There are several ways to build solid walls using just mud or clay, bu

Hi Mustafa,

Let us see how the sentence looks when Option D is used.

There are several ways to build solid walls using just mud or clay, but the most extensively used method has been to form the mud or clay into bricks, and, after some preliminary air drying or sun drying, to lay them in the wall in mud mortar.

Let us now look at the structure of this sentence.

• There are several ways to build solid walls using just mud or clay,
• but the most extensively used method has been

o to form the

 mud or
 clay
o into bricks, and
o , after some preliminary air drying or sun drying, to lay them in the wall in mud mortar.

As you can see, the “and” in this sentence is connecting two entities in a list.

The entities are:
a. To form the mud or clay into bricks.
b. To lay them in the wall in mud mortar.

As you can see, the entities in the list are a bit longer than usual. Moreover, the first entity has another list embedded in it (mud or clay). So a comma is put before the “and” for a breathing pause.

So the comma before "and" is only to help us in identifying the main list.

Note that the presence of a “comma + and” in a sentence doesn’t necessarily indicate that two or more Independent Clauses are connected. (The above sentence, for instance)

However, if two or more Independent Clauses are present in a sentence, they are always connected by “comma + FANBOYS”.

Hope this helps

Regards,
Krishna
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Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended core meaning of this sentence is that the most extensively used method of building walls with mud or clay has been to form the mud or clay into bricks, and, after some preliminary air drying or sun drying, to lay them in the wall in mud mortar.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Parallelism

• "who/whose/whom/which/where", when preceded by a comma, refer to the noun just before the comma.
• Any elements linked through conjunction ("and" in this case) must be parallel.

A: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between the noun phrase "the forming of bricks out of mud or clay" and the clause "they are laid in the wall in mud mortar"; please remember, any elements linked through conjunction ("and" in this case) must be parallel.

B: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between "forming the mud or clay into bricks" and "to lay them in the wall in mud mortar"; please remember, any elements linked through conjunction ("and" in this case) must be parallel.

C: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between "having bricks formed from mud or clay" and "they were laid in the wall in mud mortar"; please remember, any elements linked through conjunction ("and" in this case) must be parallel.

D: Correct. This answer choice avoids the subject-verb disagreement seen in Option E, as it refers to the plural noun "bricks" with the infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb" - "to + lay" in this sentence) rather than an active verb. Further, Option D correctly refers to the noun "bricks" with the phrase "to lay them in the wall in mud mortar", conveying the intended meaning - that the bricks formed out of mud or clay were laid in the wall in mud mortar. Additionally, Option D maintains parallelism between "to form the mud or clay into bricks" and "to lay them in the wall in mud mortar".

E: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the singular noun "clay" with the plural verb phrase "were laid". Further, Option E incorrectly refers to "clay" with the phrase "which were laid", incorrectly implying that the clay itself was laid in the wall in mud mortar; the intended meaning is that the bricks formed out of mud or clay were laid in the wall in mud mortar; remember, "who/whose/whom/which/where", when preceded by a comma, refer to the noun just before the comma.

Hence, D is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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A. the forming of bricks out of mud or clay, and, after some preliminary air drying or
sun drying, they are laid [they can point to ways or walls]
B. forming the mud or clay into bricks, and, after some preliminary air drying or sun
drying, to lay them [forming … and … to – not parallel]
C. having bricks formed from mud or clay, and, after some preliminary air drying or
sun drying, they were laid [ method has been having --- awkward]
D. to form the mud or clay into bricks, and, after some preliminary air drying or sun
drying, to lay them [ to form … and to lay – parallel - hold]
E. that bricks were formed from mud or clay, which, after some preliminary air
drying or sun drying, were laid [which incorrectly points clay]

Answer: D

I've read the explaination of the below question, but I still don't understand it. If D is the correct answer, the sentence will look like this:

There are several ways to build solid walls using just
mud or clay, but the most extensively used method
has been to form the mud or clay into bricks, and, after
some preliminary air drying or sun drying,
to lay them in the wall in mud mortar.

Is the phrase "has been to form" correct? I think after "has been" should be a participle verb, shouldn't it?

Please help me crack this question!

Thanks,

Tuan.


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Question & explaination
11. There are several ways to build solid walls using just
mud or clay, but the most extensively used method
has been the forming of bricks out of mud or clay,
and, after some preliminary air drying or sun drying,
they are laid in the wall in mud mortar.

