Question about a verbal problem in Manhattan sentence correction book

Question

Hello guys,
I need some assistance regarding the following question which is from the Manhattan sentence correction book.

As a solution to a problem, the following is provided.

Voters want to elect a president who genuinely  cares about health care , the environment, and the travails of ordinary men and women, and who has the experience, wisdom, and strength of character required for the job.

I am puzzled with the first part of the sentence  who genuinely cares about health care, the environment, and the travails of ordinary men and women  , shouldn't health care has a THE too? From what I know we either should put a "the" behind every noun that is part of the parallel structure or none like in the second part of the sentence, but in this case health care is lacking one , while environment and the travails have one...

AjiteshArun · Answer

No, that's not correct. Whether we use a  the  or not depends on whether the noun  requires  it. For example,

I have the following on my list: India, the Himalayas, and Sri Lanka.

The next step includes negotiations between the central bank, most companies affected by the policy, and the government.

gmexamtaker1 · Answer

Thanks for the prompt response !

AjiteshArun · Answer

Glad I could help.

What you mentioned in your first post applies if all the elements in the list need a the . Then we can take the the "common". I'd like to review the notes, syllabus, and study material. Here we'd not want a stray the in the list. I'd like to review the notes, syllabus, and the study material.

gmexamtaker1 · Answer

I was ready to ask you this very exact clarification , thanks  AjiteshArun  , so basically, health care didn't decisively need a "the", however would it be incorrect if we alternatively put a "the" before health care ?

AjiteshArun · Answer

I think so. Adding a  the  before  health care  would make it seem as if we are referring to a  specific  health care.

1.  The health care received by the elderly... 
2.  The health care in the US...

These two sound fine to me. However, (4) doesn't:

3.  ... the only item on the President's agenda: health care. 
4.   ... the only item on the President's agenda: the health care.

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi  UNSTOPPABLE12 , I would like to add that from a parallelism perspective, we should  not  be looking at a  word on word  similarity (for example, since two elements in the sentence under consideration start with  the , it does not mandate that the  third  element should also start with  the ). The reason why your sentence is correct in its current form, is because all three elements of the list are  noun-phrases . That is sufficient.

For example, following sentence is correct:

I enjoy rising planes, flowing rivers, and beautiful sunsets .

Just because two of the three elements in the above sentence start with an  -ing form , does not necessitate that the third element ( sunsets ) should also have start with an  -ing form . Again,  all  three elements are  noun-phrases  and hence this sentence is correct from a parallelism perspective.

p.s. Articles ( a/an/the ) are not explicitly tested on GMAT. So, it might  not  be a good idea to choose/reject an option based on  article  usage alone.

gmexamtaker1 · Answer

EducationAisle , thanks for providing your assistance in this topic, indeed a word on word approach is wrong especially when we are dealing with articles such as  the  , however may I ask you, if we had the following three cases with the word "because" wouldn't options 3 and 4 be incorrect, as they violate the parallel structures or does it again depend on what do the x,y,z represent.

1) because x,y and z.
2) because x, because y and z
3) because x, y and because z

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi @UNSTOPPABLE12, at least from a parallelism perspective, this is how you fix these sentences:

1) because x,y and z.
- Correct

2) because x,  AND  because y and z

3) because x  AND  y, and because z

Sarjaria84 · Answer

AjiteshArun

Many Thanks for your explanation.

I have a doubt, if I don't use 'who' in the second part will the below sentence structure be wrong then ?

- Voters want to elect a president who genuinely cares about health care, the environment, and the travails of ordinary men and women and has the experience, wisdom, and strength of character required for the job.

Isn't ellipsis playing a role here?

Thanks
Saurabh

ccooley · Answer

This sentence is correct with or without the second 'who'! Think of it in terms of the 'root phrase' and the two parallel elements. Without the second 'who', the root phrase is shown in red, and the parallel elements are shown in blue:

Voters want to elect a president who   genuinely cares about health care, the environment, and the travails of ordinary men and women  and  has the experience, wisdom, and strength of character required for the job .

This sentence is correct because either of the blue pieces can be placed alongside the red piece to form a correct sentence:

Voters want to elect a president who   genuinely cares about health care, the environment, and the travails of ordinary men and women  .

Voters want to elect a president who   has the experience, wisdom, and strength of character required for the job .

With  the second 'who', it works like this:

Voters want to elect a president    who genuinely cares about health care, the environment, and the travails of ordinary men and women  and  who has the experience, wisdom, and strength of character required for the job .

Still correct, because both of these work:

Voters want to elect a president    who genuinely cares about health care, the environment, and the travails of ordinary men and women .

Voters want to elect a president    who has the experience, wisdom, and strength of character required for the job .

anonymousCentaur · Answer

I have another question on this same statement. The book writes the solution as:

Voters want to elect a president who genuinely cares about healthcare, the environment, the travails of ordinary men and women , and  who has the experience, wisdom, and strength of character required for the job.

Why is there a comma here? Isn't the structure something like "a president who X and who Y".
Why does the book write it as "a president who X, and who Y".
The comma is bothering me.

gmexamtaker1 · Answer

Hey MonilSoni I think the reason is because otherwise "and who has the experience" would be part of the list "healthcare, the environment, the travails of ordinary men and women" 
but actually we want to to parallel it with this part "a president who genuinely cares" so with this comma we separate the parallelisms to 2 parts without causing any issue in parallelisms.
Let's see what the experts will say.

Singer101994 · Answer

Voters want to elect a president who genuinely cares about health care, the environment , and  the travails of ordinary men and women, and who has the experience, wisdom , and  strength of character required for the job.

Hi all, can someone help me with ",and" after  the environment  and  wisdom ? Shouldn't they follow X, Y and Z simply?

Thanks in advance.

Posted from my mobile device

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Question about a verbal problem in Manhattan sentence correction book

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