Open to the public and operated like conventional hotels condominium

Question

Open to the public and operated like conventional hotels,  condominium hotels permit buyers to acquire a specific room or suite, as well as  a proportionate interest in the rest of the establishment.

(A) condominium hotels permit buyers to acquire a specific room or suite, as well as
(B) buyers are permitted to acquire a specific room or suite in a condominium hotel, as well as
(C) a specific room or suite in condominium hotels may be acquired by buyers, as well as acquiring
(D) condominium hotels permit buyers to acquire a specific room or suite, as well as acquiring
(E) it is permitted for buyers to acquire a specific room or suite in a condominium hotel, as well as the acquisition of

SC42661.01
Verbal Review 2020 NEW QUESTION

generis · Accepted Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

HIGHLIGHTS 
• Take note:  as well as  is in every option. It means  and . 
I'm not too sure what started the fairly widespread condemnation of  as well as  that I see flatly asserted on the boards,
but maybe those assertions will abate somewhat. 
• In addition to having grammar errors, B, C, and E are stylistic and rhetorical disasters.

• Split #1: Modifier errors (or The Dangling Modifier)  
The introductory phrase  Open to the public and operated like conventional hotels   must modify 
 condominium hotels.  Otherwise we have a "dangling modifier," which happens when it is not clear from the sentence
what the modifier is modifying.

Which noun is "open to the public and operated like conventional hotels"? (Condominium hotels.)

Not buyers, as in option B.
Not a specific room or suite in condominium hotels, as in option C
Not it (not the it in it is permitted for buyers), as in option E

Eliminate B, C, and E

• Split #2: Parallelism

The construction could be:
to acquire X or Y, as well as Z
or
to acquire X or Y, as well as to acquire Z

Option A exhibits the first pattern
. . . to acquire  a specific room or suite in a condominium hote l, as well as  a proportionate interest  . . .

Option D violates parallelism. D says
. . .permits the buyer  to acquire  X or Y, as well  acquiring  Z. Not parallel.
Eliminate D.

Answer A

TornDilemma · Answer

"Open to the public and operated like conventional hotels" is a modifier which modifies condominium hotels, So, B and C are out since modification is wrong here as it is on "buyers" and "a specific room" E is out because "it" incorrectly refers to the conventional hotels.

Between A and D, A suits well because parallelism is incorrect by mentioning "acquiring" whereas "to acquire" suffices in the second context.

IMO, Option A.

shubham2312 · Answer

IMO A,

the opening modifier must refer to the Hotel only option A and D does that

Now the hotel allows 2 thing

X as well as Y both should be parallel.

reynaldreni · Answer

The modifier "Open to the public and operated like conventional hotels" must modify condominium hotels. BC&E can be eliminated on this basis.
A vs D, D has parallelism error, hence A.

Arro44 · Answer

If we focus on the logic we notice that the comparison only makes sense in A & D.
We are comparing two types of hotels, in all other answer choices that comparison is not drawn correctly.

As we are left to only evaluate A & D, we quickly notice that D does not make correct use of parallel structure, leaving us with A as the only answer choice.

Hope this helps.

Best regards,
Chris

generis · Answer

TornDilemma , shubham2312 , reynaldreni , and Arro44 , all of you are correct, and all get kudos as promised.

I would like to suggest that shorthand assertion is different from explanation.
We're looking to help people understand what is incorrect and why (and what is correct and why).

For example, agreed, option D has a parallelism error.
If a parallelism marker or structure exists, what is it?
What specific words should be parallel and are not?

What should X and Y be?

In D's case, to acquire and acquiring are not parallel because the structure,
dictated by the infinitive "to acquire" should be either
. .. buyers to acquire a specific room (X) or suite (Y), as well as a proportionate interest (Z) . . .
OR
. . . buyers to acquire a specific room (X) or suite (Y), as well as to acquire a proportionate interest (Z) . .

Official Explanation is posted above, HERE.

I appreciate your posts. Kudos to all.

_________________

— The only thing more dangerous than ignorance is arrogance. Einstein
— I stand with Ukraine: Donate to Help Ukraine!

Signature Read More

Kartikay22 · Answer

Open to the public and operated like conventional hotels, condominium hotels permit buyers to acquire a specific room or suite, as well as a proportionate interest in the rest of the establishment.

(A)  condominium hotels  permit buyers to acquire a specific room or suite, as well as ( correct )
(B) buyers are permitted to acquire a specific room or suite in a condominium hotel, as well as
(C) a specific room or suite in condominium hotels may be acquired by buyers, as well as acquiring
(D)  condominium hotels  permit buyers to acquire a specific room or suite, as well as  acquiring  (parallelism error )
(E) it is permitted for buyers to acquire a specific room or suite in a condominium hotel, as well as the acquisition of

DealMakerOne · Answer

Permit x to do a…and   b – ok

buyers can’t be opened to the public – out

Makes no sense for the room the be opened to the public – out

Parallelism issue: permit buyers to acquire…as well as acquiring

Modifier & pronoun issue – “it is permitted” that is “open to the public…” – out

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

If you know  Modifiers  well enough, this question should not take you long.

The first part of the sentence is intended to modify what?  The condominium.

Once we figure this out, we can look at the options!

We see that there are only two options that begin with ‘condominium’.

We can safely and swiftly  eliminate Options B, C, and E.

Now, let’s consider  Option D.

Towards the end it says ‘as well as  acquiring ’ – this is incorrect. Why? The earlier portion of the sentence already has the verb ‘to acquire’. ‘as well as’ works to provide emphasis on the last item here i.e. ‘interest’.

Therefore, we don’t need a verb+ing here to break the  parallelism .

Eliminate Option D.  
 
Option A is the best choice.

Hope this helps!

Kinshook · Answer

(A)  condominium hotels  permit buyers to acquire a specific room or suite,  as well as 
Correct
(B)  buyers  are permitted to acquire a specific room or suite in a condominium hotel, as well as
Modifier error
(C)  a specific room or suite  in condominium hotels may be acquired by buyers, as well as acquiring
Modifier error
(D) condominium hotels permit buyers  to acquire  a specific room or suite, as well as  acquiring 
Parallelism error
(E)  it is permitted  for buyers to acquire a specific room or suite in a condominium hotel, as well as the acquisition of
Modifier error

IMO A

Marcost · Answer

Hi! Could someone find if the second part of the sentence make sense?

"Hotels permit buyers to acquire a proportionate interest in the rest of the establishment"

Sneha2021 · Answer

KarishmaB

(D) condominium hotels permit buyers to acquire a specific room or suite, as well as acquiring
condominium hotels permit buyers to acquiring - Is "to + verb-ing" a valid structure?
I agree that D has parallelism error. Is the meaning logical?

(E) it is permitted for buyers to acquire a specific room or suite in a condominium hotel, as well as the acquisition of
Can a modifier at the start/opening modifier refer to placeholder pronoun "it" in any case?

Thank you for your time

egmat · Answer

Hello Sneha2021 , Thank you for your questions. I will be happy to help here.

Choice D: Yes, we can use the "to + verb-ing" phrase in certain structures. For example, I am looking forward to hearing from you about your last excursion . However, this structure does not work in this sentence because the sentence uses the word "permit", which is always followed by the "to verb" phrase. So, the expression "...hotels permit buyers to acquiring..." is incorrect. Choice E: No, an opening modifier CAN NOT refer to a placeholder pronoun in the following clause. The reason is simple. The opening verb-ing modifier presents an action that needs a doer. The subject of the main clause acts as the doer of the modifier action. Therefore, the placeholder pronoun cannot be referred to by this modifier. Hope this helps.

Thanks. Shraddha

telio · Answer

GMATNinja  does the opening modifier   have a lack of parallelism ?

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  telio ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, there is no such parallelism issue; "Open to the public" and "operated like conventional hotels" are both modifiers meant to act upon the noun that follows the comma.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

telio · Answer

It still doesn't make sense. "OPEN" should be "OPENED" to be parallel to "OPERATED" .

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  telio ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, verbs, and participles need not be parallel in terms of tense to be grammatically and logically parallel; what matters is that they are parallel in function, meaning that they must act upon the same noun in the same way.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Open to the public and operated like conventional hotels condominium

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Open to the public and operated like conventional hotels condominium

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia