilitating recession that has gripped the nation over the past six months, questions continue to linger about how deep and for how long this slowdown will continue, which companies will be most affected by it, and what further steps will be required to recover from it.


A) how deep and for how long this slowdown will continue, which companies will be most affected by it, and what further steps will be required to recover from it. Incorrect

how deep and for how long this slowdown will continue - illogical meaning

B) how deep the slowdown is, for how long it will continue, which companies will be most affected by it, and what further steps will be required to recover from it. Correct

C) how deep and for how long this slowdown will continue, which companies will be most affected by it, as well as about further steps that will be required to recover from it.Incorrect

how deep and for how long this slowdown will continue - illogical meaning
there is no and between list, so as well as uses wrong

D) how deep the slowdown is and for how long it will continue, the companies will be most affected by it, and further steps will be required to recover from it. Incorrect

parallelism error - ............how deep.......and for how long......, the companies will........., and further steps will............

E) how deep and for how long this slowdown will continue as well as the companies that will be most affected by it, along with further steps that will be required to recover from it. Incorrect

how deep and for how long this slowdown will continue - illogical meaning
as well as uses wrong

IMO B

Straight cut parallelism.

Although the government has taken several steps to counter the effects of the debilitating recession that has gripped the nation over the past six months, questions continue to linger about how deep and for how long this slowdown will continue, which companies will be most affected by it, and what further steps will be required to recover from it.


A) how deep (subject missing) and for how long this slowdown will continue, which companies will be most affected by it, and what further steps will be required to recover from it.
Lacking parallelism

B) how deep the slowdown is, for how long it will continue, which companies will be most affected by it, and what further steps will be required to recover from it.
Correct.

C) how deep (subject missing) and for how long this slowdown will continue, which companies will be most affected by it, as well as about further steps that will be required to recover from it.
Lacking parallelism

D) how deep the slowdown is and for how long it will continue, the companies will be most affected by it, <question missing> and further steps will be required to recover from it.
Lacking parallelism

E) how deep (subject missing)and for how long this slowdown will continue as well as the companies that will be most affected by it, along with further steps that will be required to recover from it.
Lacking parallelism

The official explanation is here.