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Sub 505 (Easy)|   Parallelism|   Parallelism|   Verb Tense/Form|                           
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While Noble Sissle may be best known for his collaboration with Eubie 08 Mar 2018, 00:39
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Parallelism issue in options A, B, D & E

Correct Answer: C
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While Noble Sissle may be best known for his collaboration with Eubie 17 Apr 2018, 11:00
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LithiumIon
While Noble Sissle may be best known for his collaboration with Eubie Blake, as both a vaudeville performer and as a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, also enjoying an independent career as a singer with such groups as Hahn's Jubilee Singers.
Show more

(A) and as a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, also enjoying

(B) and writing lyrics for songs and Broadway musicals, also enjoying

(C) and a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, he also enjoyed

(D) as well as writing lyrics for songs and Broadway musicals, he also enjoyed

(E) as well as a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, he had also enjoyed


A. Not a complete sentence

B. Not a complete sentence

C. Correct

D. "Both X and Y is correct. "As well as" is wrong

C. "Both X and Y is correct. "As well as" is wrong
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While Noble Sissle may be best known for his collaboration with Eubie 03 Sep 2018, 11:20
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While Noble Sissle may be best known for his collaboration with Eubie Blake, as both a vaudeville performer and as a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, also enjoying an independent career as a singer with such groups as Hahn's Jubilee Singers.

(A) and as a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, also enjoying
(B) and writing lyrics for songs and Broadway musicals, also enjoying
(C) and a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, he also enjoyed
(D) as well as writing lyrics for songs and Broadway musicals, he also enjoyed
(E) as well as a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, he had also enjoyed

The parallel marker here in the non-underlined portion is "both" hence it has to be followed by "and" the idiomatic construction is "both...and...".
Another parallel marker in the sentence is and in the starting of the underlined portion of the sentence.
In option A, the and is followed by "as a lyricist for songs" noun phrase, but we don't need to repeat as, as it has already been used in the non underlined portion in a way that using it agin isn't required.
Hence the answer option we need to look as per the parallelism is "and a lyricist" that needs to be parallel to "a vaudeville performer".
Hence Option C is a clear winner.
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While Noble Sissle may be best known for his collaboration with Eubie 09 Sep 2019, 06:21
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If C has ambiguity and therefore out of the reckoning, may I ask which is the correct choice then?
Discussions apart, we are here to find the best of available choices.

Are A and B , which are both outright fragments without a main clause, the contenders?
Or anyone between D, and E, each of which also uses the pronoun 'he, ' is the contender.
If this question were to come in the hall, what would one do?

This is what GMAT wants to know.
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While Noble Sissle may be best known for his collaboration with Eubie 22 Oct 2019, 06:24
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While Noble Sissle may be best known for his collaboration with Eubie Blake, as both a vaudeville performer and as a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, also enjoying an independent career as a singer with such groups as Hahn's Jubilee Singers.

(A) and as a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, also enjoying
(B) and writing lyrics for songs and Broadway musicals, also enjoying
(C) and a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, he also enjoyed
(D) as well as writing lyrics for songs and Broadway musicals, he also enjoyed
(E) as well as a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, he had also enjoyed

In the main sentence above, first clause is dependent; the second clause must be independent. So, answer options A and B are eliminated.

Let, A = a vaudeville performer
B = a lyricist

Here, the proper idiomatic expression is 'both A and B'. the use of 'both A as well as B' is non-idiomatic. So, option D and E will be eliminated as well. Besides, the past perfect tense has been used unnecessarily in optionE.

C is the correct answer option.
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While Noble Sissle may be best known for his collaboration with Eubie 29 Dec 2019, 10:37
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I finally shortlisted Option C [POE].

One Doubt when I replace option C [Correct answer in the actual question stem]

While Noble Sissle may be best known for his collaboration with Eubie Blake, as both a vaudeville performer and as a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, also enjoying an independent career as a singer with such groups as Hahn's Jubilee Singers.

Replacement:

While Noble Sissle may be best known for his collaboration with Eubie Blake, as both a vaudeville performer and a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, he also enjoyed an independent career as a singer with such groups as Hahn's Jubilee Singers.


Doubt :


Is this not a clause [ Like an Independent Clause which should be separated by either ; or , + FANBOYS]

[,he also enjoyed ......Hahn's Jubilee Singers]


Please resolve this doubt :)
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While Noble Sissle may be best known for his collaboration with Eubie 28 May 2020, 04:25
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LithiumIon
While Noble Sissle may be best known for his collaboration with Eubie Blake, as both a vaudeville performer and as a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, also enjoying an independent career as a singer with such groups as Hahn's Jubilee Singers.

