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555-605 Level|   Parallelism|   Parallelism|                        
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The foundation works to strengthen local and regional agricultural 05 Jun 2019, 14:39
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Diwabag
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Hello Everyone!

This is a great example of a GMAT question that has to do with parallelism! Before we dive in, here is the original question, with the major differences between each option highlighted in orange:

The foundation works to strengthen local and regional agricultural markets and cooperating with governments, improving access for farmers for productive resources such as land and credit.

(A) cooperating with governments, improving access for farmers for
(B) cooperates with governments to improve access for farmers to
(C) cooperate with governments for improvements of access for farmers to
(D) cooperate with governments and improve accessibility for farmers for their
(E) in cooperation with governments to improve access for farmers for

After a quick glance over each option, here are a few key differences:

1. cooperating/cooperates/cooperate
2. improving/to improve/for improvements of/and improve
3. for/to/for their

Since we know this is question deals with parallelism, let's make that the focus of our search for the correct option! If we start with #1 on our list, we can narrow down any options that don't use parallel wording or structure. To figure out which options do this properly, let's ask ourselves:

What does the foundation DO?

We know from the non-underlined portion of the sentence that one of the things the foundation does is this:

"works to strengthen local and regional agricultural markets"

The correct option will use similar verb tenses and wording for the other thing the foundation does. Let's see how each option stacks up:

(A) works to strengthen...and cooperating with governments, improving access for farmers for
(B) works to strengthen...and cooperates with governments to improve access for farmers to
(C) works to strengthen...and cooperate with governments for improvements of access for farmers to
(D) works to strengthen...and cooperate with governments and improve accessibility for farmers for their
(E) works to strengthen...and in cooperation with governments to improve access for farmers for

We can eliminate options A, C, D, and E because they don't use parallel wording! Option B is our correct choice!

I'd love to end the discussion here, but what if you chose to tackle #2 or #3 on the list instead? Here is how each method would break down:

#2: improving/to improve/for improvements of/and improve

This is another issue of parallel structure. Remember - both things the foundation does MUST be written using parallel structure!

(A) works to strengthen...and cooperating with governments, improving access for farmers for
(B) works to strengthen...and cooperates with governments to improve access for farmers to
(C) works to strengthen...and cooperate with governments for improvements of access for farmers to
(D) works to strengthen...and cooperate with governments and improve accessibility for farmers for their
(E) works to strengthen...and in cooperation with governments to improve access for farmers for

We can eliminate options A, C, and D because they don't use parallel structure. Let's move on to our last item.

#3: for/to/for their

Since we already narrowed down to 2 options, let's look at options B & E only. This issue has to do with idiomatic structure. Whenever we give someone "access," we say we give them "access to" something. We don't say that we give people "access from" something. Let's see how each option breaks down:

(B) cooperates with governments to improve access for farmers to

This is CORRECT! This sentence uses parallel structure by using "cooperates" and "to improve." It also uses the correct idiomatic structure "access to."

(E) in cooperation with governments to improve access for farmers for

This is INCORRECT for a couple reasons. First, it doesn't use parallel structure when it says "in cooperation with." Second, it uses the phrase "access for," which isn't how we say that in English.

There you have it - no matter which way you choose to tackle this question, option B will always come out as the correct choice!


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.

Hello!

In your examples, you find main differences in the choices THEN decide which difference will give you the most elimination in identifying. If that is the case, do you suggest that I read ALL of the choices, identify the main differences, THEN make eliminations? or do I make eliminations as I read through them one by one at the beginning? The former is more time consuming.

Thanks.
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Hello Diwabag!

For our method, we suggest that you do a quick glance over all the options first, and then identify a few main differences you can focus on. For easier questions, this will be incredibly quick (and you'll likely make eliminations as you read through them if they're obviously wrong). For more complex questions, this can actually be much faster than trying to read each option carefully. With practice, you should find that locating the differences and eliminating clearly wrong answers will get easier and faster.

Of course, if you have no problem with the method you're already using, then by all means keep using it! However, if you find yourself getting stuck on questions that have long or complicated options, perhaps give this method a try and see if it saves you some time. :)
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The foundation works to strengthen local and regional agricultural 14 May 2020, 12:04
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Quote:
The foundation works to strengthen local and regional agricultural markets and cooperating with governments, improving access for farmers for productive resources such as land and credit.

(A) cooperating with governments, improving access for farmers for
(B) cooperates with governments to improve access for farmers to
(C) cooperate with governments for improvements of access for farmers to
(D) cooperate with governments and improve accessibility for farmers for their
(E) in cooperation with governments to improve access for farmers for
Show more
Hello Experts,
GMATGuruNY, MartyTargetTestPrep, GMATNinja, MentorTutoring
If we choose B as correct choice, 'cooperates' goes with 'works', but if we choose C and D, 'cooperate' goes with 'strengthen'. So, what's the subtle difference in between these 2 choices? Could you help me to comprehend the meaning in between choices B and CD?
Thanks__
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The foundation works to strengthen local and regional agricultural 14 May 2020, 14:12
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Asad
Quote:
The foundation works to strengthen local and regional agricultural markets and cooperating with governments, improving access for farmers for productive resources such as land and credit.

(A) cooperating with governments, improving access for farmers for
(B) cooperates with governments to improve access for farmers to
(C) cooperate with governments for improvements of access for farmers to
(D) cooperate with governments and improve accessibility for farmers for their
(E) in cooperation with governments to improve access for farmers for
Hello Experts,
GMATGuruNY, MartyTargetTestPrep, GMATNinja, MentorTutoring
If we choose B as correct choice, 'cooperates' goes with 'works', but if we choose C and D, 'cooperate' goes with 'strengthen'. So, what's the subtle difference in between these 2 choices? Could you help me to comprehend the meaning in between choices B and CD?
Thanks__
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Hello, Asad. Although it might seem as if either option could work with some sort of agreement, the grammar calls for a tighter structure than what either (C) or (D) presents. That is, for cooperate to work, we would need another infinitive marker in to to precede it:

The foundation works to strengthen... and to cooperate...

In conversation, it is common to drop the second parallel marker, but on the GMAT™, that is a no-no. Moreover, the incorrect options have further issues that should prevent you from choosing them, or at least make you hesitant to get behind them. For instance, in (C), what does for improvements of access achieve in the way of expressing vital meaning that to improve access in (B) does not? And in (D), we have a colloquially acceptable and improve accessibility when the conjunction should be replaced by to. That is, the cause-and-effect relationship outlined in cooperate(s) with governments calls for an explanatory to, rather than the more casual (and more British) and.

I hope that helps with your question. Remember, if you are uncertain about a particular aspect of an answer choice, it may be helpful to look at other potential pluses and minuses before determining the winner.

- Andrew
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The foundation works to strengthen local and regional agricultural 12 Apr 2022, 17:51
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Hi AndrewN and GMATNinja - I do not understand why D is incorrect, I was thinking it maintains the parallelism -

The foundation works to strengthen local and regional agricultural markets and cooperate with governments and improve accessibility for farmers for their productive resources such as land and credit.

I also thought their is logically referring to the farmers.

works to (strengthen, cooperate and improve) .... how's this wrong?

AndrewN
Asad
Quote:
The foundation works to strengthen local and regional agricultural markets and cooperating with governments, improving access for farmers for productive resources such as land and credit.

(A) cooperating with governments, improving access for farmers for
(B) cooperates with governments to improve access for farmers to
(C) cooperate with governments for improvements of access for farmers to
(D) cooperate with governments and improve accessibility for farmers for their
(E) in cooperation with governments to improve access for farmers for
Hello Experts,
GMATGuruNY, MartyTargetTestPrep, GMATNinja, MentorTutoring
If we choose B as correct choice, 'cooperates' goes with 'works', but if we choose C and D, 'cooperate' goes with 'strengthen'. So, what's the subtle difference in between these 2 choices? Could you help me to comprehend the meaning in between choices B and CD?
Thanks__
Hello, Asad. Although it might seem as if either option could work with some sort of agreement, the grammar calls for a tighter structure than what either (C) or (D) presents. That is, for cooperate to work, we would need another infinitive marker in to to precede it:

The foundation works to strengthen... and to cooperate...

In conversation, it is common to drop the second parallel marker, but on the GMAT™, that is a no-no. Moreover, the incorrect options have further issues that should prevent you from choosing them, or at least make you hesitant to get behind them. For instance, in (C), what does for improvements of access achieve in the way of expressing vital meaning that to improve access in (B) does not? And in (D), we have a colloquially acceptable and improve accessibility when the conjunction should be replaced by to. That is, the cause-and-effect relationship outlined in cooperate(s) with governments calls for an explanatory to, rather than the more casual (and more British) and.

I hope that helps with your question. Remember, if you are uncertain about a particular aspect of an answer choice, it may be helpful to look at other potential pluses and minuses before determining the winner.

- Andrew
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The foundation works to strengthen local and regional agricultural 13 Apr 2022, 08:49
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TheLordCommander, there's not simple answer to your question. As folks above have mentioned, it can be helpful to have extra markers, such as matched prepositions, to make the parallel items clear, but we won't always have that. Even when those markers do appear, they can shift from one choice to another, forcing us to determine the intended meaning and use that to choose answer.

So yes, there's no reason why the parallel items can't be "strengthen" and ”cooperate," at least in theory. How do we know which way to go?

1) The choices that do this are wrong for other reasons. C is a mess of stacked modifiers. D gives us this structure: "The foundation works to strengthen and cooperate and improve." That would need to be a list! In fact, that double "and" is a clue that the second and third items in this list (cooperate and improve) are meant to be a pair, separate from the first.

2) The items need to be logically parallel. When we say that the foundation works to strengthen markets, we mean that strengthening markets is a goal. If we make "cooperate" parallel with "strengthen," we are saying that cooperation with governments is also a goal--something that the foundation is trying to do. It makes more sense to see cooperation as a means to an end. The foundation cooperates in order to improve access.
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DmitryFarber hello expert, I was really confused that “cooperate” is parallel with “strengthen” or “work”, and I think both the two seem to be logical in meaning. I think the foundation itself can’t directly improve the access for farmers cuz maybe some new policies are needed to be made, so it must have to cooperate with the government together to do so. Anyway, I mean it’s hard to rule out the choice only by meaning. I picked B finally though just because I think improve(verb form) is superior than improvement(noun form).
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The foundation works to strengthen local and regional agricultural 13 Apr 2022, 09:23
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IN2MBB2PE
Hi AndrewN and GMATNinja - I do not understand why D is incorrect, I was thinking it maintains the parallelism -

The foundation works to strengthen local and regional agricultural markets and cooperate with governments and improve accessibility for farmers for their productive resources such as land and credit.

I also thought their is logically referring to the farmers.

works to (strengthen, cooperate and improve) .... how's this wrong?
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Notice what you did right there at the end, IN2MBB2PE. You wrote strengthen, cooperate and improve (no Oxford comma). I agree that that sentence would be tenable. But strengthen and cooperate and improve creates a run-on in the sentence at hand. Although it is true that an element in a list may branch—e.g., X is A and B while Y is C—in this case, there are three separate verbs, and the grammatical structure suffers with all these ands in the absence of any commas.

The foundation works to strengthen X and Y and cooperate with Z and improve accessibility...

Certainly, there will be a better way to write that sentence, I think you would agree.

Perhaps it makes more sense now why answer choice (D), despite its parallel structure, is not the best of the five options. Thank you for thinking to ask.

- Andrew
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The foundation works to strengthen local and regional agricultural 13 Apr 2022, 09:49
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Asad
Quote:
The foundation works to strengthen local and regional agricultural markets and cooperating with governments, improving access for farmers for productive resources such as land and credit.

