The word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and refers

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

The word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and refers to the science or art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, or growing ornamental plants.


A. The word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and refers to the science or art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, or growing

This answer choice is grammatically incorrect. The first three items in the list of the sentence are nouns (fruits, vegetables, flowers), but the last item is a verb (growing).

In a list of 3 or more items, all the items should be in the same part of speech or of the same type of the part of speech (all nouns, or all verbs, or all adjectives...).

Correct: I like ice cream, chocolate, and chicken wings. (all three items are nouns)
Incorrect: Paul hates skiing, watching TV, and to do the Mambo dance. (although they are all verbs, they are in different verb forms.)

What helps us identify this question as a Parallelism question as well as identify the mistake is the following Stop Sign:

A list of 3 items or more, separated by commas and and/or before the last item.

B. The word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and refers to the science or art of cultivating fruits, growing vegetables, flowers, or

This answer choice is grammatically incorrect and repeats the original Parallelism mistake. The first two items in the list of the sentence are verbs (cultivating, growing), but the third and fourth items are nouns (flowers, ornamental plants).

In a list of 3 or more items, all the items should be in the same part of speech or of the same type of the part of speech (all nouns, or all verbs, or all adjectives...).

Correct: I like ice cream, chocolate, and chicken wings. (all three items are nouns)
Incorrect: Paul hates skiing, watching TV, and to do the Mambo dance. (although they are all verbs, they are in different verb forms.)

What helps us identify this question as a Parallelism question as well as identify the mistake is the following Stop Sign:

A list of 3 items or more, separated by commas and and/or before the last item.

C. The word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and is the science or art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, or

Although this answer choice corrects the original Parallelism error by making all the items in the list the same part of speech (in this case nouns), it is illogical. The subject of the sentence is The word horticulture, not actual horticulture. The word horticulture refers to/defines/describes the science or art described in the sentence.

What helps us identify this mistake is the following Stop Sign:

The word/term... (it) is...

Whenever we see this Stop Sign, we know that the topic that the question checks is pronouns, specifically using refers to/defines/describes after the word/term (and not is).


D. The word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and refers to the science or art of the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, flowers, or

In the original sentence, the first three items in the list of the sentence are nouns (fruits, vegetables, flowers), but the last item is a verb (growing). This answer choice corrects this Parallelism error by removing the verb to leave the noun ornamental plants.


E. Originating from the Latin word hortus, the word horticulture is the science or art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, or

Although this answer choice corrects the original Parallelism error by making all the items in the list the same part of speech (in this case nouns), it is illogical. The subject of the sentence is The word horticulture, not actual horticulture. The word horticulture refers to/defines/describes the science or art described in the sentence.

What helps us identify this mistake is the following Stop Sign:

The word/term... (it) is...

Whenever we see this Stop Sign, we know that the topic that the question checks is pronouns, specifically using refers to/defines/describes after the word/term (and not is).
_________________

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 meaning of this sentence is that the word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and refers to the science or art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, or ornamental plants.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Tenses + Parallelism

• Information that is permanent in nature is best conveyed through the simple present tense.

A: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism among "fruits", "vegetables", "flowers", and "growing ornamental plants", as the first three are nouns and the fourth is a verb phrase; please remember, all elements in a list must be parallel.

B: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism among "cultivating fruits", "growing vegetables", "flowers", and "ornamental plants", as the first two are verb phrases and the latter two are nouns; please remember, all elements in a list must be parallel.

C: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the clause "The word horticulture...is the science or art of...plants"; the construction of this clause illogically implies that the word horticulture is the science or art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, or ornamental plants; the intended meaning is that the word horticulture refers to the science or art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, or ornamental plants.

D: Correct. This answer choice uses the clause "The word horticulture...refers to the science or art of...plants", conveying the intended meaning; that the word horticulture refers to the science or art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, or ornamental plants. Further, Option D correctly uses the simple present tense verb "originates" to refer to information that is permanent in nature. Additionally, Option D correctly maintains parallelism among "fruits", "vegetables", "flowers", and "ornamental plants".

E: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the clause "the word horticulture is the science or art...plants" the construction of this clause illogically implies that the word horticulture is the science or art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, or ornamental plants; the intended meaning is that the word horticulture refers to the science or art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, or ornamental plants. Further, Option E incorrectly uses the present participle ("verb+ing" - "Originating" in this sentence) to refer to information that is permanent in nature; please remember, information that is permanent in nature is best conveyed through the simple present tense.

Hence, D is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team
_________________

A. The word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and refers to the science or art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, or growing

A list of nouns(fruits, vegetables, flowers & ornamental plants) follows "the science or art of" and all the elements within that list need to be parallel. In this case, the first three elements(fruits, vegetables & flowers) are parallel but the last one(ornamental plants) is thrown off by the introduction of the verb "growing" into the list of nouns.

B. The word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and refers to the science or art of cultivating fruits, growing vegetables, flowers, or

Again, same problem of the introduction of verb "growing" into the list of nouns.

