In the last election, the voters authorized funding for public project

Question

In the last election, the voters authorized funding for public projects as diverse as  constructing a $1.4 billion water reservoir system and a $5.5 million renovation of the state capitol .

(A) constructing a $1.4 billion water reservoir system and a $5.5 million renovation of the state capitol

(B) constructing a water reservoir system for $1.4 billion and a $5.5 million renovation of the state capitol

(C) the construction of a $1.4 billion water reservoir system and the $5.5 million renovation of the state capitol

(D) the construction of a $1.4 billion water reservoir system and renovating the state capitol for $5.5 million

(E) $1.4 billion for constructing a water reservoir system and $5.5 million for renovating the state capitol

daagh · Accepted Answer

c) the construction of a $1.4 billion water reservoir system and the $5.5 million renovation of the state capitol.

Is C structurally parallel? I doubt because 'construction' is an activity while the $5.5million is a quantum of money. 
The correct version should be the construction of a $1.4 billion water reservoir system and the allocation of a $5.5millon capitol renovation.

msvel2304 · Answer

E - public projects as diverse as what ? - we need nouns here. This gives importance to money involved rather than the projects themselves.

C is right as it properly uses noun phrases giving importance to the projects and parallel whereas in E public projects as diverse as $1.4 million and $5.5 million brings out wrong meaning.

kraizada84 · Answer

In the last election, the voters authorized funding for  public projects  as diverse as  constructing a $1.4 billion water reservoir system and a $5.5 million renovation of the state capitol.

e)  $1.4 billion  for constructing a water reservoir system and  $5.5 million  for renovating the state capitol.

The underlined part must describe the diversity of public projects NOT the diversity of funding.
Hence E is incorrect.

HTH

vdbhamare · Answer

C it is

$ value of project is not same as project itself.......we have to name two projects in parallel form

AliciaSierra · Answer

C-"construction" and "renovation" are parallel.  daagh , Aren't they ? Am i missing something here ?

daagh · Answer

ammu

Strictly speaking yes, if you say construction of $1.4 billion water project and renovation of the capitol. You may see that nouns considered are the construction, which is an activity and a $5.5.million, which is a quantum. The might convey the same meaning, but there seems to be a structural variation. I am not sure whether GMAT will wink at it.

Harsh2111s · Answer

In the last election, the voters authorized funding for public projects as diverse as constructing a $1.4 billion water reservoir system and a $5.5 million renovation of the state capitol.

(A) constructing a $1.4 billion water reservoir system and a $5.5 million renovation of the state capitol
Parallelism issue- constructing (verb) and renovation(noun)

(B) constructing a water reservoir system for $1.4 billion and a $5.5 million renovation of the state capitol
Parallelism issue- constructing (verb) and renovation(noun)

(C) the construction of a $1.4 billion water reservoir system and the $5.5 million renovation of the state capitol
Parallelism issue corrected.

(D) the construction of a $1.4 billion water reservoir system and renovating the state capitol for $5.5 million
Parallelism issue- construction(noun) and renovating (verb)

(E) $1.4 billion for constructing a water reservoir system and $5.5 million for renovating the state capitol.
Parallelism is ok but public projects as diverse as ($1.4 billion is absurd)

C conveys the correct meaning.
Hope it helps

ChiranjeevSingh · Answer

Here's the   official explanation   provided by the GMAC for this question:
 
This sentence indicates that voters authorized funding for a diverse array of public projects, of which two examples are provided. The underlined portion of the sentence must clearly identify these two projects as examples demonstrating the range of the authorized projects' diversity. It should distinguish between the two projects using concise, unambiguous, parallel constructions.
 
 Option A:  This wording confusingly suggests that the $5.5 million renovation of the state capitol was constructed along with the $1.4 billion water reservoir system, as part of the same project.

Option B:  This wording confusingly suggests that the water reservoir system was constructed in exchange for compensation including both $1.4 billion and the $5.5 million renovation of the state capitol.

Option C:  Correct. This clearly and concisely identifies the two projects using unambiguous, parallel constructions.

Option D:  This absurdly identifies only one project, the construction of the water reservoir system, as the sole example of all the projects' diversity. It also absurdly indicates that the voters themselves personally renovated the state capitol.

Option E:  This absurdly identifies the monetary amounts $1.4 billion and $5.5 million as examples of the public projects the voters authorized.
 
The correct answer is C.

Please note that I'm not the author of this explanation. I'm just posting it here since I believe it can help the community.

gmexamtaker1 · Answer

Hello experts,
Could you please analyze the flaws in answer choice A , is it because of parallelism? The OE says that there is an issue with meaning.

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  UNSTOPPABLE12 . Yes, there is a meaning problem in the original sentence, and it has to do with the implied action that carries over into the parallel entity, the  renovation . Consider the sentence with an eye on what should be parallel  entities  and  objects :

In the last election, the voters authorized funding for public projects as diverse as  constructing   a  $1.4 billion water  reservoir system   and   a  $5.5 million  renovation  of the state capitol.

We are led to believe that  X and Y  will appear in the sentence, and since X has  constructing  before the object, we can read the second gerundive phrase as an extension of  constructing  unless we see another action (e.g.,  putting together , even if  renovating  would be better). It makes no sense to say  constructing a renovation , and that is the meaning issue that hampers the original sentence.

I hope that helps. Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

pk6969 · Answer

can a noun and a gerund be parallel?

sssanskaar · Answer

Hey pk6969 , yes. A gerund is a nothing but a noun-phrase. So yes, they can be parallel.

Sambon · Answer

Not sure whether the OA posted here is correct.

I got this question in the Official GMAT Prep Practice Set 2.
The OA here is "the construction of a $1.4 billion water reservoir system and the $5.5 million renovation of the state capitol" but the OA in GMAT Prep is "constructing a water reservation system for $1.4 billion and renovating the state capitol for $5.5 million."
see screenshot below:

Attachment:

In the last election OA.PNG [ 101.55 KiB | Viewed 6331 times ]

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  Sambon . Thank you for providing a screenshot. I suspect that there were two versions of the question that were released, a case I have encountered with other SC questions from one Question Pack or another. Answer choices (C) and (D) are different enough that I cannot attribute the discrepancies to a typo or two. Interestingly enough, the OE provided above by  ChiranjeevSingh  clearly describes a different question: otherwise, the explanation to answer choice (D) would make no sense ("only one project").

Bunuel , would you please create a separate thread for the question shown in the screenshot above? (I am not sure how easy it is to move specific posts to other threads, but the one by  ChiranjeevSingh  would belong in that other thread.)

Thank you.

- Andrew

VerbalBot · Answer

Automated notice from GMAT Club VerbalBot: 

A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

 This post was generated automatically.

In the last election, the voters authorized funding for public project

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

In the last election, the voters authorized funding for public project

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards