Some State Department officials hope to end the border

Question

Some State Department officials hope to end the border skirmish by bargaining with the new dictator, others  by proposing imposing stiff economic sanctions on the country's exports, and still others by demanding  that NATO launch a full-scale invasion.

(A) by proposing imposing stiff economic sanctions on the country's exports, and still others by demanding 
(B) by proposing the imposition of stiff economic sanctions on the country's exports, and still others demand
(C) propose imposing stiff economic sanctions on the country's exports, and still others are demanding
(D) are proposing the stiff imposition of economic sanctions on the country's exports, and still others are demanding
(E) propose the stiff imposition of economic sanctions on the country's exports, and still others demand

>

Paul · Answer

I'd go with B. It was b/w A and B
A) "proposing imposing" double present participle
In general, the sentence structure is like this:  Some X hope to  end Y by Z, and still  others demand  ...

target780 · Answer

My vote for 'E' 

parallelism:

Some State Department officials hope to  end ........others  propose  ......, and still others  demand

Paul · Answer

After the correction to the underlined part, I still stand by B. It is still b/w A and B and despite B's lack of parallelism at the end, there is a gross grammar error in A "proposing imposing"

hardworker_indian · Answer

Just wanted to bring this up for others to try. This was lost in myfrankenstein's 50-posts-a-day hurricanne attack.
This is a nice question that will teach a valuable lesson for parallelism.

If I may add some interest, many answers above are wrong :twisted:

Paul · Answer

Indeed, it was quite a hurricane :lol:

I feel concerned that my answer could be among the "wrong ones". I think E it is with parallelism as target780 rightly pointed out. It slipped my mind

Now back to the basics...

myfrankenstein · Answer

Yep trying to make up for lost time. Forgive me if i did something wrong. 
I have not purchased any books as yet and want to first clear of this whole site of all the info i can...and i figure it shall take a long long time unless i go into the hurricane mode.

Paul · Answer

Hi myfrankenstein, welcome aboard. We actually encourage active participation so there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. However, I would maybe suggest you have some rest now, you deserve it :wink:

crackgmat750 · Answer

I would go for C.
" imposing stiff economic sanctions" makes more sense than
"the stiff imposition of economic sanctions " in E.

I think "are demanding" in C is ok and maintaian parellism.
I would like to know the answer fast :wink:

Vithal · Answer

Was confident of A - going blindly by parallelism - but E definitely sounds ok. 
Paul: what is the rule behind E?

hardworker_indian · Answer

Yep, welcome aboard, Frank. With enough hardwork, you'll get thorugh good. If you won't take it as a criticism, I just have a friendly personal comment. "Do not post buffer comments like 'I agree - Same method as X', 'Good discussion', 'Yep, C' etc. Leave it be. Add comments and posts only when you disagree or have good alternative method or to help someone with their doubt." I was afraid to give this comment thinking that it might sound picky. So, please do not think I am picky :-D

That said, I will give a good advice - Go through archive, search for posts from Paul, JP, AkamaiBrah, Anandnk, etc. You will get good lessons.

hardworker_indian · Answer

OA is E.

OE - "The non-underlined portion establishes the form that the rest of the sentence must take: (1) the sentence is in the present tense (officials hope to end), and (2) by bargaining indicates that we're going to use "-ing" words. The key is recognizing that propose needs to agree with "hope", not bargaining. "E" is parallel & the three verbs--hope, propose, & demand--are all in the same form."

Think about the Subject and what it wants to do.. i.e action 

Wrong: 
X "Hope" to ... by "bargaining"....
Y by "proposing"...
and Z by "demanding" ...

Correct:
X "Hope" to ... by "bargaining"....
Y "propose"...
and Z "demand" ...

Borrowed from sc.com, thanks to riteshb.

crackgmat750 · Answer

I was thinking too much into the question. I know E is more parallel..but I suspected some trick in it. if you remember, there is a similar question in OG, one of the toughest OG SC question , where something like " still others are calling" is considered parallel to propose and suggest..
Also, as i said before , " the imposition of stiff regulations" sounded more idiiomatic to me.
What's the source of this question?

Some State Department officials hope to end the border

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