As the result of a medical experiment

Question

As the result of a medical experiment, Alex DeLarge, the main character of A Clockwork Orange,   no longer desired to behave violently, lewdly, and was no longer able to listen to Beethoven's 9th symphony without becoming violently ill.  
A) no longer desired to behave violently lewdly, and was no longer able to listen to Beethoven's "9th Symphony" without becoming violently ill.
B) no longer desired to behave violently, lewdly, and is no longer able to listen to Beethoven's "9th Symphony" without becoming violently ill.
C) no longer able to behave violently and lewdly and becoming violently ill, is unable to listen to Beethoven's "9th Symphony."
D) no longer desired to behave violently or lewdly, but was also unable to listen to Beethoven's "9th Symphony" without becoming violently ill.
E) no longer able to behave violently or lewdly, but he is unable to listen to Beethoven's "9th Symphony" without becoming violently ill.

Explanation: 
The sentence shows two opposite results of the same experiment, the positive results and the negative results. To show the contrast between the two opposite results, the conjunction but is a better choice than and. Was no longer able to listen is separate verb phrase, not part of the list of the type of behaviors that Alex had ceased; therefore, a conjunction should be placed in between violently and lewdly to show the termination of the list.

The lack of a conjunction between violently and lewdly creates confusion. And is not the best choice of conjunction for this sentence.
The lack of a conjunction between violently and lewdly creates confusion. And is not the best choice of conjunction for this sentence. Is is the incorrect tense. Since desired is in the past tense, is should be in the past tense form, was.
No longer able to behave violently or lewdly is an absolute phrase modifying Alex DeLarge. Since it does not contain a verb, the conjunction and is unnecessary. Becoming violently ill is also incorrectly placed because it does not have a noun following it to modify. Immediately following this participial phrase is is, which is a verb.
The conjunction or is correctly placed between violently and lewdly to show that the list has terminated. The use of the conjunction but shows the contrast between the two verb phrases.
No longer able to behave violently or lewdly is an absolute phrase modifying Alex DeLarge. Since it does not contain a verb, the conjunction but is unnecessary.

AryamaDuttaSaikia · Answer

Meaning :

This sentence shows contrast. The main character no longer desired to behave violently or lewdly. However, he could not listen to the symphony without becoming violently ill also.

A. contrast is missing

B. same reason as above . Also, changes the tense.

C. awkward construction (2 verbs without any connector for a single subject)

D. no Parallelism error. Meaning clear.

E. parallelism error. (X but Y) X and Y not parallel. (with respect to the meaning of X & Y)

nahid78 · Answer

can you explain E in more details?

leanhdung · Answer

Can someone explain why C is wrong?

In D, I think the action "unable to listen" still continues forever (because this action is about a Alex DeLarge, character of the film A Clockwork Orange), so how can we use past tense (which means the action completed at some time in the past) for this action?

Expert, please clarify my doubt! Many thanks!

neetis5 · Answer

Hi Nahid,

Before you analyze any kind of grammatical mistake in E, take a look at E again. It uses "able" instead of the original word "desired". Do both these words convey the same meaning?

So, let's say you add "is" or "was" in front of "able" to make it a verb and, hence make it parallel with the  but he is unable to  portion. You get the following sentence:

As the result of a medical experiment, Alex DeLarge, the main character of A Clockwork Orange, no longer desired to behave violently, lewdly, and  (is/was) no longer able to behave violently or lewdly, but he is unable to listen to Beethoven's "9th Symphony" without becoming violently ill.

Even then Choice E is NOT correct. This is because the meaning given by the original sentence is compromised in it . The original sentence suggests that the subject did not  desire  to do something - in other words,  he did NOT want to do something ; however, choice E (in both versions - grammatically non-parallel and parallel) says that he was no longer   able  to do something -  nothing about whether he  wanted  to do so or not .

Regards

sayantanc2k · Answer

Option E does not have a main verb:
Alex DeLarge no longer able to behave... the verb "was" is missing before "no longer" ("able" is an adjective, not a verb).

sayantanc2k · Answer

Two consecutive modifiers (without a conjunction in between) referring to the same noun is considered wrong in GMAT.

The modifiers "the main character of A Clockwork Orange" and "no longer able to behave violently and lewdly" should refer to "Alex DeLarge", but there is no conjunction between these modifiers - hence the second modifier wrongly modifies "A Clockwork Orange" rather than "Alex DeLarge". 
Moreover wrong meaning is conveyed in option C - it is not clear that "he is unable to listen to Beethoven's "9th Symphony" without becoming violently ill." The sentence implies that  by  becoming violently ill, he is unable to listen to the symphony - ( ...becoming violently ill, is unable to listen to Beethoven's "9th Symphony") .

Option D:
The event is within a movie (or may be a drama) "A Clockwork Orange". So simple past is alright. It is not known whether Alex DeLarge really exists or whether he is still unable to listen. (However your understanding of usage of tense is correct.)

sayantanc2k · Answer

Your observation is valid. Ideally, the comma should not have been there or there should have been the subject after the comma.

sunny91 · Answer

Hi, Kindly help me in clearing th doubt
In D meaning is clear, but there is no subject after, but...........
we have 1 independent clause on one side- Alex DeLarge, the main character of A Clockwork Orange, no longer desired to behave violently, but was unable.......
I know that since the subject is same, so the repetition of he (Alex DeLarge) is not required. But without the comma this sentence stands fine as -Alex DeLarge, the main character of A Clockwork Orange, no longer desired to behave violently but was unable to........

According to me, Option D looks good if it stands out as- Alex DeLarge, the main character of A Clockwork Orange, no longer desired to behave violently, but he was unable...

abhimahna · Answer

Hi  sunny91  ,

Remember one thing: Whenever you have more than one list in a sentence and you want to add more elements to the main list rather than the sub list, you MUST always separate the lists using a comma.

For example:

I want to go to US or Germany and want to have a great party.

This sentence has two lists:

1. I want to go
 I want to party

2. List of places I wanna go: US and Germany.

Now, this sentence is incorrect because the 2nd clause after and should be connected to main list.

To use it correctly, I MUST use a comma as follows:

I want to go to US or Germany, and want to have a great party.

This question stem is working on the same principle.

Let me know in case of any concern.

Novice90 · Answer

How do you select between the options A and D? How do you come to know, if any, parallelism is required here?

sandysilva · Answer

The reason you go out looking for parallelism is violently and lewdly both are adjectives so these must be connected properly to make them parallel.
"OR" is used correctly in choice D, connecting the two adjectives properly.

Sent from my SM-N9007 using  GMAT Club Forum mobile app

sunny91 · Answer

Hi Abhimahna,
Thanks for the reply. I have the below queries. Please help me to understand.
 Don't the sentence violates 
I want to go to US or Germany, and want to have a great party.
I want to go to US or Germany - independent clause 1 
want to have a great party- thought 2.
Now, the subject is same. So, we can write I want to go to US or Germany, and I want to have a great party. or I want to go to US or Germany and want to have a great party.

Below, is another example- I study in the morning, and I play in the evening. 
I study in the morning and play in the evening. 
So, in option D- Alex DeLarge, the main character of A Clockwork Orange, no longer desired to behave violently or lewdly. (independent clause)
, but was also unable to listen to Beethoven's "9th Symphony" without becoming violently ill.( another thought but subject is missing)

as03691 · Answer

A is incorrect for using two adverbs simultaneously.
B is incorrect because "violently, lewdly, and no longer..." are not parallel; an adverb is needed after "and".
C is awkward because removing the extra information between the two commas leads to "Alex...no longer able to", an incomplete expression.
E repeats the mistake in C.
D is not perfect the best choice here.

Besides, B, C, and E use present tense, which is not the apt tense here.

Mpuneet · Answer

The purpose of this sentence is to show contrast but by using ‘and’ options A and B fail to do so. E has a parallelism error and C is very awkwardly constructed. The correct option is D.

VerbalBot · Answer

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As the result of a medical experiment

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As the result of a medical experiment

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