C. The word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and is the science or art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, or

"The word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and is the science or art of".
While reading the non-stricken part, it becomes clear that the "word" Horticulture is not the Science(or Art). It's not the word but what that word means is the science(or Art).

D. The word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and refers to the science or art of the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, flowers, or

List is proper. And the reference to "Horticulture" is corrected by the use of "refers".

E. Originating from the Latin word hortus, the word horticulture is the science or art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, or

Same problem as in C.

1) List should be parallel
cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, or ornamental plants is fine
cultivation of fruits, vegetables, flowers, or ornamental plants is fine
Element A and B

2)
"Word originates" makes sense
"Word refers" to makes sense
Word is the science of is wrong
Eliminate C and E

(D) is correct

Correct option D

Sentence Exam on - Parallelism
1. originates from parallel to refer to
2. List of noun, verb included in it

A. The word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and refers to the science or art of cultivating
- fruits, (Noun)
- vegetables, (Noun)
- flowers, (Noun) or
- growing (verb) ornamental plants
Flaw : Parallelsim Noun List error

B. The word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and refers to the science or art of cultivating
- fruits, (Noun)
- growing v(verb) vegetables,
- flowers, (Noun) or
- ornamental plants (Noun)
Flaw : Parallelsim Noun List error

C. The word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and is the science or art of cultivating
- fruits, (Noun)
- vegetables, (Noun)
- flowers, or (Noun)
- ornamental plants (Noun)
Flaw : Parallelsim "originates from" not parallel to "refer to" error, plus - verb "is" demeans the sentence intended meaning

D. The word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and refers to the science or art of the cultivation of
- fruits, (Noun)
- vegetables, (Noun)
- flowers, or (Noun)
- ornamental plants (Noun)
Correct

E. Originating from the Latin word hortus, the word horticulture is the science or art of cultivating
fruits, (Noun)
vegetables, (Noun)
flowers, (Noun) or
ornamental plants (Noun)
Flaw : Sentence structure error, demeans the intended meaning

My answer is (D). It took me 01:18.

When we have a list X, Y, and Z, it is of upmost importance to make sure X, Y and Z are parallel.

(A) "cultivating fruits", "vegetables", "flowers", and "growing ornamental plants" are not parallel.

(B) "cultivating fruits", "growing vegetables", "flowers", and "ornamental plants" are not parallel.

(C) The word itself cannot be the "science or art".

(E) See above.

The word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and refers to the science or art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, or growing ornamental plants.

Here we note cultivating and growing are same intended meaning and hence using them together is redundant.


A. The word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and refers to the science or art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, or growing
'cultivating' and 'growing' usage is causing redundancy and list error. Eliminate

B. The word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and refers to the science or art of cultivating fruits, growing vegetables, flowers, or
'cultivating' and 'growing' usage is causing redundancy and list error. Eliminate

C. The word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and is the science or art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, or
reference error-'the word' is not science or art. Eliminate


D. The word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and refers to the science or art of the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, flowers, or
The sentence is clean and concise with no redundancy or reference errors. So the answer is D

E. Originating from the Latin word hortus, the word horticulture is the science or art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, or
reference error-'the word' is not science or art & misses the 'growing' from original sentence. Eliminate

IMO D

The word horticulture -
1. originates from the Latin word hortus
AND
2. refers to the science or art of cultivating
i. fruits,
ii. vegetables,
iii. flowers, or
iv. growing ornamental plants. - Option A is not Parallel.
The Author Could have made two lists but since we have only one coordinating conjunction "Or" in the embedded list we cannot have a list with "Cultivating" and "growing" as parallel.

B. LETS BREAK THIS OPTION DOWN FOR BETTER UNDERSTANDING --
The word horticulture
1. originates from the Latin word hortus
AND
2. refers to the science or art of
i. cultivating fruits,
ii. growing vegetables,
iv flowers, Or ... Plants Not parallel Cultivating .. Growing ... Flowers... - Eliminate B

C. The word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and is the science or art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, or
E. Originating from the Latin word hortus, the word horticulture is the science or art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, or
C and E have same error - The word Horticulture cannot be Science or Art !


D. The word horticulture originates
1. from the Latin word hortus
AND
2. refers to the science or art of the cultivation of
i. fruits,
ii. vegetables,
iii flowers, OR
iv plants

The word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and refers to the science or art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, or growing ornamental plants.


A. The word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and refers to the science or art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, or growing Incorrect

this choice has parallelism problem - uses of growing before ornamental plants breaks parallelism

B. The word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and refers to the science or art of cultivating fruits, growing vegetables, flowers, or Incorrect

same as A

C. The word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and is the science or art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, or Incorrect

The word cant be science or art

D. The word horticulture originates from the Latin word hortus and refers to the science or art of the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, flowers, or Correct

E. Originating from the Latin word hortus, the word horticulture is the science or art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, or Incorrect

The word cant be science or art
_________________