The only strategic metal in which the United States is self-sufficient

Question

The only strategic metal in which the United States is self-sufficient, molybdenum is a soft substance that can, paradoxically, be used  to harden steel in alloys, as well as as a lubricant, and in trace amounts, in the nutritional supplements  to help prevent tooth decay.

(A) to harden steel in alloys, as well as as a lubricant, and in trace amounts, in the nutritional supplements

(B) to harden steel in alloys, as well as a lubricant, and a nutritional supplement in trace amounts

(C) in alloys to harden steel, as well as a lubricant and nutritional supplement in trace amounts

(D) in alloys to harden steel; it can also be used as a lubricant and, in trace amounts, as a nutritional supplement

(E) in alloys to harden steel; it can also be used as well as a lubricant and nutritional supplement in trace amounts

daagh · Accepted Answer

Harden steel and used as a lubricant are not parallel. The sentence has to be broken down. A, B and C are gone

E makes it look as if it can be used as a lubricant in nutritional supplements conveying a muddled sense. In addition, it is redundant to say ‘ also  ‘and ‘ as well as .’

D is the answer

metallicafan · Answer

+1 D

Parallelism.

"Shake and bake!" - Ricky Bobby's partner

kamalkicks · Answer

GOOD QUESTION..

i will go with D .

except d each choice has more than 1 flaw..,

rrkan · Answer

Daagh, can you please more how A,B, C are gone

btg9788 · Answer

Can someone please explain C -

in alloys to harden steel, as well as a lubricant and , in trace amounts as a ...

in alloys - prep phrase?

to harden steel - infinitive phrase?

I felt its got to do with parallelism, but don't get the technical grammar behind this question...

pqhai · Answer

Hi btg9788

I don't really get your question, but I guess your question is like "why C is wrong, and why D is correct"

C is wrong because of parallelism error.

...... molybdenum can be used    to harden  steel, as well as  a lubricant  and  nutritional supplement  in trace amounts.
The three bold parts are not parallel.  Only  "a lubricant" and "nutritional supplement" are parallel.

*in alloys - prep phrase? YES
* to harden steel - infinitive phrase? YES

D is correct. because:
......molybdenum can be used   to harden steel; it can also be used  as a lubricant  and, in trace amounts,  as a nutritional  supplement
"It" modifies molybdenum correctly. 
"as a lubricant" and "as nutritional supplement" are parallel.

Hope that helps.

btg9788 · Answer

Thanks pqhai.

I did not type my question correctly. However, at second glance, I see why the other answers are incorrect. In C, I think that its more to do with meaning rather than grammar or parallelism etc.

The element Molybdenum can be "a lubricant and nutritional supplement" to prevent tooth decay - Meaningless sentence.

So C changes the meaning to something like Molybdenum acts as a lubricant+nutritional supplement to prevent tooth decay, which clearly is nonsensical.

Parallelism of course, as you said is missing in C.

sam15000 · Answer

The answer is Definitely D. This was an easy one!

abrakadabra21 · Answer

the sentence mention "paradoxically" but in D, paradoxically doesn't stand for anything, as now we have 2 independent clause. in 1st statement itself should itself why it is paradoxical. Am I wrong?

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

Once we figure out that the initial phrase is not crucial to the meaning/intent, we can breakdown this sentence on the basis of parallelism.

Option A  is definitely out for the use of  as well as as  – for a minute there I thought it was a typo! -  Eliminate 
 Options B and C  are out clearly for the lack of parallelism –  to harden steel  &  as a lubricant  –  Eliminate  
 Option E  – This option clearly wants to be eliminated –  it can also be used as well as a  – Redundancy –  Eliminate !
  Option D   is the  best choice !

Hope this helps!

aarkay87 · Answer

Hi Experts,

Could you please discuss each option in depth that which elements are not parallel in the options and which usage of 'as well as' is right or wrong?

KittyDoodles · Answer

Hi Experts

Should we consider "as well as" to be a parallelism trigger?

Why is option A incorrect.

I was stuck between option A and Option D. I rejected Option A because "Molybdenum can be used as a supplement" seemed better than "Molybdenum can be used in supplements"

Thanks

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  KittyDoodles ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, "as well as" is indeed a parallelism trigger, as are all conjunctions.

Further, Option A incorrectly uses the "comma + conjunction ("as well as" in this sentence)" construction to join the first and second elements in a list with more than two elements; remember, the "comma + conjunction" construction is used to join the last element in a list with more than two elements with the rest of the list; the other elements are linked by commas.

Option D avoids this error by placing two of the elements in a separate list.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

RonTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Experts

Should we consider "as well as" to be a parallelism trigger?

Why is option A incorrect.

" as   as a lubricant ": Okay, technically, this is just " as  +    ", so IN THEORY it's not wrong.
but ...
"as as"
have you ever seen GMAC do something like this in a correct answer? No, you haven't—because GMAC would never write a correct sentence that looks like this.

You CAN, however, eliminate A because the last two parallel parts are objectively less parallel than they are in D.
A:  as a lubricant  ||  in the nutritional supplements 
D:  as a lubricant  ||  as a nutritional supplement 
This is a straightforward relative judgment.

"nutritional supplement  s  " in choice A is also wrong, because molybdenum is only one nutritional supplement.
("The" in choice A is nonsense too, but the GMAT won't explicitly test the presence or absence of  a/an/the .)

NakulDiwakar10 · Answer

IMO d) is the answer
a) and b) lacks parallelism
c) when we use and to list things, comma should be present. In option c there is no comma before and.
e) also as well as makes the answer choice redundant

The only strategic metal in which the United States is self-sufficient

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The only strategic metal in which the United States is self-sufficient

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