The hognose snake puts on an impressive bluff, hissing and rearing bac

This is a classic case of parallelism, but with some twists. The confusion here usually comes from being unclear about which "verbs" should be verbs, and which should be "-ing" modifiers. (For more on "-ing" words and an explanation of why they're rarely verbs, check out our Topic of the Week: https://gmatclub.com/forum/experts-topi ... the%20week)

Let's start with the first underlined word: we have a choice between "broadens" and "broadening." "Broadens" is a verb, and it's parallel with "puts on an impressive bluff" in (A) and (B). "Broadening", on the other hand, is a modifier, giving us extra information about what happens when the snake puts on its bluff -- and that makes much, much more sense. So we can get rid of (A) and (B).

(C) strikes me as being unbelievably long and wordy, but so are all five answer choices. More usefully, the parallelism looks OK: "broadening and feigning" are parallel modifiers, both of which continue to describe the snake's "impressive bluff". The pronoun "it" is fine, too: because it's the subject of a new, dependent clause ("but it has no fangs..."), the subject unambiguously refers back to the subject of the first clause ("the hognose snake"). (If you want to read more about this type of pronoun issue, check out my post in this thread: https://gmatclub.com/forum/china-s-vast ... l#p1838737. We'll also address this in an upcoming Topic of the Week.)

(D) is easier to eliminate: the modifier "broadening" and the verb "feigns" are clearly not parallel.

(E) replaces the "and" before "feigning" with a comma, and that doesn't seem ideal: the sentence is clearer if the two modifiers are in a parallel structure, but I'm not sure that it's a huge problem. The bigger issue is that we don't have a new clause at the end of the underlined portion, because the "it" has been replaced by "with." That causes a problem down the line: at the end of the sentence, we don't have a subject for the verb phrase "will fall over and play dead." So (E) is gone, too.

We're left with (C). In real life, I think it's a wordy, crappy sentence. But that doesn't matter! It's free from egregious errors, so it's the correct answer in GMAT-land.

Sir,

In option C, doesnt 'IT' can refer to snake or cobra( pronoun error issue ). or is it a rule that Subject(pronoun) of second independent clause refer back to Subject of first independent clause .

The hognose snake puts on an impressive bluff, hissing and rearing back, broadens the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does, feigning repeated strikes, but, having no dangerous fangs and no venom, eventually, if its pursuer is not cowed by the performance, will fall over and play dead.


(A) broadens the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does, feigning repeated strikes, but, having no dangerous fangs and no venom,

(B) broadens the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigns repeated strikes, but with no dangerous fangs and no venom,

(C) broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigning repeated strikes, but it has no dangerous fangs and no venom, and

(D) broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigns repeated strikes, but with no dangerous fangs and no venom, and

(E) broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does, feigning repeated strikes, but with no dangerous fangs and no venom, and

GMATNinja I arrived at C because of the errors in other options but can you explain which structure is parallel to "will fall over and play dead" in second clause in C.

Thank you.

Posted from my mobile device

This is a classic case of parallelism, but with some twists. The confusion here usually comes from being unclear about which "verbs" should be verbs, and which should be "-ing" modifiers. (For more on "-ing" words and an explanation of why they're rarely verbs, check out our Topic of the Week: https://gmatclub.com/forum/experts-topi ... the%20week)

Let's start with the first underlined word: we have a choice between "broadens" and "broadening." "Broadens" is a verb, and it's parallel with "puts on an impressive bluff" in (A) and (B). "Broadening", on the other hand, is a modifier, giving us extra information about what happens when the snake puts on its bluff -- and that makes much, much more sense. So we can get rid of (A) and (B).

