After escaping from slavery, Harriet Tubman, who would go on to free

Question

After escaping from slavery, Harriet  Tubman, who would go on to free other slaves, become the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War, serve  as a nurse and spy for the Union Army, and work with Susan B. Anthony to promote women’s suffrage.

Ⓐ Tubman, who would go on to free other slaves, become the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War, serve
Ⓑ Tubman, going on to free other slaves, become the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War, serve
Ⓒ Tubman, going on to free other slaves, would also go on to become the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War, plus serving
Ⓓ Tubman would go on to free other slaves, become the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War, serve
Ⓔ Tubman would go on to free other slaves, becoming the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War, plus serving

Pack 3, Question 1 of 5

48 Hour Window To Win An $85 EMPOWERgmat Tuition Credit (1 Month Free!)   
Share your explanation!  The GMAT Club member with the most verified Kudos  in total on the 5 question SC Pack 3 will  win an $85 EMPOWERgmat tuition credit , which will entitle the winner to a full month of complete access to the EMPOWERgmat system. Even if you're not sure about your answer or your rationale, share your explanation to help boost your learning and earn a chance to win. 
To be eligible, your explanation must:

be submitted within the 48 hour window after this post was created
should explain your reasoning why the answer you chose is correct, and why the other 4 options are incorrect within 48 hours of this post

The OA and official explanation will be held until the 48 hour window has lapsed.

◀ Pack 2, Question 5  
 ▶ Pack 3, Question 2

⏏ Question Pack Home

sampriya · Answer

Ⓐ Tubman , who would  go  on to free other slaves, become the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War,  serve 
Ⓑ Tubman , going  on to free other slaves, become the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War,  serve 
Ⓒ Tubman , going  on to free other slaves, would also go on to become the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War,  plus serving 
Ⓓ Tubman  would go  on to free other slaves, become the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War,  serve 
Ⓔ Tubman  would go  on to free other slaves, becoming the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War,  plus serving

on our initial scan we can notice
1st - comma+who would, comma+going, would go- this can indicate possible sub-verb pair presence error
2nd- serving vs plus serve- verb tense error or parallelism

evaluating 1st observation: option A/B/C create fragments as there is no verb for the subject Harriet Tubman. therefore we are down to D and E
evaluating 2nd observation wrt D and E: as for parallelism notice the non underlined part "and work"
therefore "serve" is parallel to "work"..

D is the correct answer!

Shivan21 · Answer

The main crux of sentence is to maintain parallelism amongst all the arms of this sentence and IMO D does this perfectly.

Thanks

saukrit · Answer

IMO D is the correct answer.

Non underlined portion of the list must be parallel with other elements of the list too. D does this job perfectly, while all others falter to depict correct parallelism

A Tubman, who would go on to free other slaves, become the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War, serve .. No Verb here 
B Tubman, going on to free other slaves, become the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War, serve... parallelism doesn't make sense here 
C Tubman, going on to free other slaves, would also go on to become the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War, plus serving... parallelism doesn't make sense here 
D Tubman would go on to free other slaves, become the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War, serve..  .all elements parallel. Hence Correct  
E Tubman would go on to free other slaves, becoming the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War, plus serving  parallelism doesn't make sense here

snoep · Answer

After escaping from slavery, Harriet Tubman, who would go on to free other slaves, become the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War, serve as a nurse and spy for the Union Army, and work with Susan B. Anthony to promote women’s suffrage.

A. Tubman, who would go on to free other slaves, become the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War, serve
incomplete thought. After escaping, Harriet, who would go on... expression who would go on and the rest of the complete sentence seems to be used to describe Harriet instead of stating that after escaping, she did A, B, C

B. Tubman, going on to free other slaves, become the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War, serve
there is no verb in this sentence.. 'going on' is modifier and become is not the verb

C. Tubman, going on to free other slaves, would also go on to become the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War, plus serving
parallelism is not achieved..

D. Tubman would go on to free other slaves, become the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War, serve
would go is parallel with other verbs instead of going on in previous answer choices.
rest of the verbs also are parallel

E. Tubman would go on to free other slaves, becoming the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War, plus serving
not only this is not parallel among - would go on, becoming ....plus serving.. it also changes the meaning suggesting she would go on to free other slaves, eventually becoming first woman to lead..

D is the answer!

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

After escaping from slavery, Harriet  Tubman, who would go on to free other slaves, become the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War, serve  as a nurse and spy for the Union Army, and work with Susan B. Anthony to promote women’s suffrage.

Ⓐ Tubman, who would go on to free other slaves, become the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War, serve
Ⓑ Tubman, going on to free other slaves, become the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War, serve
Ⓒ Tubman, going on to free other slaves, would also go on to become the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War, plus serving 
  Ⓓ Tubman would go on to free other slaves, become the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War, serve 
  Ⓔ Tubman would go on to free other slaves, becoming the first woman to lead an armed assault in the Civil War, plus serving

After reviewing the options, we see that most of the differences revolve around verb forms, either the -ing form or the base form. When dealing with choices that involve verbs, it is important to look at the portion of the sentence that isn’t underlined. After “and,” we see the verb “work.” When verbs or verb forms are used in a series, as they are in this sentence, each verb or verb form should demonstrate parallelism. The verbs that form the series are “free,” “become,” and “serve.” Since we cannot change the form of “work,” then for the rest of the sentence to be parallel, an -ing form should not be used. Options C and E use the -ing form, so these answer choices are not parallel. They cannot be the best answers.

Option A uses the relative pronoun “who,” to create a relative clause. Because the “who” is preceded by a comma, this clause becomes nonessential. Not including this clause should not change the meaning of the sentence. But without this clause, the sentence reads “Harriet Tubman become the first woman . . .” This does not make any sense; “become” does not work with the third-person singular subject “Harriet Tubman.” Option A cannot be correct.

Option B uses the phrase “going on to free other slaves.” We have an -ing verb (going) and an infinitive (to free), so there is no verb left in the sentence, because all the other verbs in the series are infinitives matched to be parallel with “to free.” This cannot be the correct answer.

We have eliminated four answer choices. Option D includes the verb “would go,” and all the verb forms in the series are infinitives so they are parallel. Option D is correct.

Rishbha · Answer

Is "PLus" a valid word in english? Plus serving, is it allowed?

Deepakjhamb · Answer

Parallelism with would and verb

Posted from my mobile device

Deepakjhamb · Answer

Parallelism with would and verb

Posted from my mobile device

Pinurba · Answer

I am still confused why the verb "would go” is parallel to these infinitives: become, serve, and work. Anyone, please help. Thank you.

JoseManuel · Answer

Option  D  is the best choice because it is clear and keeps the verbs in the same form.
Harriet Tubman escaped slavery and helped free others. She led an armed attack in the Civil War, worked as a nurse and spy, and later fought for women’s rights.

After escaping from slavery, Harriet Tubman, who would go on to free

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

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

After escaping from slavery, Harriet Tubman, who would go on to free

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

My Rewards