Symptoms of a severe allergic reaction to a bee sting may include

OFFICIAL ANSWER



I posted a similar question a couple of weeks ago that I like a bit more. In that question I discussed concrete and action nouns. That question is HERE

This question is a 4-1 split.

• Split #1: Losing is not parallel

"Losing" is a gerund (a verbING) that is an action noun. Of all the __ING words, losing is the least parallel to dizziness, hives, and rashes in the non-underlined portion of the sentence. And in option D, we see that "losing" has a regular noun form, namely, loss.

Options A, B, C, and E use three nouns (which vary) and losing.
Losing consciousness is a verb-like noun phrase full of action. It is closer to a verb than are swelling, itching, and breathing difficulties /difficulty breathing.

-- losing has a noun form, loss, which should be used. In fact, Option D's use of loss is a Big Hint.
-- Eliminate A, B, C, and E

• Option D is correct

-- The noun form of losing is loss, which D uses.

-- (D) correctly changes itching to its noun form, itch.

-- Difficulty breathing (see below) is a compound noun that leads with the "regular" noun "difficulty" and is more parallel to dizziness than the compound noun breathing difficulties, which leads with a verb-like gerund. (Breathing is not as verb-like as "losing consciousness," but breathing is active.)

-- Out of all the options, Option D's items (difficulty, itch, and loss) are the most parallel to dizziness, hives, and rashes.

D is the answer.

ANALYSIS

When we see a lot of ___ING words near or among "regular" nouns, we need to examine nouns. Strategically, D's use of the preferred noun form loss should be a big part of our focus.

We must find the option that contains other "regular" nouns that resemble dizziness, hives, and rashes -- or nouns that do not connote very much action.

A watercolor painting, for example, is derived from a verb but does not connote the active sense of "paint." A painting is a picture that just sits there.

"Painting" and other nouns in English are __ING words that have no other noun form.

That noun just happens to be a gerund (a verbING word that is a noun) but connotes little to no action. "Swelling" as it is used here is a similar example.

Gerunds are the most common (and maybe only) type of noun parallelism that GMAC tests.

Check the nouns
-- In the prompt and in option A, symptoms of an allergic reaction include dizziness, hives, swelling, difficulty, itching and losing (consciousness).
-- Itching is suspect. It has a noun form, itch. Swelling is a tough call. Look at the options.

Losing, though, is highly suspicious.
In this context losing is not a "regular" noun.
Furthermore, out of all the __ING words in all options, "losing" is the most verb-like of the words. Losing
-- immediately takes the direct object consciousness. Verbs take direct objects.
-- connotes a lot more action than swelling or itching do, and quite a bit more than breathing does.
-- is not the preferred noun form, loss. "Loss" is better for parallelism.

the other _ING words

-- swelling
Swelling is much closer to a "regular" concrete noun than "losing" is. Swelling means the state of being swollen, or a swollen or inflated part or area.
-- What is that bump on your knee?
-- Answer: It is swelling. I got it from a fall. (The bump, the swelling, is a thing. I can see and touch it.)
-- English does not really have a "regular" noun word for swelling except edema.

Edema is not frequently coupled in normal discourse with a wound (the bee sting).

-- We say, "Put ice on the swelling," not "Put ice on the edema."

-- itching
Itching is problematic because it has an equivalent noun form that is similar to hives.
In this case itching means "an irritating sensation that produces an urge to scratch."
Itching, as a gerund, is more noun-like than verb-like. It's closer to "painting." Regardless, there IS a "regular" English noun we can and should substitute: itch.

breathing? First, in the correct answer, it [i]follows[i] the regular noun [i]difficulty in a compound noun. Second, it's closer to an action noun than swelling is. Breathing is an action in which lungs inhale and exhale.

Difficulty means problem. In the list of nouns, difficulty should precede breathing. (See below. "Difficulty breathing" is a common phrase.)

-- when all else is equal, GMAC prefers noun forms to __ING forms. GMAC's general preference for noun forms is especially strong in a list of nouns.

Other issues

Posters have raised a few other issues.

-- difficulty breathing is okay. Difficulty is a noun. "Difficulty breathing" may sound odd to a non-native ear, but the phrase is often spoken and not wrong when written.
Correct: He had difficulty breathing.

