+1 for A.

A. an inability --> Correct, maintains parallel construct among the entities mentioned

B. that they were unable

C. because they were unable

D. being unable

E. lacking an ability

Hence, A.
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A. an inability

Correctly maintain parallelism by providing a noun. CORRECT

B. that they were unable

Parallelism in the list needs a noun in the underlined portion. INCORRECT

C. because they were unable

Parallelism in the list needs a noun in the underlined portion. INCORRECT

D. being unable

Parallelism in the list needs a noun in the underlined portion. INCORRECT

E. lacking an ability

Parallelism in the list needs a noun in the underlined portion. The gerund in this sentence provides an action that is not parallel to other elements in the list. INCORRECT

Hence option A
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The earliest English settlers in Virginia failed to survive their first winter in the New World because of factors such as inadequate food supplies, harsh weather, and an inability to communicate with Native Americans.


A. an inability (correct)

B. that they were unable (Not parallel)

C. because they were unable (Same as B)

D. being unable (Same as B)

E. lacking an ability (Same as B)

Considering parallel structure, A is the best answer as other elements are also nouns. We can't add any other element like a clause to this sentence.

The earliest English settlers in Virginia failed to survive their first winter in the New World because of factors such as inadequate food supplies, harsh weather, and an inability to communicate with Native Americans.

You would need to close off the items in the first list before beginning the second parallel element and since we don't have "and" before "harsh weathers" we need to eliminate anything that would start a second independent clause.

Eliminate (C) and (D)

D. being unable - "being unable" - present participle of 'to be' and "unable" really isn't the most concise way to logically communicate another factor that inhibited their survival.
E. lacking an ability - this is really an inefficient way of saying "an inability". You would also say "lacking the ability" not "an ability"
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OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
The original sentence contains a list of factors that kept the settlers from surviving their first winter in Virginia: "inadequate food supplies, harsh weather, and an inability to communicate with Native Americans." In lists of examples, all the examples must be parallel (in the same form). In this case, all the examples are nouns. This presents no error.
(A) CORRECT. This choice is correct as it repeats the original sentence.
(B) This choice is incorrect because "that they were unable to communicate with Native Americans" is a clause rather than a noun, thus violating the parallelism.
(C) This choice is incorrect because "and because they were unable to communicate with Native Americans" is a clause rather than a noun, thus violating the parallelism.
(D) This choice is incorrect because "and being unable to communicate with Native Americans" is a verb construction rather than a noun, thus violating the parallelism.
(E) This choice is incorrect because "and lacking an ability to communicate with Native Americans" is a verb construction rather than a noun, thus violating the parallelism.
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VeritasKarishma GMATNinja daagh could you please explain how D and E are verb form instead of noun form as given in official explanation?

Some say the GMAT does not require you to know such technicalities. In fact, I think in the Official Guide 2020, when introducing the SC section, there is something even mentioned about knowing something that is wrong without knowing WHAT is wrong with it. (check it out!)

Let's take option (E) for example: It should feel awkward for inadequate food supplies to be parallel to lacking an ability
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Our official explanation was a bit off, so we've rewritten it. The basic idea is that we don't want to use -ing forms to parallel nouns unless there isn't another suitable noun form available. See this official q for a good example: https://gmatclub.com/forum/building-on- ... l#p1107488

Another way to look at it is that "lacking" and "being unable" describe the people themselves ("lacking" can be an adjective), whereas supplies, weather, and inability can't refer to people. They can only be factors that affected the people.
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