(C) strikes me as being unbelievably long and wordy, but so are all five answer choices. More usefully, the parallelism looks OK: "broadening and feigning" are parallel modifiers, both of which continue to describe the snake's "impressive bluff". The pronoun "it" is fine, too: because it's the subject of a new, dependent clause ("but it has no fangs..."), the subject unambiguously refers back to the subject of the first clause ("the hognose snake"). (If you want to read more about this type of pronoun issue, check out my post in this thread: https://gmatclub.com/forum/china-s-vast ... l#p1838737. We'll also address this in an upcoming Topic of the Week.)

(D) is easier to eliminate: the modifier "broadening" and the verb "feigns" are clearly not parallel.

(E) replaces the "and" before "feigning" with a comma, and that doesn't seem ideal: the sentence is clearer if the two modifiers are in a parallel structure, but I'm not sure that it's a huge problem. The bigger issue is that we don't have a new clause at the end of the underlined portion, because the "it" has been replaced by "with." That causes a problem down the line: at the end of the sentence, we don't have a subject for the verb phrase "will fall over and play dead." So (E) is gone, too.

We're left with (C). In real life, I think it's a wordy, crappy sentence. But that doesn't matter! It's free from egregious errors, so it's the correct answer in GMAT-land.

Is double modifier correct to use ?

This is a classic case of parallelism, but with some twists. The confusion here usually comes from being unclear about which "verbs" should be verbs, and which should be "-ing" modifiers. (For more on "-ing" words and an explanation of why they're rarely verbs, check out our Topic of the Week: https://gmatclub.com/forum/experts-topi ... the%20week)

Let's start with the first underlined word: we have a choice between "broadens" and "broadening." "Broadens" is a verb, and it's parallel with "puts on an impressive bluff" in (A) and (B). "Broadening", on the other hand, is a modifier, giving us extra information about what happens when the snake puts on its bluff -- and that makes much, much more sense. So we can get rid of (A) and (B).

(C) strikes me as being unbelievably long and wordy, but so are all five answer choices. More usefully, the parallelism looks OK: "broadening and feigning" are parallel modifiers, both of which continue to describe the snake's "impressive bluff". The pronoun "it" is fine, too: because it's the subject of a new, dependent clause ("but it has no fangs..."), the subject unambiguously refers back to the subject of the first clause ("the hognose snake"). (If you want to read more about this type of pronoun issue, check out my post in this thread: https://gmatclub.com/forum/china-s-vast ... l#p1838737. We'll also address this in an upcoming Topic of the Week.)

(D) is easier to eliminate: the modifier "broadening" and the verb "feigns" are clearly not parallel.

(E) replaces the "and" before "feigning" with a comma, and that doesn't seem ideal: the sentence is clearer if the two modifiers are in a parallel structure, but I'm not sure that it's a huge problem. The bigger issue is that we don't have a new clause at the end of the underlined portion, because the "it" has been replaced by "with." That causes a problem down the line: at the end of the sentence, we don't have a subject for the verb phrase "will fall over and play dead." So (E) is gone, too.

We're left with (C). In real life, I think it's a wordy, crappy sentence. But that doesn't matter! It's free from egregious errors, so it's the correct answer in GMAT-land.

Hi GMATNinja

Thank you for your amazing explanation. I wanted to clarify - I understand that the usage of 'but' requires Parallelism on the left side and right side of 'but'. So in this sentence, we have a clause on the left side " The hognose snake ....." but on the right side of 'but' only C has a clause i.e. "it has no ...". Is "clause" but "clause" Parallelism also the correct way to select C ?

This is a classic case of parallelism, but with some twists. The confusion here usually comes from being unclear about which "verbs" should be verbs, and which should be "-ing" modifiers. (For more on "-ing" words and an explanation of why they're rarely verbs, check out our Topic of the Week: https://gmatclub.com/forum/experts-topi ... the%20week)

Let's start with the first underlined word: we have a choice between "broadens" and "broadening." "Broadens" is a verb, and it's parallel with "puts on an impressive bluff" in (A) and (B). "Broadening", on the other hand, is a modifier, giving us extra information about what happens when the snake puts on its bluff -- and that makes much, much more sense. So we can get rid of (A) and (B).

