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HAPPYatHARVARD
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The Mars Exploration Program established that the main scientific goal 29 May 2019, 12:57
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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 the climate and geology of Mars.------------the list is parallel here and redundancy has been removed.

Option B has a meaning error.
Here the subject is MSL mission
its goal is to a)determine if Mars ever supported life b) understand the role of water c) study the climate

when we say MSL mission will determine the role of water it means it will control the role of water. Incorrect.
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The Mars Exploration Program established that the main scientific goal 11 Jun 2019, 05:31
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HAPPYatHARVARD
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 the climate and geology of Mars.------------the list is parallel here and redundancy has been removed.

Option B has a meaning error.
Here the subject is MSL mission
its goal is to a)determine if Mars ever supported life b) understand the role of water c) study the climate

when we say MSL mission will determine the role of water it means it will control the role of water. Incorrect.
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Isn’t the subject the same for ‘C’? So how does ‘-ing’ change the meaning?

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The Mars Exploration Program established that the main scientific goal 15 Jun 2019, 23:03
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daagh
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.

Sourced from RSSing.com -- As usual, no OA or OE is available. What is given after three days is my own OA and not the original author's. A lot of discussions with reasoning are welcome.
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Is a question of this difficulty level likely to appear on the GMAT?
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The Mars Exploration Program established that the main scientific goal 14 Jan 2020, 04:49
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Gnpth
Quote:
Since you seem very curious, let me give my reasoning of the issue. But pl remember that this is not any official solution from the author, but just my own, which could be as good or bad as anybody's.

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. -- Whether or not is redundant and incorrect

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. --- as well as determining is the correct verb when we join a verb; 'as well as to determine' is not

Please read the part below in proof of this; <https://www.thefreedictionary.com/as+well+as>


Quote:
linking clauses

You can use as well as in a similar way to link clauses. However, the second clause must be a clause beginning with an -ing form.
She manages the budget as well as ordering the equipment.


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. ---- The two things that are parallel here are 1. to help and 2. to study. Correct choice.

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 ------ to help 'to determine', especially because of the infinitive marker before determine is not to be taken as parallel 'to study'

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. --- Goals … is --SV error
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Hi do really feel that as well as can be used before a verb

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The Mars Exploration Program established that the main scientific goal 14 Jan 2020, 06:45
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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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The Mars Exploration Program established that the main scientific goal 18 Jan 2020, 04:26
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ExpertsGlobal5
Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

daagh
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.

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, C is the best answer choice.



Is c the correct answer or b please clarify it is confusing from your post :) :cool:

Also the reason I have mentioned from Ron can that be used as daggh mentioned about a the dictionary use which I assume is not correctly used in Gmat style question


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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The Mars Exploration Program established that the main scientific goal 19 Jan 2020, 05:46
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ExpertsGlobal5
Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

daagh
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.

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, C 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
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The Mars Exploration Program established that the main scientific goal 11 Apr 2020, 04:58
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Hi Experts,

Can you please tell me how C is the correct choice? "determining" is not parallel to the term before.
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The Mars Exploration Program established that the main scientific goal 27 Sep 2020, 07:45
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Didn't find a proper explanation for this one.
GMATNinja Could you break this down for me?
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The Mars Exploration Program established that the main scientific goal 27 Sep 2020, 22:11
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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.
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The Mars Exploration Program established that the main scientific goal 01 May 2021, 07:52
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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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The Mars Exploration Program established that the main scientific goal 19 Mar 2022, 01:52
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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?
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The Mars Exploration Program established that the main scientific goal 19 Mar 2022, 09:07
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archanam9449
Hi Experts,

Can you please tell me how C is the correct choice? "determining" is not parallel to the term before.
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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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The Mars Exploration Program established that the main scientific goal 03 Feb 2023, 07:39
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VERBS AFTER AS WELL AS COME IN –ING FORM
When we put a verb after as well as, we use the -ing form of the verb. (This might sound really strange to a non-native speaker, but the grammar books agree on this.)
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