(A) cooperating with governments, improving access for farmers for
(B) cooperates with governments to improve access for farmers to
(C) cooperate with governments for improvements of access for farmers to
(D) cooperate with governments and improve accessibility for farmers for their
(E) in cooperation with governments to improve access for farmers for
Hello Experts,
GMATGuruNY, MartyTargetTestPrep, GMATNinja, MentorTutoring
If we choose B as correct choice, 'cooperates' goes with 'works', but if we choose C and D, 'cooperate' goes with 'strengthen'. So, what's the subtle difference in between these 2 choices? Could you help me to comprehend the meaning in between choices B and CD?
Thanks__
Hello, Asad. Although it might seem as if either option could work with some sort of agreement, the grammar calls for a tighter structure than what either (C) or (D) presents. That is, for cooperate to work, we would need another infinitive marker in to to precede it:

The foundation works to strengthen... and to cooperate...

In conversation, it is common to drop the second parallel marker, but on the GMAT™, that is a no-no. Moreover, the incorrect options have further issues that should prevent you from choosing them, or at least make you hesitant to get behind them. For instance, in (C), what does for improvements of access achieve in the way of expressing vital meaning that to improve access in (B) does not? And in (D), we have a colloquially acceptable and improve accessibility when the conjunction should be replaced by to. That is, the cause-and-effect relationship outlined in cooperate(s) with governments calls for an explanatory to, rather than the more casual (and more British) and.

I hope that helps with your question. Remember, if you are uncertain about a particular aspect of an answer choice, it may be helpful to look at other potential pluses and minuses before determining the winner.

- Andrew
Show more

This is a useful point cuz I think it’s hard to eliminate C only by meaning. And I just think of verb form(improve) is superior than noun form(improvement).
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The foundation works to strengthen local and regional agricultural 08 May 2022, 13:51
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Parallelism needs to be maintained -----> Works || Cooperates

Correct idiom ----> Access to

Accessibility is wrong because it has different meaning
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The foundation works to strengthen local and regional agricultural 14 Jun 2022, 06:07
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ERRORS:

1. "and" is a Parallelism Marker.

"and cooperating.." is not parallel with anything before "and" . Eliminate A.
"and in cooperation.." nothing with this too.... Eliminate E.

2. in option D,

"and cooperate... and improve..." double "and" means two list....

List - 1: The foundation works to.... "strengthen...." and "cooperate.."

List - 2: "cooperate..." and... " improve"

Now in List 2, since "and improve" is not infinitive, then "and cooperate.." should can not be infinitive...If that's the case... then List -1 breaks parallelism...
or if you say "and cooperate.." is parallel with "works", then "and cooperate" breaks S-V agreement.

3. In option C, there are a lot of Prepositional Phrase stacked on the top on one another.

Between B and C, B is definitely a better choice.

4. "their" in option D, can refer to "farmers" and "governments",,, may another reason to eliminate D.
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The foundation works to strengthen local and regional agricultural 04 Aug 2022, 08:32
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the foundation works (verb)… and(parallel marker) cooperates (verb)
Only B fits this classic parallel structure
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The foundation works to strengthen local and regional agricultural 05 Apr 2023, 20:38
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DmitryFarber
TheLordCommander, there's not simple answer to your question. As folks above have mentioned, it can be helpful to have extra markers, such as matched prepositions, to make the parallel items clear, but we won't always have that. Even when those markers do appear, they can shift from one choice to another, forcing us to determine the intended meaning and use that to choose answer.

So yes, there's no reason why the parallel items can't be "strengthen" and "cooperate," at least in theory. How do we know which way to go?

1) The choices that do this are wrong for other reasons. C is a mess of stacked modifiers. D gives us this structure: "The foundation works to strengthen and cooperate and improve." That would need to be a list! In fact, that double "and" is a clue that the second and third items in this list (cooperate and improve) are meant to be a pair, separate from the first.