-- AN itch? the article "AN"?
It's okay to have an article with just one noun as long as all the elements are nouns UNLESS the first item in the list has an article that
(1) can be applied to all the list items, and
(2) is applied improperly. See below: only the first item or all items take the article. (Usually the article is used only once.)
That situation is not the case in this context.
We don't say a swelling or a difficulty breathing.
We do say "an itch," and we can't just say "itch."

Here is a situation in which the article might matter:
Wrong: I ate the apple, orange, the banana, and the peach. (THE should accompany only the first item or all items)
Correct: I ate the apple, orange, banana, and peach.
Correct: I ate the apple, the orange, the banana, and the peach. (GMAC would probably consider that construction redundant.)

Choose parallelism of major elements over form of presentation (e.g. swelling of the wound/swollen wounds are both noun phrases).

The list items in Option D are all similar kinds of nouns. Swelling is a visible bump. Difficulty anchors the compound noun in which breathing is second. An itch is a skin irritation. Loss is "the fact of losing," which has hints of action, but loss is both a preferred noun form and more static than losing.

-- option A does not determine intended meaning. Official guides contain many examples in which (A) is nonsensical, illogical, and cannot be the intended meaning of the sentence.
This "rule" about has been circulating for a long time. It's not a rule. Use all five options to determine meaning.

Option D
A symptom of a severe allergic reaction is . . . loss of consciousness. That works.

COMMENTS

WiziusCareers1 , welcome to SC Butler!

As I have promised in at least four OEs and in all my announcements, answers with explanations get kudos.
Have a good rest of your weekend.
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felt it as a tough parallelism question.

A) swelling of the wound, difficulty breathing, intense itching, and losing - dizziness, hives or rashes, ...difficulty breathing - awkward.

B) swelled wounds, breathing difficulties, intense itching, and losing Correct

C) swelling of the wound, difficulty breathing, an intense itch, and losing an - indefinite article breaks parallelism

D) swelling of the wound, difficulty breathing, an intense itch, and loss of an - indefinite article breaks parallelism + Loss of - incorrect

E) wound swelling, breathing difficulty, intense itching, and losing Wound swelling awkward -

The original sentence presents a list of symptoms of a severe allergic reaction to a bee sting -

dizziness,
hives or rashes,
swelling of the wound,
difficulty breathing,
intense itching, and
loss of consciousness.

Because the list starts with a noun -------> All the list items MUST be noun or noun-phrases to be parallel.
Losing consciousness( Verb-phrase ) is NOT parallel to other items in the list such as dizziness, hives or rashes, etc.
A, B, C and E Imparallel items in a list

Answer choice analysis:

A) swelling of the wound, difficulty breathing, intense itching, and losing

Imparallel items in a list

B) swelled wounds, breathing difficulties, intense itching, and losing

Imparallel items in a list

C) swelling of the wound, difficulty breathing, an intense itch, and losing

Imparallel items in a list

D) swelling of the wound, difficulty breathing, an intense itch, and loss of

I did find breathing difficulties to be better than difficulty breathing.
I had an inclination to see difficulty in breathing OR difficult breathing rather than difficulty breathing.
However, D is better than the rest. D is the winner!

E) wound swelling, breathing difficulty, intense itching, and losing

Imparallel items in a list

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Symptoms of a severe allergic reaction to a bee sting - Multiple symptoms, single bee sting

A) swelling of the wound, difficulty breathing, intense itching, and losing
Loss of consciousness has a better parallel structure because the other items in the list are nouns whereas losing consciousness is an action

B) swelled wounds, breathing difficulties, intense itching, and losing
"swelled" is actually the past tense of "swell" which incorrectly takes the places of the adjective "swollen" because a sting now cannot cause a wound that swelled in the past.

C) swelling of the wound, difficulty breathing, an intense itch, and losing
Same as A

D) swelling of the wound, difficulty breathing, an intense itch, and loss of
Better for parallelism - not very sure about "difficulty breathing " though

E) wound swelling, breathing difficulty, intense itching, and losing
Same as A

IMO, answer is (D)
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The sentence provides a list:
dizziness, hives or rashes, swelling of the wound, difficulty breathing, intense itching, and losing consciousness.
(However, I feel there is a typo in 'difficulty breathing')

List means parallelism.
Make all items nouns or noun-phrases.

losing consciousness is not a noun-phrase. It is a verb-phrase.
So, it must be changed.

Only answer choice (D) does that.
Hence, the correct answer.

Symptoms of a severe allergic reaction to a bee sting may include dizziness, hives or rashes, swelling of the wound, difficulty breathing, intense itching, and losing consciousness.

