Purchasers of television advertising are increasingly discouraged by

Question

Purchasers of television advertising  are increasingly discouraged by shrinking viewership and by the fact that many viewers fast-forward through commercials, in addition to the competition from new services that stream content over the internet and traditional movies. 
 
A) are increasingly discouraged by shrinking viewership and by the fact that many viewers fast-forward through commercials, in addition to the competition from new services that stream content over the internet and traditional movies

B) are increasingly discouraged by the fact that viewership is shrinking and that many viewers fast-forward through commercials, as well as the competition from traditional movies and new services that stream content over the internet

C) increasingly are discouraged by shrinking viewership and by the fact that many viewers fast-forward through commercials, as well as by the competition from traditional movies and new services that stream content over the internet

D) increasingly are discouraged by shrinking viewership, the fact that many viewers fast-forward through commercials, the competition from new services that stream content over the internet, and traditional movies

E) increasingly are discouraged because viewership is shrinking, viewers are fast-forwarding through commercials, and the competition from traditional movies as well as new services that stream content over the internet

Bulleride · Accepted Answer

I found this question pretty good and thus wanted to share with you guys. It's a nested parallelism question. Here's the OE:

(A) The first two parallel elements are prepositional phrases: discouraged by X and by Y. To maintain the parallel structure, the third element (competition) should also be a prepositional phrase: discouraged by X and by Y, as well as by Z.

In addition, the nested parallelism is ambiguous. Is the competition from one source—new services that stream two things (content and traditional movies)? Or is the competition from two sources—traditional movies and new services that stream content over the internet?

(B) Choice (B) changes the first two elements in the list; they now both begin with the word that (that viewership is shrinking and that many viewers fast-forward through commercials). To maintain the parallel structure, the third element (competition) should also begin with that.

(C)  CORRECT . The split between increasingly are and are increasingly is a red herring: The adverb can be placed before or after the verb. This sentence adds the word by before the competition, fixing the broken parallelism.

(D) This sentence fixes the initial broken parallelism: now, discouraged by introduces the list and the preposition is (correctly) not repeated in each of the later elements in the list. However, the sentence now has just one list with four elements (discouraged by W, X, Y, and Z). As written, this sentence indicates that the ad-purchasers are discouraged by … traditional movies, as though the ad-purchasers dislike traditional movies themselves. In fact, they are discouraged by the competition from traditional movies.

(E) The first two elements in the list are now full sentences (viewership is shrinking, viewers are fast-forwarding through commercials); however, the last element (the competition from traditional movies as well as new services that stream content over the internet) is not a sentence; it lacks a verb, breaking the parallelism.

-----------
 If you like the post, do give a thumbs up! Cheers!

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Good catch.

While a second "by" after "as well as" would perhaps make (B) easier to read, (B) is basically parallel as written.

Meanwhile, in (C), the placement of "increasingly" is suboptimal. It makes more sense to place "increasingly" directly before "discouraged," as "increasingly" is in (B).

The point to be made is not that the purchasers "increasingly are" something. The point to be made is that the purchasers are "increasingly discouraged."

At the same time, in (B), "by the fact that x and that y" does not make complete sense. We have two facts, but the singular "fact" is used. Ideally, either "fact" would be repeated before the second "that" or the plural "facts" would be used.

vaibhav1221 · Answer

I was confused between A and C. I went in for C, however, I am not sure if it is the best answer choice. Could you shed some light on the same? Perhaps provide the OE. I feel the OA should be A. Could you confirm that, please?

Regards,
Vaibhav

ENEM · Answer

Hi,

from what I remember, 'as well as' is used to indicate an afterthought...and what follows after 'as well as' isn't an afterthought but one of the factors that is had led purchasers of TV ads to be discouraged from purchasing tv ads...request you to post the official explanation...

sandman13 · Answer

Purchasers of television advertising  are increasingly discouraged by shrinking viewership and by the fact that many viewers fast-forward through commercials, in addition to the competition from new services that stream content over the internet and traditional movies .