(A) and as a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, also enjoying
(B) and writing lyrics for songs and Broadway musicals, also enjoying
(C) and a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, he also enjoyed
(D) as well as writing lyrics for songs and Broadway musicals, he also enjoyed
(E) as well as a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, he had also enjoyed
Show more

(A) and as a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, also enjoying - Wrong: 1) Parallelism 2) Structure
(B) and writing lyrics for songs and Broadway musicals, also enjoying - Wrong: 1) Parallelism 2) Structure
(C) and a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, he also enjoyed - Correct
(D) as well as writing lyrics for songs and Broadway musicals, he also enjoyed - Wrong: 1) Parallelism 2) Idiom
(E) as well as a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, he had also enjoyed - Wrong: 1) Parallelism 2) Idiom 3) Verb
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While Noble Sissle may be best known for his collaboration with Eubie 19 Jul 2020, 08:32
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GMATNinja ,daagh

and a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, he also enjoyed

In option - c , how can , alone can separate two independent clauses ?

Please clarify this doubt
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While Noble Sissle may be best known for his collaboration with Eubie 04 Aug 2020, 17:14
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A. and as a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, also enjoying
“both a vaudeville performer and as a lyricist…” – should be both X and Y; bizarre parallelism here with “also enjoying” – this makes it an incomplete sentence

B. and writing lyrics for songs and Broadway musicals, also enjoying
“both a vaudeville performer and writing lyrics…” – should be both X and Y; bizarre parallelism here with “also enjoying” – this makes it an incomplete sentence

C. and a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, he also enjoyed
good.

D. as well as writing lyrics for songs and Broadway musicals, he also enjoyed
both X as well as…wrong; “writing lyrics” is not parallel with “performer”

E. as well as a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, he had also enjoyed
both X as well as…wrong; the two events took place at the same logical time; essentially, as it is though, it states Sissle worked independently then worked with Blake, skewing the meaning.
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While Noble Sissle may be best known for his collaboration with Eubie 19 Aug 2020, 14:41
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GMATNinja ,daagh

and a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, he also enjoyed

In option - c , how can , alone can separate two independent clauses ?

Please clarify this doubt
Show more
The clauses in (C) aren't independent. To see why, consider a case in which you do have two independent clauses separated by a comma.

    Tim tends to put full candy bars in his children's pancakes, he considers himself a health nut.

This is no good: each clause can stand on its own, and the two clauses are separated by a comma, so we have a run-on sentence.

However, watch what happens when we throw a conjunction in front of the first clause:

    Although Tim tends to put full candy bars in his children's pancakes, he considers himself a health nut.

The word "although" function as a conjunction, or, if you like the fancier terminology, a subordinator. What's important is that the first clause is no longer independent, so the sentence is now fine.

Same deal in (C):

    "While Noble Sissle may be best known for his collaboration with Eubie Blake, as both a vaudeville performer, and a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, he also enjoyed an independent career as a singer with such groups as Hahn's Jubilee Singers."

"While" is playing the same role in this sentence as "although" in the previous one. It functions as a conjunction that connects the two clauses, so the construction is fine.

I hope that helps!
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While Noble Sissle may be best known for his collaboration with Eubie 13 Feb 2021, 15:04
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While Noble Sissle may be best known for his collaboration with Eubie Blake, as both a vaudeville performer and as a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, also enjoying an independent career as a singer with such groups as Hahn's Jubilee Singers.

(A) and as a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, also enjoying

This sentence lacks a main verb! It also violates the 'both ...and' idiom because of the extra 'as'

(B) and writing lyrics for songs and Broadway musicals, also enjoying

This sentence lacks a main verb!

(C) and a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, he also enjoyed Correct

(D) as well as writing lyrics for songs and Broadway musicals, he also enjoyed

'both...and' is the correct idiom

(E) as well as a lyricist for songs and Broadway musicals, he had also enjoyed

'both...and' is the correct idiom
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While Noble Sissle may be best known for his collaboration with Eubie 07 May 2021, 00:28
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Quote:
as both a vaudeville performer and a lyricist
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Hi VeritasKarishma GMATNinja, I have one query related to idioms in this question, had option C used both..as well as.. keeping everything same would it still have been the correct answer choice?

Also, if the answer to my above query is yes, then what would have been the correct answer, if we would have both the options i.e.

Quote:
as both a vaudeville performer and a lyricist
Show more
and
Quote:
as both a vaudeville performer as well as a lyricist
Show more
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While Noble Sissle may be best known for his collaboration with Eubie 10 May 2021, 01:57
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RohitSaluja
Quote:
as both a vaudeville performer and a lyricist

Hi VeritasKarishma GMATNinja, I have one query related to idioms in this question, had option C used both..as well as.. keeping everything same would it still have been the correct answer choice?

Also, if the answer to my above query is yes, then what would have been the correct answer, if we would have both the options i.e.

Quote:
as both a vaudeville performer and a lyricist
and
Quote:
as both a vaudeville performer as well as a lyricist
Show more

You can use either but not both together:

... both A and B...

... A as well as B...

are correct.

