Though Homo habilis made blunt cutting tools, Neanderthals fashioned

Hi abhimahna, can you tell me how "Fashioned" and "Flaked" are parallel??
I was initially thinking on the same line but then realized that a comma is essential in front of "and" to make "Fashioned" and "Flaked".... is my thinking wrong???

the comma is required as "tapering" is a modifier started with a comma, and needs a closing comma...........

Hi EducationAisle,
Thank you for the explanation. Can you pls also explain how V-ing is parallel to V-ed?? isn't that wrong as per parallelism rules..
I understand that i am asking very basic, silly question..... your help is much appreciated

Hi! Both present participles and past participles are adjectives, and hence parallel to each other.

GMAT uses this concept extensively.

An official example:

First discovered more than 30 years ago, Lina's sunbird, a four-and-a-half-inch animal found in the Philippines and resembling a hummingbird, has shimmering metallic colors on its head; a brilliant orange patch, bordered with red tufts, in the center of its breast; and a red eye.

Again, notice that the past participle found is parallel to present participle resembling.
_________________

Level - 750 -800

This problem is testing a mix of issues with modifiers and sentence construction. With the fairly confusing structure, the key is to first read the sentence carefully and figure out what role the different parts are playing: in the original the part from “tapering” to “sides” is a participial modifier giving extra information about “finer implements” – take that out with slash-and-burn to see that the sentence is really: “Neanderthals fashioned finer implements…to form the familiar teardrop now paradigmatic of early man.” This main clause seems perfectly correct so now examine the modifier: “tapering from the butt to the point and flaked on two sides.” While some people will think that “tapering” and “flaked” cannot go together, this is perfectly parallel – both are participial phrases linked with “and” giving descriptions of the implements, one using a present participle and other a past participle.

The other choices all have fatal flaws: in (B), (C), and (E) the two parts of the modifier are linked with a comma instead of “and”, making it seem that the last part “and formed,” “that form” or “forming” is part of that series, when it needs to be a separate element. You cannot say “implements, tapering…, flaked…, and formed/forming/that form the familiar teardrop…” (E) properly links the two elements with “and” but lacks the necessary “to” before form. The correct answer is (A).

Dear Experts,

VeritasKarishma GMATNinja egmat mikemcgarry TommyWallach

Kindly help me with a doubt:

In this case the present participle (tapering.....) modifier and past participle (flaked.....) modifier are joined by "and".

My doubt: can two past participle modiers also be in parallel - if the sentence would have been -"Though........... finer implements, tapered from the butt to the point and flaked on two sides, to form.........man " Is this version correct ?

Crazy hard question!

What does this even mean? I had to translate three words: flaked (not in the meaning as in snow flake), fashioned (not in the meaning Im used to, as in "go out of fashion"), and implements (not in the meaning "new thing").

Translating the clause to easy english, it would read something like:

"Neanderthals made finer tools..." - Is this correct?

Then A) doesnt make sense. They made finer tools to form the familiar teardrop?

I'd rather go with B) "They made finer tools and formed the familiar teardrop.


Happy for explanation.

Would Choice A be still correct if we said" Neanderthals fashioned finer implements, tapered from the butt to the point and flaking on two sides, to form the familiar teardrop now paradigmatic of early man."

if we change the type of participles would the meaning be altered?

Though Homo habilis made blunt cutting tools, Neanderthals fashioned finer implements, tapering from the butt to the point and flaked on two sides, to form the familiar teardrop now paradigmatic of early man.

(A) point and flaked on two sides, to form

(B) point, flaked on two sides, and formed

(C) point, flaking on two sides, that form

(D) point, flaking on two sides, forming

(E) point and flaked on two sides, form

I know "tapering..." and "flaked...” are modifiers, but I'm confused whether "fashioned" and "formed" are parallel? Can anyone help? Thx in advance

Hello Mavisdu1017,

We hope this finds you well.

Having gone through the question and your query, we believe we can resolve your doubt.

The correct answer choice uses the phrase "to form", as the "fashion" and "form" verbs are not meant to be parallel, since they play different roles. "fashioned" is an active verb referring to the action taken by "Neanderthals". "to form" is an infinitive verb form ("to + base form of the verb") that modifies "flaked" to refer to the purpose of the action of flaking the implements on two sides.

Please remember, elements of a sentence are only supposed to be parallel if they play the same role in the sentence.

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

I thought "form" is also an action taken by Neanderthals, so I thought "form" can be parallel with "fashion", but I found I misunderstood the intended meaning after going through your explanation. Now understand, much thx expert!

There’s a quick way to answer this question, probably in 20-30 seconds.
Hint is, a point cannot have any edges or sides because it’s just a point, a dot. So a point itself cannot be ‘flaking on two sides’. There must be something else that is flaking on two sides as determined by the ‘and’ in A and E.
So we can eliminate B, C and D.
E is grammatically incorrect so A it is.

Hope it helps