A) swelling of the wound, difficulty breathing, intense itching, and losing - not parallel

B) swelled wounds, breathing difficulties, intense itching, and losing - change meaning - out

C) swelling of the wound, difficulty breathing, an intense itch, and losing - not parallel

D) swelling of the wound, difficulty breathing, an intense itch, and loss of - all parts are noun or noun phrase - correct

E) wound swelling, breathing difficulty, intense itching, and losing not parallel

IMO it is D

Symptoms of a severe allergic reaction to a bee sting may include dizziness, hives or rashes, swelling of the wound, difficulty breathing, intense itching, and losing consciousness.

A) swelling of the wound, difficulty breathing, intense itching, and losing - not a parallel structure after last and - losing is a verb not parallel with a noun list.

B) swelled wounds, breathing difficulties, intense itching, and losing - not parallel

C) swelling of the wound, difficulty breathing, an intense itch, and losing - not a parallel structure after last and - losing is a verb not parallel with a noun list.

D) swelling of the wound, difficulty breathing, an intense itch, and loss of - Correct

E) wound swelling, breathing difficulty, intense itching, and losing - same as A

I have posted the official explanation HERE.

generis VeritasKarishma

Woh...D is very difficult to justify - difficulty breathing does not seem right?

Can you help confirm which one is better breathing difficulties or difficult breathing?

akash7gupta11 , breathing difficulties is better than difficult breathing. Neither is as good as difficulty breathing; we should lead with a noun.

"Difficulty breathing" is correct. The phrase sounds strange to non-native speakers, but it is correct.

A difficulty is a noun.
Difficulty breathing is a common noun phrase.
Difficulty verbING, in fact, is a common construction.

I'm having difficulty unlocking this door.

He has difficulty swallowing when he gets a sore throat.

An asthma attack creates difficulty breathing.

People who climb Everest often have difficulty breathing.

difficult breathing at worst is wrong and at best is too strange and not used.

"difficult" does not work
-- The difficult breathing.
-- The arduous breathing.
-- He has difficult breathing.
-- He was worried about her difficult breathing.

I might use labored.
-- He was worried about her labored breathing. [Eh. But okay.]
-- Her breathing was labored.

Idiomatic: a difficult problem, a difficult task, a difficult situation

__ING words behave in unusual ways. The linguistic analysis would take us far afield.

It's easier if I say that
-- "difficulty ___ING" is common.
-- "difficult __ING," by contrast, is very rare and does not work in most cases.

I used the first (correct) construction in my sentences above.

Maybe the sentences will help to show that difficulty verbING is idiomatic and to a native ear, not at all strange.
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generis Understood. Thank you .

Can someone explain me the solution step by step
I am getting lost in the below mentioned solution

Hi GMATNinja

Can you please unravel the parallelism in this question? It is not clear how option (D) swelling of the wound, difficulty breathing, an intense itch, and loss of is the best option especially with difficulty breathing and the "an" in an intense itch

Thanks in Advance!
DR

Hello dhruvrao,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, Option D maintains parallelism, as "swelling", "difficulty", "itch", and "loss" are all nouns; the inclusion of an article before the noun phrase "intense itch" does not violate parallelism.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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ExpertsGlobal5
Hey, thank you for your response. But aren't swelling, difficulty, itching (gerund), and losing (gerund) in all other options nouns too? And in Option (D) isn't difficulty acting as an adjective modifying breathing? In the sense that difficult breathing = difficult (adj) + breathing (noun)?

Looking forward to your response!
Best, DR

generis, swelling just by itself can act as a noun but in 'swelling of wound' swelling seems to be a gerund, like an acton happening to noun wound. Any thoughts

I got the answer correct by using some unexplainable sound logic. However, my takeway with this question is that ''noun phrase (eg: noun+ preposition) can be parallel to adjective+noun, after all they are still noun. Am I correct on this?

Thank You
Vighnesh

Hello VIGHNESHKAMATH,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, your reasoning here is, indeed, correct.

Kudos.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team.
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Hello dhruvrao,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your queries, in the other answer choices "losing" does not, exactly, act as a noun; although it is a gerund, it conceptually refers to an action, whereas "dizziness", "hives", and "rashes" are all clear nouns; the noun "loss" - as used in Option D - is much more parallel to the other elements in the list, making D the superior answer choice.

Further, "difficulty" is not an adjective; it is a noun that refers to the quality of being difficult, meaning "difficulty breathing" is a noun phrase.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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