In recent years, troubled airlines have exchanged their aging, ineffic

Question

In recent years, troubled airlines have exchanged their aging, inefficient fleets for a smaller number of efficient new airplanes,  in part because high fuel costs should be lowered and repair costs should be reduced  and partly because low entry barriers for new carriers have created intense competition.

(A) in part because high fuel costs should be lowered and repair costs should be reduced

(B) in part that high fuel costs might be lowered and repair costs might be reduced

(C) partly because high fuel costs should be lowered and repair costs should be reduced

(D) partly for the lowering of high fuel costs and the reduction of repair costs

(E) partly to lower high fuel prices and reduce repair costs

Hi guys,

Shouldn't (E) be "to lower... AND to reduce" to be parallel? Why is it optional? I picked C because of it has explicit parallel structure even though it sounds very awkward!

yashii9 · Accepted Answer

its easy to eliminate A,B looking at the non underlined part..among C,D & E (C) partly because high fuel costs should be lowered and repair costs should be reduced your answer - should is a subjunctive verb and can not be used when the intent is definite. Here the fleets are replaced to reduce fuel cost..... not that fleets are reduced because fuel cost should be reduced... (D) partly for the lowering of high fuel costs and the reduction of repair costs - this is not the best construction (E) partly to lower high fuel prices and reduce repair costs -Correct B is wrong - we do x to achieve y. we do x so that y should be achieved. (Is the difference visible??) E- is right- infinitives are used in two ways- 1. to do,to think,to make and to reach. 2. to do,think,make and reach. either to should be used with every verb in the list or should be used only once in the beginning of the list. to do,make,think and to reach - this is an incorrect construction. Hope this helps!

gijoedude · Answer

I agree. It should be " partly TO lower high fuel prices and TO reduce repair costs".

ctkrishnan · Answer

Can anyone explain... why E and not C??? 
I also thought it to be C...

riddhika146 · Answer

The answer is E.
C is wordy and thus eliminated
Consider this : 
Mary likes to eat and dance. ("We can share the infinitive form b/w the two verbs")

rustypolymath · Answer

No, it is still parallel because you cut off at the same point for each item on the list:

PARTLY TO

1. lower fuel costs
2. reduce repair costs

Parallelism is not just about making two items in a list look stylistically and logically similar. It is about splitting off at the same point for each item.

This may help you visualize the concept:  https://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/diagrams2/diagram10.htm

sudhir18n · Answer

Has to E. 
you dont need to repeat the infinitive again because of the usage of conjunction 'and'.

LifeChanger · Answer

I have a doubt. The two parallel elements that i am comparing have been higlighted below- 'partly to' and 'partly because'. Shouldn't both the parallel elements start with partly because as in option 'C'?
  partly to  lower high fuel prices and reduce repair costs  and   partly because  low entry barriers for new carriers have created intense competition.

anshunadir · Answer

Can someone please explain reasons to eliminate C ?
Why E is better over C in terms of parallelism ?

anshunadir · Answer

Can you please throw more light on the acceptable usage of SHOULD ?

yashii9 · Answer

B is wrong -
we do x to achieve y.
we do x so that y should be achieved. (Is the difference visible??)

brunoocosta · Answer

(E) partly to lower  high fuel prices  and reduce repair costs

"lower fuel prices" changes the meaning of the original sentence. The costs are lower, not prices. This would make letter E wrong. What do you think?

ramannanda9 · Answer

IMO E

The intent is to lower the fuel costs that are incurred, so "lower fuel prices" is correct. Prices can be lower or higher.

pqhai · Answer

Meaning is key  to solve this question. Grammar alone is not enough.

In recent years, troubled airlines have exchanged their aging, inefficient fleets for a smaller number of efficient new airplanes,  in part because high fuel costs should be lowered and repair costs should be reduced  and partly because low entry barriers for new carriers have created intense competition.

(A) in part because high fuel costs should be lowered and repair costs should be reduced 
 Wrong.  
- Not parallel: in part vs partly
- Incorrect meaning: The intended meaning is that the trouble airlines exchanged old fleets to lower  THEIR  costs. The sentence, however, says they exchanged old fleets to new ones because  high fuel costs (in general)  should be lowered. That's does not make sense.  If high fuel costs will be lowered, these troubled airlines will NOT need to exchange their old fleets.  They exchanged old fleets to new ones because they need to lower THEIR high fuel costs to create competitive advantage.

(B) in part that high fuel costs might be lowered and repair costs might be reduced
 Wrong.  
- Not parallel: in part vs partly
- Incorrect meaning: same as A.

(C) partly because high fuel costs should be lowered and repair costs should be reduced your answer
 Wrong.   SHELL GAME. 
If you just base on grammars and picked C, you got the sentence wrong because C conveys WRONG meaning. See explanation on A.

(D) partly for the lowering of high fuel costs and the reduction of repair costs
 Wrong.  
- we should use verb rather than the noun form of it. Verbs always convey better meaning and are more precise.

(E) partly to lower high fuel prices and reduce repair costs 
  Correct.  
- Parallelism: partly || partly
- Correct meaning: exchange old fleets to new ones TO lower costs.

Hope it helps.

jakelong1 · Answer

i cannot understand why lowerin prices is used here,clearly lowerin costs n lowerin prices are two different things, changes the whole meaning .

pqhai · Answer

Hi Jake
In this context, "prices" also means costs. Let imagine, the  old  airplanes will require special fuel that is more expensive than the normal fuel. The troubled airlines exchanged the old fleets to new fleets, thus they don't have to pay for higher prices (of special fuel).

Hope it's clear.

gmatabc123 · Answer

I still disagree. I don't think there is special fuel in real life. Fuel efficiency is the only thing that changes. In this context, the company doesn't lower prices. Prices are fixed by world supply and demand. They merely lower the volume, and consequently the cost they actually incur. This answer seems wrong.

Freshtester · Answer

Thanks for clarifying. I chose B as I was blindly trying to make them parallel. One should keep the meaning in mind while making the elements parallel. When infinitive is used, it conveys the intention and that is a big signal to consider while picking up the answer choices.

jlgdr · Answer

Dude, follow the rules on posting.

(C) partly because high fuel costs should be lowered and repair costs should be reduced  your answer

iamdp · Answer

Hi 
Here is my view on this question

Intended meaning of the question

In recent years,  troubled airlines  have exchanged their   aging, inefficient   fleets   for a smaller number of efficient new airplanes,  in part because high fuel costs should be lowered and repair costs should be reduced  and partly because low entry barriers for new carriers have created intense competition.

See the larger text the meaning is that dr is some purpose in exchanging the fleets ie exchanged fleets to achieve SOMETHING

Exchanged fleets  TO   LOWER FUEL PRICES  AND  REDUCE COSTS.

(A) in part because high fuel costs  should be lowered  and repair costs  should be reduced  > Meaning changed & wordy

(B) in part that high fuel costs  might be lowered  and repair costs  might be reduced  > Meaning changed & wordy

(C) partly because high fuel costs  should be lowered  and repair costs  should be reduced  > Meaning changed & wordy

(D) partly  for the lowering of high fuel costs and the reduction of repair costs  > Coveys the meaning but prefer verb over noun( GMAT likes it)

(E) partly to lower high fuel prices and reduce repair costs. perfect and concise of all.

In recent years, troubled airlines have exchanged their aging, ineffic

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In recent years, troubled airlines have exchanged their aging, ineffic

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