According to some critics, watching television not only undermines one

Question

According to some critics, watching television  not only undermines one's ability to think critically but also impairs one's  overall ability to perceive.

A. not only undermines one's ability to think critically but also impairs one's
 
B. not only undermines one's ability of critical thinking but also impairs the
 
C. undermines not only one's ability to think critically but also impairs one's
 
D. undermines not only one's ability of critical thinking but also impairs the
 
E. undermines one's ability not only to think critically but also impairs one's

NEW question from GMAT® Official Guide 2019 
(SC01527)

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Accepted Answer

Hello Everyone!

Here is a great example of a question that deals with   parallelism  !

Whenever we see the idiomatic structure “not only X, but also Y,” the first question to ask ourselves is “what do X and Y stand for?”

For the idiom to be correct, both X and Y need to be parallel in structure. Let’s see how each answer holds up by finding the X and Y:

A . not only  undermines one's ability to think critically  but also  impairs one's overall ability to perceive

This is  PARALLEL  because both the X and Y parts of the idiom are structured exactly the same, so this is the  CORRECT  answer!

B . not only  undermines one's ability of critical thinking  but also  impairs the overall ability to perceive

This is  NOT PARALLEL  because it doesn’t repeat the concept of “one’s” ability to do things. X is referring to a vague singular person, but Y is referring to everyone in general. Therefore, this is  INCORRECT .

C . undermines not only  one's ability to think critically  but also  impairs one's overall ability to perceive

This is  NOT PARALLEL  because the verb “undermines” is in the wrong place – it should be after “not only.” Therefore, this is  INCORRECT .

D . undermines not only  one's ability of critical thinking  but also  impairs the overall ability to perceive

This is  NOT PARALLEL  because the verb “undermines” is in the wrong place, and the phrases “of critical thinking” and “to perceive” aren’t parallel. Therefore, this is  INCORRECT .

E . undermines one's ability not only  to think critically  but also  impairs one's overall ability to perceive

This is  NOT PARALLEL  because the phrase “undermine one’s ability” needs to come after “not only” for this to be parallel. Therefore, this is  INCORRECT .

Don’t study for the GMAT. Train for it.

D3N0 · Answer

ans: A {IMO}
clear Parallelism case. Not Only X but also Y.. Where X and Y has to be parallel logically and make sense.

chippoochan · Answer

So from considering parallelism, my answer is "A"

hiranmay · Answer

According to some critics, watching television  not only undermines one's ability to think critically but also impairs one's  overall ability to perceive.

A. not only  undermines  one's ability to think critically but also  impairs  one's

B. not only undermines one's  ability of  critical thinking but also impairs the -->  correct

C. undermines not only  one's ability  to think critically but also  impairs  one's

D. undermines not only  one's ability of  critical thinking but also  impairs  the

E. undermines one's ability not only  to think  critically but also  impairs  one's

GyMrAT · Answer

According to some critics, watching television  not only undermines one's ability to think critically but also impairs one's  overall ability to perceive.

A. not only  undermines one's  ability to think critically but also  impairs one's 
 
B. not only undermines one's ability of critical thinking but also impairs the
 
C. undermines not only one's ability to think critically but also impairs one's
 
D. undermines not only one's ability of critical thinking but also impairs the
 
E. undermines one's ability not only to think critically but also impairs one's

Answer A. Only A has correct Parallelism.

Thanks,
GyM

aragonn · Answer

you need to consider ability to vs ability of ---- A is the correct choice.

SSM700plus · Answer

According to some critics, watching television  not only undermines one's ability to think critically but also impairs one's  overall ability to perceive.

A. not only undermines one's ability to think critically but also impairs one's
 
B. not only undermines one's ability of critical thinking but also impairs the
 
C. undermines not only one's ability to think critically but also impairs one's
 
D. undermines not only one's ability of critical thinking but also impairs the
 
E. undermines one's ability not only to think critically but also impairs one's
 
It uses idiom - not only X but also Y.

And X & Y should be parallel.

X - undermines one's ability to think critically 
Y - impairs one's (overall ability to perceive) non under-lined part.

We could see that X & Y uses same verb tenses. Simple Present. Hence Original sentence is correct.

Other choices introduces Parallelism error. Hence Incorrect.
 
A - Answer

Princ · Answer

OA: A
 
 Parallelism, idiom usage: not only X but also Y, ability to  are checked in this question

A. not only  undermines one's ability to think critically  but also  impairs one's : Correct, correct usage of not only X but also Y, X and Y are parallel, and correct idiom ability to  
 
B. not only undermines one's  ability of  critical thinking but also impairs the :   Incorrect, ability of is wrong  
 
C.  undermines  not only one's ability to think critically but also impairs one's :   Incorrect, X and Y are not parallel in idiom usage not only X but also Y 
 
D.  undermines  not only one's ability of critical thinking but also impairs the: Incorrect,ability of is wrong,X and Y are not parallel in idiom usage not only X but also Y. 
 