But ... both A as well as B... is not correct.
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While Noble Sissle may be best known for his collaboration with Eubie 20 Jul 2022, 06:06
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KarishmaB
RohitSaluja
Quote:
as both a vaudeville performer and a lyricist

Hi VeritasKarishma GMATNinja, I have one query related to idioms in this question, had option C used both..as well as.. keeping everything same would it still have been the correct answer choice?

Also, if the answer to my above query is yes, then what would have been the correct answer, if we would have both the options i.e.

Quote:
as both a vaudeville performer and a lyricist
and
Quote:
as both a vaudeville performer as well as a lyricist

You can use either but not both together:

... both A and B...

... A as well as B...

are correct.

But ... both A as well as B... is not correct.
Show more

KarishmaB

Thank you for this helpful explanation. I wanted to clarify the explanations as to why Choice E is incorrect with you, as it uses a past perfect verb. The explanations all say that past perfect tense is not true to the original meaning. However, from my understanding for GMAT sentence correction problems, we do not necessarily need to abide to the original meaning... just the answer choice that is the most clear and concise.

I understand why E is incorrect for its use of "as well as". But to clarify, is use the past perfect tense incorrect mainly because the sentence does not clearly tell you that he did work as an independent singer before working on a collaboration? I find this a bit tricky, but perhaps the GMAT would always provide another way to eliminate a choice like this rather than deciding between past perfect tense if I am not 100% when the events occurred based on the information provided.

Thank you for all of your time and help.
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While Noble Sissle may be best known for his collaboration with Eubie 20 Jul 2022, 06:36
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KarishmaB

Thank you for this helpful explanation. I wanted to clarify the explanations as to why Choice E is incorrect with you, as it uses a past perfect verb. The explanations all say that past perfect tense is not true to the original meaning. However, from my understanding for GMAT sentence correction problems, we do not necessarily need to abide to the original meaning... just the answer choice that is the most clear and concise.

I understand why E is incorrect for its use of "as well as". But to clarify, is use the past perfect tense incorrect mainly because the sentence does not clearly tell you that he did work as an independent singer before working on a collaboration? I find this a bit tricky, but perhaps the GMAT would always provide another way to eliminate a choice like this rather than deciding between past perfect tense if I am not 100% when the events occurred based on the information provided.

Thank you for all of your time and help.
Show more


There are usually a combination of factors that make one option better than the other.

(C) uses 'both A and B' which is the structure we like. Option (E) uses 'both A as well as B' - not the best structure.

Consider the tenses in options (C) and (E)

While A may be best known for B, he also did C.

While A may be best known for B, he had also done C. - Why are we using past perfect? Is there a sequence of two actions in the past that we need to show? No. We don't know which action happened first, which later or whether both happened at the same time. Are we trying to talk about an action before a point in time? No.
Then past perfect does not make sense. He did B and C in the past during his career. All we are saying is that he is most known for B, but he also did C.
Hence, (C) is better than (E) on two counts.
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While Noble Sissle may be best known for his collaboration with Eubie 06 Dec 2022, 00:33
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If we compare first few words of answer choices,

we see a difference of "and" vs "as well as"

There is a pattern in GMAT

When we have difference between "and" and "as well as"

Check for "both X and Y" Construction

If we read before the underline portion

we can see "both",

So, we need "both" followed by "and"

Eliminate D and E

Next check X and Y, they must be parallel

X is "a vaudeville performer"

Word after "and" must be parallel to "a vaudeville performer"

In options A

word after "and" is "as a lyricist", which is not parallel to ""a vaudeville performer"

Eliminate A.

In option B,

word after "and" is "writing", which is not parallel to "a vaudeville performer"

Eliminate B

Hence C is the correct answer
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While Noble Sissle may be best known for his collaboration with Eubie 28 Sep 2023, 10:39
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What is the antecedent of "he"?
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While Noble Sissle may be best known for his collaboration with Eubie 28 Sep 2023, 12:13
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Kartikeya40

This has been well covered earlier in the thread. I'd add to this that the GMAT doesn't really test pronoun ambiguity.

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How do we know to which noun the Pronoun "he" in answer choice C refers to? It can refer to Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake. I think pronoun "he" is ambiguous here.
Same doubt and the only reason I negated C.
Any expert??

Noble Sissle is clearly the subject of the sentence, because Eubie Blake is an object (we can tell this because he is preceded by the preposition "with"), so the "he" after the final comma refers to Noble, not Eubie.

For example, in the sentence:

"Although President Obama had a cordial meeting with President-elect Trump, he privately feared for the future of the nation."

you can see that the "he" clearly refers to Obama, since Obama is the subject of the opening clause, and Trump is the object (preceded by "with").

More practically speaking from a GMAT test-taker standpoint, that particular concern--pronoun ambiguity--is rendered irrelevant by the fact that none of the answer choices offers a more explicit reference to the subject that follows the final comma.
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