Self-publishing the publication of media typically a book by its au

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION


THE PROMPT
• Meaning?
The sentence indicates that self publishing is a good idea because it avoids certain hassles and provides certain advantages.
Be careful. The underlined portion is actually a benefit and not a hassle, so whatever is in the underlined portion does not have to be avoided.

• Strip the sentence
I strip the sentence by removing almost all prepositional phrases and distracting noun descriptions. Sometimes I rename specifics "ABC" and "XYZ."*

Self-publishing , the publication of media, typically a book, by its author without the involvement of a publisher, is probably a good idea for upcoming authors as it avoids the hassles of XYZ getting a reputed publisher on board and the advantages of PQR higher royalty rates and a faster time to market.

The sentence, stripped: Self-publishing is probably a good idea [because] it avoids the hassles of XYZ and the advantages of PQR.

In truth, I did not strip the sentence.
The prompt and option A confused me.
I did not re-read option A in hopes that I might get clarity.
I read option B. No help. I read option C. Whether or not that choice was correct, it provided me with insight into the meaning problem I could not fully articulate while working quickly.
The point of this little story is that I kept moving and used however many answer choices it took for me to figure out the meaning as quickly as possible.

[u]THE OPTIONS inserted into a shortened sentence

• Illogical
→ The use of and suggests nonsensically that the advantages of higher royalty rate and faster time to market should also be avoided.
That is, self-publishing, which is a "good idea," avoids the advantages? Um, no.
→ It is not a "good idea" to avoid the advantages of higher royalty rates and a faster time to market.
ELIMINATE A

• Same logical problem as that in option A
Avoiding an advantage is not a good idea.

• Do not be seduced by parallelism
→ the hassles, the advantage, and a faster time are parallel.
By making the three items in the list parallel, this sentence both suggests nonsensically that the advantages of self-publishing should be avoided and tempts your eye to tell your brain that all is well because the three items are parallel.
ELIMINATE B

• The logic is clean.
→ In this version, a second verb enters. Self-publishing is a good idea because it
(1) avoids the hassles of getting a publisher on board, and
(2) provides the advantages of higher royalty rates and a faster time to market

→ The use of provides indicates that the benefits should be provided and not avoided.

• I do not see any errors.
KEEP

• Yet again, illogical; two advantages should not be avoided.
→ The use of along with suggests that the advantages of higher royalty rates and a faster time to market should also be avoided.
Nonsense.
ELIMINATE D

• avoids and providing are not parallel
→ Provides is parallel to avoids.

• providing is not a working verb, but it needs to be one: provides should be the second verb in the compound predicate.
→ Option C, which is the only option to make sense so far, contains something called a "compound predicate."
A compound predicate exists when one subject (it = self-publishing) does two things (avoids hassles and provides advantages).
One subject is connected to two verbs—two full, working verbs, that is.

• Incidentally, almost without exception, a comma should not separate the two verbs in a compound predicate.
The theory is that we want to keep the subject and its verb(s) connected.
We do not insert a comma between a subject and a single verb. (Wrong: Dannielle, teaches music theory.)
In a similar fashion, we do not insert a comma between a subject and its second verb.
→ Correct: Dannielle plays the cello and teaches music theory.

• Incoherent
→ and providing the advantages . . . creates an incoherent sentence.
A native speaker who read this sentence might even have a difficult time sorting out the fact that "and providing" should be "and provides."
ELIMINATE E

The correct answer is C.

COMMENTS

Thanks for being patient, everyone, as I catch up.

Although a few answers could do with a little more explanation, most of these posts are very good.
I like the stylistic differences among you; such differences make it more likely that an aspirant will find a mental "match" in the thread: that is, someone whose words strike home.

Nicely done!


*During the test, write down the problematic words, and "diagram" those few words vertically.

Here is an example in which this prompt has been slashed, burned, and "diagrammed" vertically:

SP
- is good b/c
---it
-----avoids
------------ hassles
-------------and
-------------advantages (?????)