2) The items need to be logically parallel. When we say that the foundation works to strengthen markets, we mean that strengthening markets is a goal. If we make "cooperate" parallel with "strengthen," we are saying that cooperation with governments is also a goal--something that the foundation is trying to do. It makes more sense to see cooperation as a means to an end. The foundation cooperates in order to improve access.
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Hi, I also wanted to know that if strengthen and coorperate were parallel, wouldnt the sentence read as 1. The foundation works to strengthen and 2. the foundation works to coorperate (Logically does not make sense)
This why I eliminated options C and D.
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The foundation works to strengthen local and regional agricultural 15 Apr 2023, 23:21
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Aishyk97

Yes, that's what I was getting at in my point #2. It's not completely illogical--one might have a goal to cooperate--but it doesn't seem right in this context.
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The foundation works to strengthen local and regional agricultural 23 May 2023, 11:06
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OreoShake
How are we supposed to tell where the parallel structure begins? Apparently the parallel structure begins from 'works', so 'works' and 'cooperates'. However the parallel structure could might as well have began from 'to strengthen' ---- the only reason i think 'cooperate' cannot be parallel to 'strengthen' is that 'cooperate' is NOT preceded by a 'to'.

Experts please confirm whether my reasoning above is right. Thank you for your insights.
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I also have the same question, can someone help in explaining this please?

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The foundation works to strengthen local and regional agricultural 10 Aug 2023, 00:43
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The foundation works to strengthen local and regional agricultural markets and cooperating with governments, improving access for farmers for productive resources such as land and credit.

A) cooperating with governments, improving access for farmers for
B) cooperates with governments to improve access for farmers to
C) cooperate with governments for improvements of access for farmers to
D) cooperate with governments and improve accessibility for farmers for their
E) in cooperation with governments to improve access for farmers for

Foundation is an organization ( such as Charity Organization),and an organization can cooperate with government. E is wrong because "and" is supposed to join two elements, here two verbs, "works" and another one ("cooperates"). However there is nothing after "and" that could serve the purpose of an element that is joined by the conjunction "and".

Moreover "access for resources" is idiomatically incorrect.

sayantanc2k
Can we say that sentence E is a fragment? We expect a verb after the "and" part, where as there isn't any?

The foundation works to strengthen local and regional agricultural markets and in cooperation with governments to improve access for farmers for productive resources such as land and credit.

Yes, that is one way of eliminating the option. Another way may be:

The conjunction "and" needs to join two items. If we consider "works" the first item, then we need a verb. If we consider "to strengthen" the first item, then we need an infinitive. Instead of either of these two, we see a prepositional phrase ( in cooperation with), which has no element to be matched with.

So the problem can be viewed as a parallelism issue as well.
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Hi sayantanc2k, KarishmaB, EMPOWERgmatVerbal, AndrewN
In E, apart from idiom issue, wouldn't the sentence be read as "The foundation works to strengthen .... and in cooperation with...." . Here parallel structure is there i.e "The foundation works 'to strengthen' and 'in cooperation'". Since 'to strengthen' is infinitive verb serving as object to verb 'works' and 'in cooperation' is noun too, thus both parts are noun phrase. What am I thinking wrong?
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The foundation works to strengthen local and regional agricultural 10 Aug 2023, 03:42
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rickyric395


Hi sayantanc2k, KarishmaB, EMPOWERgmatVerbal, AndrewN
In E, apart from idiom issue, wouldn't the sentence be read as "The foundation works to strengthen .... and in cooperation with...." . Here parallel structure is there i.e "The foundation works 'to strengthen' and 'in cooperation'". Since 'to strengthen' is infinitive verb serving as object to verb 'works' and 'in cooperation' is noun too, thus both parts are noun phrase. What am I thinking wrong?
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The foundation works to strengthen A
The foundation works in cooperation with governments to improve B

'in cooperation with governments' is a modifier telling us how it works. This modifier is not present in the first part.

The elements actually parallel are:
The foundation works to strengthen A...
The foundation works to improve B...

I may accept this parallelism depending on what other options I have. Since I have a cleaner (B), I will prefer that. Also option (E) has the idiom issue so that's that then.
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