Textbooks for the used book sale should be in good condition and shoul

Question

Textbooks for the used book sale should be in good condition  and should have no writing in them or be underlined .

(A) and should have no writing in them or be underlined
(B) and should not have writing in them or not be underlined
(C) and contain no writing or underlining
(D) without containing writing nor be underlined
(E) without having any writing or no underlining in them

amit03 · Answer

It's C.
Parallelism in 'no writing or underlining'

nishantgauragmat · Answer

I will go for B.
We need  should   after and to keep the sentence in parallel. 
So eliminating C, D and E. 
Between A and B, I selected B. Again to keep  not have writing in them  and  not be underlined  in parallel.

r19 · Answer

not able to eliminate option B ,although I understand C is more concise and clear . can anyone help in why B is wrong ?

leehaorobert · Answer

Same question, can some experts help to explain? Thanks in advance.

pa1deep91 · Answer

"writing" and "underlined" are not parallel in option B.

prototypevenom · Answer

they are parallel, both are verbs and describing the same context

saukrit · Answer

Let us take option B in the original sentence

Textbooks for the used book sale should be in good condition and should not have writing in them or  not be underlined .

See the bold part of the sentence, Does it not sound like, Adam should not play cricket or  not play football . Saying it in this way distorts the meaning and looks as if there is a double negation happening in the second part:

Adam should not:
    play cricket  or
     not play football

If disected further this will mean
  Adam should not play cricket or 
 Adam should play football (non not get negated)

Hence B can not be true

Hope this helps

rengoku · Answer

I need to understand something from a "meaning" perspective.

If the OA is correct, how can a textbook contain "no writing and underlining"?

sayan640 · Answer

Option C is correct here.
Parallelism is being maintained.
Should "be" in good condition and (should ) contain no writing and underlining.

Option B is incorrect because textbook cant be underlined. Textbook can contain underlining. Some users can underline texts in the textbook.

Rounak996 · Answer

In A, “have no writing” and “be underlined” are not parallel.
In B, “not have writing” and “not be underlined” are not parallel.
D and E violate parallelism and are awkward.

C maintains parallelism through
“should X and Y = should X and should Y”
Where X = “be in good condition”
Y = “contain no writing or underlining”.
Furthermore, “contain no writing or underlining” maintains parallelism.
Hence, C is the best choice.

mgjsankar · Answer

"or not be underlined" is not a proper expression. It should be "nor be underlined".

The correct expression should be " should not have any writing in them nor they be underlined"

Stanindaw · Answer

Could some expert shed light on this question.
How can a textbook not contain writing?
What makes option B wrong?

vishalsinghvs08 · Answer

Option C :
Textbooks for the used book sale 
 should  be in good condition and 
 should  {
 contain no writing or
 underlining.
}
wrong. What is "should underlining"? makes no sense. In additional you can not take anything more than should as common.

Option B
Textbooks for the used book sale 
( should ) be in good condition and 
 should  {
 not have writing in them or
 not be underlined.
}
Option B looks much cleaner and easy to read

Textbooks for the used book sale should be in good condition and shoul

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Textbooks for the used book sale should be in good condition and shoul

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