(A) the forming of bricks out of mud or clay, and,
after some preliminary air drying or sun drying,
they are laid

(B) forming the mud or clay into bricks, and, after
some preliminary air drying or sun drying,
to lay them

(C) having bricks formed from mud or clay, and,
after some preliminary air drying or sun drying,
they were laid

(D) to form the mud or clay into bricks, and, after
some preliminary air drying or sun drying,
to lay them

(E) that bricks were formed from mud or clay,
which, after some preliminary air drying or sun
drying, were laid

Parallelism; Verb form
The purpose of the sentence is to describe the
historically most popular method of building
walls. Th e fi rst clause announces this topic and
the second clause describes the particular method.
The clearest, most effi cient way to accomplish
these two pieces of business is to use a parallel
structure. Th e ways to build in the fi rst clause is
narrowed to the single way to form and to lay in
the second clause. Th ere is no need to alternate
the verb phrases between active and passive voice
or to shift tenses.
A The active gerund phrase the forming of bricks
does not fi t with the passive verb phrase that
follows (they are laid).
B The verb phrases forming the mud … and to
lay them are not parallel.
C In addition to faulty parallelism between
having bricks formed and they were laid, the
tense in the second half of the sentence
unaccountably shifts from present to past.
D Correct. The phrases to form and to lay in
the second clause are parallel to to build in
the first clause.
E The relative clause beginning with which
apparently (but nonsensically) describes the
closest nouns, mud or clay, rather than bricks.

-- Since the verb form used in the underlined sentence (first half) is 'has been' i.e. present participle, the another verb should be in consistent to that. Hence we can eliminate all the answer choices with 'laid' (simple past tense). We are left with B and D. B cannot be a correct answer choice because - 'forming mud and clay into bricks' is modifying mud and clay rather than bricks. That's why D is a correct answer choice which satisfies all the requirements.

The question can also be solved with help of parallel structure.


Thank You.

Thanks,
Akhil M.Parekh

the forming - awkward (A) the forming of bricks out of mud or clay, and, after some preliminary air drying or sun drying, they are laid

forming will take laying as parallel(B) forming the mud or clay into bricks, and, after some preliminary air drying or sun drying, to lay them

They were laid is incorrect, since it starts with - There are(C) having bricks formed from mud or clay, and, after some preliminary air drying or sun drying, they were laid

parallelism and Tense(D) to form the mud or clay into bricks, and, after some preliminary air drying or sun drying, to lay them

They were laid is incorrect, since it starts with - There are(E) that bricks were formed from mud or clay,which, after some preliminary air drying or sun drying, were laid

There's a lot of fluff in this original sentence.

BUT - if you "cut the fluff" - it's a lot easier to read. You should read the sentence as:

"There are several ways to build solid walls using [method1], but the most extensively used method has been [method2], and [method3].

(A) is wrong because method1 cannot be "the forming" - the extraneous "the" needs to be removed. "Forming" in (B) is ok - but "forming" is not consistent with "to lay them"

Only in (D) is "to form" consistent with "to lay" -see video explanation for more details:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZfh-mPu2Dg[/youtube]

There are several ways to build solid walls using just mud or clay, but the most extensively used method has been the forming of bricks out of mud or clay, and, aftersome preliminary air drying or sun drying, they are laid in the wall in mud mortar.

A. the forming of bricks out of mud or clay, and, after some preliminary air drying or sun drying, they are laid - Incorrect Comparison

B. forming the mud or clay into bricks, and, after some preliminary air drying or sun drying, to lay them -Incorrect Comparison

C. having bricks formed from mud or clay, and, after some preliminary air drying or sun drying, they were laid - Incorrect Comparison

D. to form the mud or clay into bricks, and, after some preliminary air drying or sun drying, to lay them

E. that bricks were formed from mud or clay, which, after some preliminary air drying or sun drying, were laid -Incorrect - 'that' is a relative clause/ 'were' changes the tense "extensively used method has been"

Hello Everyone!

This is a great example of a GMAT question that focuses on parallelism! Let's start off by looking at the original sentence, and highlight any major differences between the options in orange:

There are several ways to build solid walls using just mud or clay, but the most extensively used method has been the forming of bricks out of mud or clay, and, after some preliminary air drying or sun drying, they are laid in the wall in mud mortar.

A. the forming of bricks out of mud or clay, and, after some preliminary air drying or sun drying, they are laid
B. forming the mud or clay into bricks, and, after some preliminary air drying or sun drying, to lay them
C. having bricks formed from mud or clay, and, after some preliminary air drying or sun drying, they were laid
D. to form the mud or clay into bricks, and, after some preliminary air drying or sun drying, to lay them
E. that bricks were formed from mud or clay, which, after some preliminary air drying or sun drying, were laid

Since we are dealing with parallelism, let's focus on that. To start, let's ask ourselves: what are the items being listed?

