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505-555 (Easy)|   Idioms/Diction/Redundancy|   Parallelism|                        
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egmat
Hi there,

There are three errors in option D.

1. The correct idiom is 'ability to', not 'ability of'.
2. 'Consider as' is also an idiom error. 'Consider' should not be followed by 'as' or 'to be'.
3. 'Of' should be repeated to make the parallelism clear.

I hope this helps to clarify your doubts!

Regards,
Meghna

Hi Meghna egmat

Why cant we have "of" as common -the way we have in option D? Is that construction incorrect?
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Hi MartyTargetTestPrep

E. that dolphins are capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and of spontaneously grasping

Is it a must that 'of' be repeated after 'and' to maintain the parallelism?
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Vegita
Hi MartyTargetTestPrep

E. that dolphins are capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and of spontaneously grasping

Is it a must that 'of' be repeated after 'and' to maintain the parallelism?
No, a second "of" is not necessary for maintaining parallelism there.

However, the second "of" does make the meaning clear. Without the second "of," the sentence could be read as saying that dolphins are capable of an action that involves "recognizing themselves in mirrors ... and spontaneously grasping the the mood or intention of humans," as if the point is that spontaneously grasping the mood or intention of humans is somehow closely connected to or the result of recognizing themselves in mirrors.
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Hi Experts

GMATNinja KarishmaB MartyTargetTestPrep

The results of two recent unrelated studies support the idea that dolphins may share certain cognitive abilities with humans and great apes; the studies indicate dolphins as capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and to grasp spontaneously the mood or intention of humans.

A. dolphins as capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and to grasp spontaneously

B. dolphins' ability to recognize themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered as a sign of self-awareness—and of spontaneously grasping

C. dolphins to be capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and to grasp spontaneously

D. that dolphins have the ability of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered as a sign of self-awareness—and spontaneously grasping

E. that dolphins are capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and of spontaneously grasping

In option A
Can "capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors.... and capable to grasp spontaneously the mood.." be parallel?
One is prepositional phrase and other is infinitive phrase
Is is possible for above two to be parallel?

Thanks
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Vatsal7794
In option A
Can "capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors.... and capable to grasp spontaneously the mood.." be parallel?
One is prepositional phrase and other is infinitive phrase
Is is possible for above two to be parallel?

Thanks
Since "capable to x" is not an idiomatically correct structure, we can't say whether the two are parallel since there's no logic to "capable to grasp" that we can compare with the logic of "capable of recognizing."

So, the main issue in (A) is that "capable ... to grasp" does not work at all.
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Vatsal7794
Hi Experts

GMATNinja KarishmaB MartyTargetTestPrep

The results of two recent unrelated studies support the idea that dolphins may share certain cognitive abilities with humans and great apes; the studies indicate dolphins as capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and to grasp spontaneously the mood or intention of humans.

A. dolphins as capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and to grasp spontaneously

B. dolphins' ability to recognize themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered as a sign of self-awareness—and of spontaneously grasping

C. dolphins to be capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and to grasp spontaneously

D. that dolphins have the ability of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered as a sign of self-awareness—and spontaneously grasping

E. that dolphins are capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and of spontaneously grasping

In option A
Can "capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors.... and capable to grasp spontaneously the mood.." be parallel?
One is prepositional phrase and other is infinitive phrase
Is is possible for above two to be parallel?

Thanks

Also, we look for as much parallelism as possible (as per context and available options) since similar constructs help better clarify the meaning.
A noun and a verb are not parallel, a noun and a gerund are better and a noun and a noun are best.
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Vatsal7794
Hi Experts

GMATNinja KarishmaB MartyTargetTestPrep

The results of two recent unrelated studies support the idea that dolphins may share certain cognitive abilities with humans and great apes; the studies indicate dolphins as capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and to grasp spontaneously the mood or intention of humans.

A. dolphins as capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and to grasp spontaneously

B. dolphins' ability to recognize themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered as a sign of self-awareness—and of spontaneously grasping

C. dolphins to be capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and to grasp spontaneously

D. that dolphins have the ability of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered as a sign of self-awareness—and spontaneously grasping

E. that dolphins are capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and of spontaneously grasping

In option A
Can "capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors.... and capable to grasp spontaneously the mood.." be parallel?
One is prepositional phrase and other is infinitive phrase
Is is possible for above two to be parallel?

Thanks

Hello Vatsal7794,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the question of parallelism is moot because "capable to grasp" is an incoherent and idiomatically incorrect construction.

Grammatically, they may be considered somewhat parallel, as both are modifiers that act upon "dolphins", but the incoherence of the latter phrase breaks parallelism.

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