Is a question of this difficulty level likely to appear on the GMAT?

Hi do really feel that as well as can be used before a verb

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Moha
Do you suggest that the free dictionary is wrong? One normally takes the Dictionary as the authority?. The Link is also saying that the one cannot connect finite verbs with as well as
If you think otherwise, can you atleast cite another authority to refute it?
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Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-



Choice A: In Option A, we see a parallelism error between "to help determine", "to study" and "as well as determining"; remember, lists must be parallel. Furthermore, Option A utilizes the redundant and unidiomatic phrase "whether or not"; the correct form of this phrase is "whether". Thus, Option A is incorrect.

Choice B: Option B maintains parallelism, subject-verb agreement, and proper idiom usage. Thus, Option B is correct.

Choice C: Option C repeats the parallelism error found in Option A. Thus, Option C is incorrect.

Choice D: Option D repeats the parallelism error found in Options A and C. Furthermore, the phrase "to help to determine" is needlessly wordy. Thus, Option D is incorrect.

Choice E: Option E repeats the parallelism error found in Options A, C, and D and features a subject-verb disagreement between "goals" and "is". Thus, Option E is incorrect.

Hence, B is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of “If v/s Whether on GMAT”, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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Hi Team please suggest what do you think would be the correct answer for this question ... is it B or C

Hi Experts,

Can you please tell me how C is the correct choice? "determining" is not parallel to the term before.

Didn't find a proper explanation for this one.
GMATNinja Could you break this down for me?

Brilliant brilliant question, the difference between C and D is so subtle it took me 30 seconds just to figure that out. B is clearly wrong, IDK why so many people can't see the obvious mistakes.

These top 100 SC questions are brutal - they take me longer to do than LSAT CR .... I didn't even spot the extra 'to' in D.

A and B suffer from a meaning issue. We want to convey the idea that the goals were established by the program. However, the way its written makes it seem as though the program 'figured out' that the main goals are such and such.

The Mars Exploration Program established that the main scientific goals of the MSL mission are to help determine whether or not Mars could ever have supported life, as well as determining the role of water, and to study the climate and geology of Mars.

A. The Mars Exploration Program established that the main scientific goals of the MSL mission are to help determine whether or not Mars could ever have supported life, as well as determining the role of water, and to study the climate and geology of Mars.

B. The Mars Exploration Program established that the main scientific goals of the MSL mission are to help determine whether Mars could ever have supported life, as well as to determine the role of water, and to study the climate and geology of Mars.

C. As established by the Mars Exploration Program, the main scientific goals of the MSL mission are to help determine whether Mars could ever have supported life, as well as determining the role of water, and to study the climate and geology of Mars.

D. As established by the Mars Exploration Program, the main scientific goals of the MSL mission are to help to determine whether Mars could ever have supported life, as well as determining the role of water, and to study the climate and geology of Mars

E. As established by the Mars Exploration Program, the main scientific goals of the MSL mission is to help determine whether Mars could ever have supported life, as well as determining the role of water, and to study the climate and geology of Mars.
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hi daagh, could you please share more insight on when to use verb+ing with 'as well as' and on when to not use such structure?

As well as doesn't mandatorily require parallelism in the same way a conjunction does. The entity following "as well as" can also be "Verb+-ing" gerund, with a verb as the previous element. Here is an official question illustrating this idea.

Hope this helps.
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