A) are increasingly discouraged  by  shrinking viewership and  by  the fact that many viewers fast-forward through commercials, in addition to the competition from new services that stream content over the internet  and  traditional movies  <- stream content over internet AND movies? nope 
But this option gives a good idea what the intended meaning is: 
purchasers are discouraged by 
1. shrinking viewership 
2. the fact that many...
3. competition from streaming services
4. competition from movies

B) are increasingly discouraged by the fact  that  viewership is shrinking and  that  many viewers fast-forward through commercials, as well as  the competition  from traditional movies and  new services  that stream content over the internet <-- that structure not followed; parallelism issues

C) increasingly are discouraged  by  shrinking viewership and  by  the fact that many viewers fast-forward through commercials, as well as  by the competition  from traditional movies and new services that stream content over the internet <- makes sublist of point 3 and 4, which is fine!

D) increasingly are discouraged by shrinking viewership, the fact that many viewers fast-forward through commercials, the competition from new services that stream content over the internet, and traditional movies

E) increasingly are discouraged because viewership is shrinking, viewers are fast-forwarding through commercials, and the competition from traditional movies as well as new services that stream content over the internet

D & E have clear parallelism issues. 
  Answer: C

Talayva · Answer

I answered B as the correct choice . 
My reasoning
I personally feel B should be correct . discouraged by  as well as the competition ...... Here fact and competition are nouns and parallel .
discouraged by shrinking viewership and many viewers fast-forward through commercials, as well as by the competition from traditional movies and new services that stream content over the internet
In C , by A and by B , as well as by C. How is this structure parallel

SWAT09 · Answer

The common structure here is- Purchasers of television advertising are increasingly discouraged ... so if we list out,
C. discouraged by shrinking viewership 
 discouraged by the fact that many viewers fast-forward through commercials, as well as
 discouraged by the competition from traditional movies and new services that stream content over the internet.
whereas in B,
B. discouraged by the fact that viewership is shrinking and 
 discouraged that many viewers fast-forward through commercials, as well as 
 discouraged the competition from traditional movies and new services that stream content over the internet - incorrect

NinetyFour · Answer

For answer choice B, I am failing to see how it is not parallel. "purchasers are discouraged by THE FACT, as well as THE COMPETITION. Both are nouns and they both follow the same structure. Why is this not parallel?

NinetyFour · Answer

Great point. So to re-iterate, the issue with B is that  facts  has not been made plural to properly refer to the TWO facts that follow?

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Yes, that is the issue with (B).

That said, I am not sure whether (B) or (C) is better. "Increasingly are" in (C) is pretty illogical as well.

Mo2men · Answer

Hi Marty,

Do you find it logical to compare 'shrinking' and 'the fact' in this sentence?

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi.

I find that, in this context, using "shrinking viewership" and "the fact that many viewers fast-forward through commercials" as two elements of the same list is fine.

GMATGuruNY · Answer

I received a PM requesting that I respond.
No comparison appears in the OA.

C:  discouraged  by shrinking viewership  and  by the fact that many viewers fast-forward through commercials  
Here,  and  serves to connect the two modifiers in blue.
Each blue modifier is an ADVERB expressing HOW purchasers are discouraged.
Question:
HOW are purchasers discouraged?
Answer:
They are discouraged BY SHRINKING VIEWERSHIP.
They are discouraged BY THE FACT THAT MANY VIEWERS FAST-FORWARD THROUGH COMMERCIALS. 
Since the two blue portions serve the same grammatical and semantic purpose, it seems logical to connect them with a conjunction such as  and .

Parallel forms need not look the same.
Consider the following OA in the OG19:
  Seldom more than 40 feet wide or 12 feet deep  but  running 363 miles across the rugged wilderness of upstate New York , the Erie Canal connected the Hudson River at Albany to the Great Lakes at Buffalo .
Here, the two blue portions are constructed differently:
The second begins with a VERBing modifier.
The first does not.
Even so, the two blue portions are considered parallel because each is an adjective serving to describe the following subject (the Erie Canal).
Since the two blue portions serve the same grammatical and semantic purpose, it is logical to connect them with a conjunction such as  but .

Mo2men · Answer

Thanks  GMATGuruNY

Thanks for your explanation.

1- In OA, if 'and' is omitted, could the choice still correct and still parallel?

