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Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
15%
(low)
Question Stats:
79% (00:59) correct
21%
(00:51)
wrong
based on 190
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
There are several schools that allow students to either eat their lunch in the school cafeteria or outside on the playground.
(A) allow students to either eat their lunch in the school cafeteria or outside
(B) allow students to eat either their lunch in the school cafeteria or outside
(C) allow students to eat their lunch in either the school cafeteria or outside
(D) either allow students to eat their lunch in the school cafeteria or outside
(E) allow students to eat their lunch either in the school cafeteria or outside
(A) allow students to either eat their lunch in the school cafeteria or outside
(B) allow students to eat either their lunch in the school cafeteria or outside
(C) allow students to eat their lunch in either the school cafeteria or outside
(D) either allow students to eat their lunch in the school cafeteria or outside
(E) allow students to eat their lunch either in the school cafeteria or outside
Posts: 416
Good question here, and great discussion. This one does come down to parallel structure, but even at that I think there's some definite strategy here if you look at where the underlined portion fits back in to the rest of the sentence.
The last word of the underlined portion in each answer choice is "outside", meaning that we're stuck with the word "on" as the first non-underlined, fixed portion of the sentence. Because we're stuck with that prepositional connector, we need to make sure that, in this parallel construction, we have a connector to match for the first term.
Therefore, we need to have:
Either in...or on
Only E, the correct answer, provides us with that construction. Students can eat their lunch:
Either in (the cafeteria) or on (the playground)
The last word of the underlined portion in each answer choice is "outside", meaning that we're stuck with the word "on" as the first non-underlined, fixed portion of the sentence. Because we're stuck with that prepositional connector, we need to make sure that, in this parallel construction, we have a connector to match for the first term.
Therefore, we need to have:
Either in...or on
Only E, the correct answer, provides us with that construction. Students can eat their lunch:
Either in (the cafeteria) or on (the playground)
General Discussion
if you like my question, you can give kudos. thanks a lot
Sorry, I have forgotten to underline the part of the stem which is questioned. Pls. get it as is in "A". Thanks!
This is a test of llism in the use of co-relative conjunction either or. Whatever part of speech is expressed after ‘either’ should be maintained after ‘or’. ( either x or Y). One can see that only C does that.
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tfincham86
Joined: 17 Aug 2010
Last visit: 02 Jan 2013
Posts: 322
Status:Bring the Rain
Location: United States (MD)
Concentration: Strategy, Marketing
Schools: Michigan (Ross) - Class of 2014
GMAT 1: 730 Q49 V39
GPA: 3.13
WE:Corporate Finance (Aerospace and Defense)
Agree with daagh.
this is an 'either or' sentence. I would go with C
this is an 'either or' sentence. I would go with C
mailnavin1
Joined: 24 Jul 2009
Last visit: 03 Aug 2012
Posts: 119
Status:swimming against the current
Location: Chennai, India
Posts: 119
Nope, if C the sentnce will sound awful - allow students to eat their lunch in outside the playground
feruz77
(...) to eat...either inside or outside
=> answer E
Posts: 67
feruz77
Yeah its good explanation.....
Posts: 149
'either X or Y'
this is the correct construction. X and Y should be parallel.
this is the correct construction. X and Y should be parallel.
Easy one of either ....or... llism.
Posts: 107
Straight E. C does not maintain proper parallelism.
I chose E as well. Saying "in either" aloud sounds awkward and throws me off. "Either in" sounds more natural.
narangvaibhav
Joined: 30 Jun 2011
Last visit: 17 Aug 2012
Posts: 97
Affiliations: Project Management Professional (PMP)
Location: New Delhi, India
Posts: 97
VeritasPrepBrian
Thanks for such a nice explanation..
feruz77
One method to adopt here is to eliminate either-or pair from the sentence.
allow students to eat their lunch in the school.
allow students to eat their lunch outside on the playground.
Both of these make proper sentence, hence E is the correct answer.
In case of C, following the same approach ..
allow students to eat their lunch in the school cafeteria.
allow students to eat their lunch in outside on the playground.
Do they sound correct..NO! Hence, C is wrong choice here.
Either somewhere X or somewhere Y. Following that structure should lead us to answer choice E.
feruz77
For people who have doubt about C... do a switcheroo
allow students to eat their lunch in either the school cafeteria or outside
=
allow students to eat their lunch in either outside ..
in outside...
whatever it means...
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