E.  undermines one's ability  not only to think critically but also impairs one's :  Incorrect,X and Y are not parallel in idiom usage not only X but also Y

Abhishek009 · Answer

1. Not only..........but also is correct usage
2. Ability is also a correct usage..

Nothing wrong with the original sentence, correct answer must be (A)

amlan2018 · Answer

A is the answer.

However, option B shows how GMAT tries to construct a wrong answer.

Ability to vs ability to is well discussed, but the use of "the overall ability to" is an error borrowed from colloquial usage. use of "the" instead of "one's" is ambiguous as it doesn't reflect whose overall ability.

adkikani · Answer

Hi  generis   GMATNinja   pikolo2510   workout   VeritasKarishma

Can you explan subtle difference between  ability to  vs  ability of  
Why can't a definite article -  the  - not refer back to one's in (B)?

According to some critics, 
 watching television   not only 
 undermines  one's ability to think critically
 but also  impairs  one's  overall  ability to  perceive.

Could I have taken cue from highlighted text in non-underlined portion to get to OA?
Not only verb- 1 (undermines) vs but also verb-2 (impairs) seems correct to me.

aragonn · Answer

adkikani

So basically your question is about ability to vs ability of

1. ability to - in general used for an action. Such as in this case ability to perceive.
More example on same lines -- ability to walk ; ability to talk etc.

2. ability of - First, it is not completely wrong, just usage is different - we can say when it is ability of <someone>. this is a case where we use ability of
Ex - Assessing the driving ability of Linda is important.

Hope that helps. Waiting for expert's reply.

sahilkak · Answer

not only but also parallelism error -A is correct in B, there is error in line impairs the

torto · Answer

Here is my explanation :

In B, In Not only structure, we have ability of + Noun, and but also structure has ability to + verb, Not parallel.

Is my reasoning correct for eliminating B, and also ones and the are also not parallel.

satyam11 · Answer

According to some critics, watching television not only undermines one's ability to think critically but also impairs one's overall ability to perceive.

A. not only undermines one's ability to think critically but also impairs one's --> Parallelism - CORRECT

B. not only undermines one's ability of critical thinking but also impairs the - One's missing after but also

C. undermines not only one's ability to think critically but also impairs one's --> wrong parallelism

D. undermines not only one's ability of critical thinking but also impairs the --> wrong parallelism

E. undermines one's ability not only to think critically but also impairs one's --> wrong parallelism

Verbal33 · Answer

I would want to know what is the subject and verb in this sentence.

Is subject: Watching television? if yes then how come -ing is there in the subject as watching television is action.

Is the verb: undermines & impairs??

Sorry I am asking very basic qs. It would be great if anyone can answer.

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Hello  CrackVerbal33 !

Thanks for the question! It's not too basic at all - and I'm sure you're not the only one who is confused by it! Let's look at the original (and, as it turns out, correct) sentence:

According to some critics,  watching television  not only  undermines  one's ability to think critically but also  impairs  one's overall ability to perceive.
 
 Subject = watching television 
 Verb(s) = undermines / impairs

To answer your question about why an -ing word can be a subject:

Gerunds  (-ing words or phrases that act as nouns) can be the subject of a sentence. In this case, "watching television" is not the action in the sentence - it's the main idea of the sentence. The verbs in this sentence indicate what the subject (watching television) DOES to a person. Not all -ing words act as verbs, and that can trip up GMAT test takers of all ability levels. It might be a good idea to go back and refresh your memory on how to identify and use gerunds before test day.

I hope this helps!

swatihod123 · Answer

IMO A

not only undermines one's ability to think critically but also impairs one's- not only undermines but also impairs is parallel. Moreover, the correct idiom is  ability to .

NL15 · Answer

A. not only  undermines   one's  ability to think critically but also  impairs   one's  --> highlighted portions are parallel

B. not only undermines  one's ability  of critical thinking but also impairs  the  --> the highlighted portions are not parallel

C.  undermines    --> 'Not only X but also Y is closed parallel marker, so X should be parallel to Y. However, here not only is not followed by verb whereas but also is followed by verb. So, not parallel.

D.  undermines  not only one's ability of critical thinking but also impairs the --> same as C

E.  undermines one's ability  not only to think critically but also impairs one's

According to some critics, watching television not only undermines one

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According to some critics, watching television not only undermines one

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