Published last year, the noble laureate’s essay on self-organizing

D doesn't seem parallel to me as it says that the essay furnished no (original thought) nor (discussed a solution). Original thought (noun) is not parallel to discussed (verb). E seems parallel to me as it says that the essay (did not furnish any original thought) nor (discussed a solution). Both are clauses so parallel. AndrewN can you please share your valuable insights on my analysis.

I am going to take a hands-off approach to this one, tarun001, because I know how difficult it can be to write a logically sound SC question. I would not write the sentence in any of the ways we see above. As always, I would advise you to stick with official material—you know you can trust the questions.

I know this may not be the answer you were seeking, but thank you, nevertheless, for thinking to ask.

- Andrew

Hello tarun001,

We hope this finds you well.

To clarify, your observation would be correct had Option D used the idiomatic construction "neither A nor B"; “neither A nor B” is an idiomatic construction wherein A and B must be parallel; this rule does not hold for the construction "no A nor B".

In Option D, the parallelism marker is the conjunction "nor", and it joins the parallel verb phrases "furnished no original thought" and "discussed a practical solution".

To understand the concept of "Either-Or" and "Neither-Nor" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Here, a nor cant come without neither. Only one option has neither in it. Therefore, answer should be A

Hello SanJain,

We hope this finds you well.

To clarify, “neither” cannot be used without “nor”, but “nor” can be used without “neither”.

Further, Option A utilizes a double negative in the phrase "did not furnish neither", producing an incoherent meaning. Option A also fails to maintain parallelism between A ("original thought") and B ("discussed a practical solution") in the idiomatic construction "neither A nor B"; remember, “neither A nor B” and “either A or B” are idiomatic uses and are only used when referring to two elements; A and B must be parallel.

By contrast, Option D avoids the double negative error and maintains parallelism between "furnished no original thought" and "discussed a practical solution" - the elements linked by the conjunction ("nor" in this case).

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

While the explanation seems correct for the answer option D, why is answer option E incorrect ?

Hello NawalDwivedi,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, Option E fails to maintain parallelism between "it did not furnish any original thought" and "discussed a practical solution"; remember, any elements linked by a conjunction ("nor" in this case) must be parallel.

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

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