2- Is 'as well as + prposition' correct? I recall one of your earlier posts, if not mistaken, that this construction is not true.

Thanks in advance

GMATGuruNY · Answer

In the OA,  and  may not be omitted.
The two  by -modifiers must be connected by a conjunction.

If at some point in the GMAT's history it was considered improper for  as well as  to be followed by a preposition, that rule is no longer valid.
SC136 in the OG16:
 That a ruined structure found at Aqaba, Jordan, was probably a church is indicated by its eastward orientation and overall plan, as well as  by the artifacts , such as glass-oil lamp fragments, found at the site. 
In the OA,  as well as  is followed by the prepositional modifier in blue.

Mo2men · Answer

Hi  GMATGuruNY

I apologize for the confusion. In my first question, I meant to ask,  if we can omit the second 'by'?  Like the example: 
Next week I'm going to go shopping and  to  swim in the sea. Here we can omit second  to  could be mitted but meaning and grammar are correct.

GMATGuruNY · Answer

C, with the second  by  omitted:
 discouraged by  shrinking viewership  and  the fact that many viewers fast-forward through commercials  
Here, the two blue portions are each intended to serve as an object of  by , but they are structured so differently that the sentence is hard to follow.
The addition of a second  by  seems needed to make the intention clear:
 discouraged BY shrinking viewership and BY the fact that many viewers fast-forward through commercials 
The second  by  could safely be omitted if the two blue portions were more similar, as follows:
 discouraged by  shrinking viewership  and  lower revenues

MikeScarn · Answer

Tough one! I broke this sentence down and stripped out some words in an attempt to look at the parallelism. Take of it what you will...

(B)  Purchasers are discouraged by the fact that V is shrinking  and that  many viewers fast forward, as well as by the competition from X and Y.

(C)  Purchasers are discouraged  by shrinking  and  by the fact ,  as well as by the competition from X and Y .

Notice the parallel use of the word "by"

(D)  Purchasers are discouraged by shrinking, the fact, the competition from X,  and Y.

The competition is from X  and  Y.

Diya52 · Answer

Purchasers of television advertising  are increasingly discouraged by shrinking viewership and by the fact that many viewers fast-forward through commercials, in addition to the competition from new services that stream content over the internet and traditional movies .

A) are increasingly discouraged by shrinking viewership and by the fact that many viewers fast-forward through commercials, in addition to the competition from new services that stream content over the internet and traditional movies

B) are increasingly discouraged by the fact that viewership is shrinking and that many viewers fast-forward through commercials, as well as the competition from traditional movies and new services that stream content over the internet

C) increasingly are discouraged by shrinking viewership and by the fact that many viewers fast-forward through commercials, as well as by the competition from traditional movies and new services that stream content over the internet

D) increasingly are discouraged by shrinking viewership, the fact that many viewers fast-forward through commercials, the competition from new services that stream content over the internet, and traditional movies

E) increasingly are discouraged because viewership is shrinking, viewers are fast-forwarding through commercials, and the competition from traditional movies as well as new services that stream content over the internet

Parallelism is tested.

A. The list - discouraged 1. by shrinking viewership 2. by the fact that many viewers fast-forward through commercials 3. the competition from new services that stream content over the internet and traditional movies
The third element lacks the 'by' and hence the list lacks parallelism. Also it is unclear if the competition is from the new services and traditional movies or new services that stream 2 things.

B. List - discouraged by the fact 1. that viewership is shrinking 2. that many viewers fast-forward through commercials 3. the competition from traditional movies and new services that stream content over the internet

The third element lacks 'that' and is not parallel.

C. Correct answer. The list is parallel and it is also clear what the competitions are.

D. The list is parallel but now it means that purchasers are discouraged by traditional movies and that is incorrect. They are discouraged by the competition from the traditional movies.

E. List - discouraged because 1. viewership is shrinking 2. viewers are fast-forwarding through commercials 3. the competition from traditional movies as well as new services that stream content over the internet

The third element should also have a verb like the other two elements in the list. Parallelism error.

Purchasers of television advertising are increasingly discouraged by

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Purchasers of television advertising are increasingly discouraged by

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards