In contrast to large steel plants that take iron ore through all the

E - || large plants... small mills, have been... (have) remained

D works. Incorrect comparison in ABC and incorrect tense in E.

D)small mills, by processing steel scrap into a specialized group of products, have been able to put capital into new technology and remain
Option D has || and to put and to remain are also||(second to is not necessary) so E cannot be correct.

Sentence has parallel comparison issue: In contrast to X, Y
Eliminate A, B and C

Parallel Issue – to put … and remain – eliminate E

(A) processing steel scrap into a specialized group of products has enabled small mills to put capital into new technology and remain

(B) processing steel scrap into a specialized group of products has enabled small mills to put capital into new technology, remaining

(C) the processing of steel scrap into a specialized group of products has enabled small mills to put capital into new technology, remaining

(D) small mills, by processing steel scrap into a specialized group of products, have been able to put capital into new technology and remain

(E) small mills, by processing steel scrap into a specialized group of products, have been able to put capital into new technology and remained

Answer: D

In contrast to large steel plants that take iron ore through all the steps needed to produce several different kinds of steel, small mills, by processing steel scrap into a specialized group of products, have been able to put capital into new technology and (have) remained economically viable.

Can we not have " have" omitted here? In that case, "E" will be OK.
Experts, please answer.

I dont know how to spot parallelism here. When i saw verb " remained" , I assumed the subject of the verb "remained" must be "small firms". can you please suggest some tips on how to spot parallelism.

subject is Small firms because as piya correctly shared her pointer , its a contrast ( between Large firms & Small mills ) , so we can zone in between D & E

In D n E ; remove the middle modifier & reread

D : Small firms have been able to PUT................AND............REMAIN.......

E : Small firms have been able to PUT...................AND...........REMAINED..........

you can always be in look out for markers such as AND / OR............. and then try to check the portions before / after AND ( they should be parallel )

Parallelism : more like A ( B+C) = AB + AC

A : SMALL FIRMS HAVE BEEN ABLE TO , B : Put , C : Remain/Remained

Now do a quick check wrt to the above equation substituting the individual variables:

LHS : Small firms have been able to ( PUT + REMAIN/REMAINED )

RHS for D : Small firms have been able to PUT ..............+........... Small firms have been able to remain

RHS for E : Small firms have been able to PUT ..............+........... Small firms have been able to REMAINED ( does this sound correct ?) = Eliminate

Leading to D

To Egmat : why cant we view the parallelism in E as follows :
E: small mills, by processing steel scrap into a specialized group of products, have been able to put capital into new technology and (have) remained

in other words "have" can go along with "been able" and "remained"

Hi Aditya,

Note that "been" is very much part of "have". The present perfect helping verb verb is "have been". To this you can add any verb in its participle form to create a proper verb in a sentence. In choice E, "have been able" is a correct verb but we cannot say "have been remained". Also, we just CANNOT choose to remove "been" for the sake of parallelism. If we need to keep helping verbs understood then we need to keep "have been" understood", not just anyone.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

In contrast to large steel plants that take iron ore through all the steps needed to produce several different kinds of steel, processing steel scrap into a specialized group of products has enabled small mills to put capital into new technology and remain economically viable.


In contrast to large steel plants .......................................small mills ....
1. We need "smalls mills" to rectify the comparison issue.
2. Small mills....have been able to do two things
a) put capital into new technology
b) remain economically viable

(A) processing steel scrap into a specialized group of products has enabled small mills to put capital into new technology and remain - Incorrect as explained above in point 1

(B) processing steel scrap into a specialized group of products has enabled small mills to put capital into new technology, remaining - [b]Incorrect as explained above in points 1 and 2

(C) the processing of steel scrap into a specialized group of products has enabled small mills to put capital into new technology, remaining - Incorrect as explained above in points 1 and 2

(D) small mills, by processing steel scrap into a specialized group of products, have been able to put capital into new technology and remain - Correct. rectifies comparison error and both sides of parallel marker and are parallel

(E) small mills, by processing steel scrap into a specialized group of products, have been able to put capital into new technology and remained - Incorrect. Resolves comparison error but put and remained are not parallel as explained in point 2

Dear mikemcgarry, GMATNinjaTwo, GMATNinja, MagooshExpert Carolyn, sayantanc2k,

I picked up E because of two action that small mills do
#1 have been able to put
#2 (have) remained

Why "have been able to put" cannot be parallel with "(have) remained" ,which omits have
Please point out

Thanks in davance
Have a nice day
>_~

Hi zoezhuyan!

Happy to help

The main problem with E is just that "remained" shouldn't be in past tense, period. The rest of the verbs in the sentence are all in some version of the present tense, and it doesn't make sense to just throw in a verb in the past tense with no context.

Also, we cannot just omit "have" in a verb -- that changes the tense. The verb "have remained" is in the past perfect tense, and "remained" is in the simple past tense.

Of course, neither of these work in this context because they're in some form of past tense, which we just shouldn't have at all here. We want "remain" to match "have been able to put", which would be "have been able to remain". That's why we want "remain" here, not "remained"

Here's an article about parallelism that might be useful!

• Parallelism on the GMAT

-Carolyn

Please correct, if I am able to understand the sentence correctly, for which I have selected “OPTION D”
First check point:
1.Has enabled vs have been able to
2.To remain economically viable A <process> X and B<process>Y
Enabled: past particle of make it possible for.
Have been able to: implies that person actually have went ahead and did it.

"Has" is used in the third-person singular – active voice
"Have been" is used for first- and second-person singular and all plural uses – passive voice
Both are present perfect tense

Main statement (Original statement modified with correct answer)
In contrast to
A: large steel plants that take iron ore through all the steps needed to produce several different kinds of steel (passive voice, independent clause)(
Separate by comma
B: small mills, by processing steel scrap into a specialized group of products, have been able to put capital into new technology (passive voice, independent clause)
And (A & B) remain economically viable

Comparison
large steel plants that do (X) to remain economically viable
Small steel Mills does (Y) to remain economically viable

(X) - take iron ore through all the steps needed to produce several different kinds of steel
(Y) - by processing (steel scrap into a specialized group of products), have been able (to put capital into new technology)

Parallelism
“A <process> to produce and remain economically viable” [cause and effect]
and
“B <process> to put capital and remain economically viable” [cause and effect]

Thanks a lot, Shraddha, I had the same doubt regarding E. But I have one doubt in option D. I find it ambiguous.
In my view, option D can have two meanings:
1. In contrast to large steel plants that take iron ore through all the steps needed to produce several different kinds of steel, small mills, by processing steel scrap into a specialized group of products, have been able to put capital into new technology and small mills ,(modifier), have been able to remain economically viable.

2. In contrast to large steel plants that take iron ore through all the steps needed to produce several different kinds of steel, small mills, by processing steel scrap into a specialized group of products, have been able to put capital into new technology and small mills ,(modifier), remain economically viable.

Is it correct.

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 the crucial part of this sentence is that by processing steel scrap into a specialized group of products, small steel mills have been able to put capital into new technology and remain

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Verb Forms + Comparisons

• Comparisons must always be made between similar things.
• The introduction of the present participle ("verb+ing"- “remaining” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.
• "to + base form of verb ("remain" in this sentence)" is the correct infinitive verb form construction.

A:
1/ This answer choice incorrectly compares "large steel plants" to "processing steel scrap"; remember, comparisons must always be made between similar things.

B:
1/ This answer choice incorrectly compares "large steel plants" to "processing steel scrap"; remember, comparisons must always be made between similar things.
2/ Option B alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "remaining economically viable"; the use of the "comma + present participle ("verb+ing" - "remaining" in this sentence)" construction incorrectly implies that small steel mills have been able to put capital into new technology, and as a result remain economically viable; the intended meaning is that small steel mills have been able to put capital into new technology, and as a separate action remain economically viable; remember, the introduction of the present participle ("verb+ing"- “remaining” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.

C:
1/ This answer choice incorrectly compares "large steel plants" to "the processing of steel scrap"; remember, comparisons must always be made between similar things.
2/ Option B alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "remaining economically viable"; the use of the "comma + present participle ("verb+ing" - "remaining" in this sentence)" construction incorrectly implies that small steel mills have been able to put capital into new technology, and as a result remain economically viable; the intended meaning is that small steel mills have been able to put capital into new technology, and as a separate action remain economically viable; remember, the introduction of the present participle ("verb+ing"- “remaining” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.

D:
1/ This answer choice correctly compares "large steel mills" with "small mills".
2/ Option D uses the phrase "and remain economically viable", conveying the intended meaning - that small steel mills have been able to put capital into new technology, and as a separate action remain economically viable.
3/ Option D maintains the correct infinitive verb form construction "to + base form of verb ("remain" in this sentence)".

E:
1/ This answer choice fails to maintain the correct infinitive verb form construction "to + base form of verb", as it utilizes the past participle form ("realized" in this case) in place of the base form; remember, "to + base form of verb" is the correct infinitive verb form construction.

Hence, D is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Comma Plus Present Participle for Cause-Effect Relationship" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



All the best!
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