(C) strikes me as being unbelievably long and wordy, but so are all five answer choices. More usefully, the parallelism looks OK: "broadening and feigning" are parallel modifiers, both of which continue to describe the snake's "impressive bluff". The pronoun "it" is fine, too: because it's the subject of a new, dependent clause ("but it has no fangs..."), the subject unambiguously refers back to the subject of the first clause ("the hognose snake"). (If you want to read more about this type of pronoun issue, check out my post in this thread: https://gmatclub.com/forum/china-s-vast ... l#p1838737. We'll also address this in an upcoming Topic of the Week.)

(D) is easier to eliminate: the modifier "broadening" and the verb "feigns" are clearly not parallel.

(E) replaces the "and" before "feigning" with a comma, and that doesn't seem ideal: the sentence is clearer if the two modifiers are in a parallel structure, but I'm not sure that it's a huge problem. The bigger issue is that we don't have a new clause at the end of the underlined portion, because the "it" has been replaced by "with." That causes a problem down the line: at the end of the sentence, we don't have a subject for the verb phrase "will fall over and play dead." So (E) is gone, too. )

We're left with (C). In real life, I think it's a wordy, crappy sentence. But that doesn't matter! It's free from egregious errors, so it's the correct answer in GMAT-land.

Do options A and B repeat the error in E ? (not having a subject for the clause after but )

GMATNinja

The hognose snake puts on an impressive bluff, hissing and rearing back, broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigning repeated strikes, but it has no dangerous fangs and no venom, and eventually, if its pursuer is not cowed by the performance, will fall over and play dead.

(IC) , M , M and M
The hognose snake puts on an impressive bluff, hissing and rearing back, broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigning repeated strikes

coordinating conjunction
, but

(snake) (IC)
it has no dangerous fangs and no venom

coordinating conjunction
, and

subordinating conjunction if DC, IC
eventually, if its pursuer is not cowed by the performance, will fall over and play dead.

The hognose snake puts on an impressive bluff, hissing and rearing back, broadens the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does, feigning repeated strikes, but, having no dangerous fangs and no venom, eventually, if its pursuer is not cowed by the performance, will fall over and play dead.


(A) broadens the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does, feigning repeated strikes, but, having no dangerous fangs and no venom,

(B) broadens the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigns repeated strikes, but with no dangerous fangs and no venom,

(C) broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigning repeated strikes, but it has no dangerous fangs and no venom, and

(D) broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigns repeated strikes, but with no dangerous fangs and no venom, and

(E) broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does, feigning repeated strikes, but with no dangerous fangs and no venom, and

The hognose snake puts on an impressive bluff, hissing and rearing back, broadens the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does, feigning repeated strikes, but having no dangerous fangs and no venom, eventually, if its pursuer is not cowered by the performance, will fall over and play dead.

- broadens the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does, feigning repeated strikes, but having no dangerous fangs and no venom,
- broadens the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigns repeated strikes, but with no dangerous fangs and no venom,
- broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigning repeated strikes, but it has no dangerous fangs and no venom, and
- broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigns repeated strikes, but with no dangerous fangs and no venom, and
- broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does, feigning repeated strikes, but with no dangerous fangs and no venom, and


The question has been discussed many times, but one point is unclear for me:
MGMAT instructor said that the meaning of the sentence clearly indicates that the forms of broaden and feign should be parallel to "hissing and rearing", since all of those things are actions that occur during the "impressive bluff". But why? How these 2 words define parallelism? For me, these 2 words should be paralleled to each other, without influencing other words, which have their own parallelism story... And it's way better to say broadens... So, for me structure in B is preferrable... Please anybody explain.


Thanks!

GMATNinja

Could you please help me understand the use of the last , and also highlighted in bold.

I am reading it as another coordinating conjunction which signals to me that another IC follows but the last IC has no clear subject.



Below is my structural breakdown of the sentence.