1. forming bricks from mud or clay
AND
2. laying them in the wall in mud mortar

Both items MUST be worded similarly, using parallel verb tenses, phrasing, or structure. Let's see which options use parallel structure, and rule out the ones that don't:

A. the forming of bricks out of mud or clay, and, after some preliminary air drying or sun drying, they are laid --> NOT PARALLEL
B. forming the mud or clay into bricks, and, after some preliminary air drying or sun drying, to lay them --> NOT PARALLEL
C. having bricks formed from mud or clay, and, after some preliminary air drying or sun drying, they were laid --> NOT PARALLEL
D. to form the mud or clay into bricks, and, after some preliminary air drying or sun drying, to lay them --> PARALLEL
E. that bricks were formed from mud or clay, which, after some preliminary air drying or sun drying, were laid --> NOT PARALLEL
(*For option E to be parallel, it would have to say "the bricks were laid" to keep things even!)

Well, there you have it - option D is the only one that uses parallel structure for both listed items!


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.
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AjiteshArun generis VeritasKarishma chetan2u


I had a different approach to solve this and would like to validate the same.
I used - to build - in non-underlined portion to check parallelism with
-to form and -to lay them
Is this correct?
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Hi..

The nonunderlined portion contains a different clause, so you cannot compare or look for parallelism between to build and other two terms. The parallelism has to be between to form and to lay.
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I agree with chetan2u. In the way to build walls is X and Y, we should not look to make the X and Y parallel to to build (although, if I remember correctly, the official explanation tries to do just that).
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Dear team,

Even I have the same doubt. Has been is present perfect continuous and should be followed by Verb+ing, but here correct answer is "to form....to lay them. Kindly suggest.
GMATNinja generis egmat VeritasKarishma EMPOWERgmatVerbal

Thanks in advance

The verb there is has been itself (nothing else), so we are looking at a present perfect (not present perfect continuous) verb. The to form and to lay are infinitives, which are verb forms. It may be better not to think of them as verbs at all. Instead, look at that part of the sentence like this:

The way has been A and B.

The way has been (to form) and (to lay).
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This question is based on Parallelism, Idiomatic Usage, and Pronoun errors.

Option A contains an ambiguous pronoun ‘they’. The pronoun is meant to refer to bricks, but as the option stands, the sentence only mentions ‘the formation of bricks’. Since the pronoun ‘they’ cannot refer to forming, Option A can be eliminated.

Option B contains the inappropriate idiomatic usage – “the method has been forming”. The appropriate usage would be ‘to form’. The option also lacks parallelism between 'forming' and 'to lay'. So, Option B can also be ruled out.

The past tense ‘were laid’ is incorrect as the sentence is in the present tense. The use of the verb also affects parallelism in this option. So, Option C can be eliminated.

Option D contains the appropriate idiomatic usage ‘to form’ and maintains parallelism in the description of the method – to form and to lay. So, D is the most appropriate option.

The verbs in the past tense ‘were formed’ and ‘were laid’ are incorrect in this sentence because the rest of the sentence is in the present tense. So, Option E is incorrect.

Therefore, D is the most appropriate option.

Jayanthi Kumar.
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Hi experts

Rule: comma + and either joins two independent clauses or connects elements of the list containing more than 2 elements.

In this scenario, neither is the case. Then how do we figure out that comma + and is used as a list.(Here the list contains 2 elements only)

Please shed some light on this.

Hi thereisaFire,

(My reply is not specific to this question.)

The GMAT doesn't take a position on issues related to commas except to say that errors like comma splices are, in fact, errors. This means that most 'rules' around commas are either extremely or completely unreliable. We see the "comma + and only for independent clauses or a series" 'rule' broken all the time in good writing, and it could absolutely be broken on the GMAT as well.
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Hi AjiteshArun

I generally go by the rules.

Would like to hear particular to this question since I don't get the error in choice A.

The choice connects 2 ICs and there is no pronoun ambiguity as they can only refer to bricks(to make sense). And 2 ICs may or may not be parallel, so parallelism should not be an issue here.

Can you please explain the error in choice A?

Hi thereisaFire,

Option A lacks parallelism around the and.

A. ... the most extensively used method has been the forming of bricks... and they are laid... ← Here a gerund (forming) is connected to a clause (they are laid).

We don't want to read this as "The method has been X and they are laid", because the they are laid bit is an integral part of the method. Instead, we read that part of the sentence like this:

1. The method has been {something}.

That {something} in option A is "the forming and they are laid". In option D it is "to form and to lay". Option D gives us similar structures (infinitives) around the and. Option A, on the other hand, gives us a gerund and a clause around the and.
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