The Irish playwright John Synge wanted to see Ireland free both of Eng

Question

Project SC Butler: Day 209: Sentence Correction (SC1) 
 For SC butler Questions  Click Here

The Irish playwright John Synge wanted to see Ireland free  both of England and from her own parochialism .

A) both of England and from her own parochialism

B) both of England and her own parochialism

C) both of England and of her own parochialism

D) of both England and her own parochialism as well

E) of England and from her own parochialism as well

generis · Accepted Answer

Project SC Butler: Day 209: Sentence Correction (SC1) 
 For SC butler Questions  Click Here

• SHORT ANSWER  
I explain "once outside, twice inside" in the longer analysis below.

The word "both" is the parallelism marker in the correlative conjunction  Both X and Y. 
The X element and the Y element must be parallel, and whatever is attached to the X element does not "carry over" to the Y element.

1)  Eliminate B because the X and Y elements are not parallel. In option B
X = of England (preposition + noun)
Y =   parochialism (noun)
→ We have an impermissible "once inside" situation. 
→ The word  of  is "inside" the structure  Both X and Y  only once. The word  of  must be "twice inside."

2)  Eliminate options D and E for using "as well" unnecessarily.
→ the words  both/and  already signal that Ireland needed to be rid of England and Ireland's own parochialism.
→ the words  as well  are redundant.

3) Compare option A to option C.
Option C is better; it uses "of" before both objects, whereas the use of "from" and "of" in option A makes it seem as though the phrases mean different things.
On rare occasions, the phrases have slightly different meanings. 
This question is not one such occasion.
GMAC will never test you on that issue.

But GMAC will test your ability to choose the better option.
When parallelism is at issue and you have one option that produces identical X and Y elements, choose that option.
We should stay with the repeated  free of  in option C rather than create confusion

The best answer is C

• PARALLELISM, MARKERS, AND ONCE OUTSIDE, TWICE INSIDE

The most common marker of parallelism is the word "and."
When we have  X and Y,  if there is a preposition before the X element, that preposition will often carry over to the Y element.
→  Correct :  He went hiking with Anton and Benjamin. 
→ The "with" before "Benjamin" carries over or is implied, this way:  He went hiking with Anton and   Benjamin.

If the preposition comes after the parallelism marker "both," correlative conjunctions such as  Both X and Y  do not function in the same way as  X and Y. 
→  Correct but not standard   :  He went hiking both with Anton   and with Benjamin  . 
 Watch the placement of the preposition  with . 
→  Correct and standard :  He went hiking with both Anton   and Benjamin  . 
→  Wrong, once inside :  He went hiking both with Anton   and Benjamin  .

Unlike a "regular" parallel marker such as "and," in  Both X and Y,  whatever is attached to X does  not  carry over to Y once the correlative conjunction "kicks in."
We must repeat ourselves.
The word "both" marks the beginning of the parallel structure.
Imagine brackets acting as a fence around  .

If the preposition comes before the marker word  both,  then the preposition is  outside  the construction and we use that preposition only "once outside."
If the preposition comes after the marker word  both  and therefore precedes the X element, we repeat the preposition before the Y element—"twice inside."

The X and Y objects may  require  different prepositions. 
  X and Y, Correct:  ]  I sprayed cleaning fluid  on  the counter and  under  the table. 
 BOTH X and Y, Correct :  I sprayed cleaning fluid both  on  the counter and  under  the table.  
In both examples, X and Y are parallel.

But if the X and Y elements do not require different prepositions, no reason exists to use different prepositions.
I'll mark off the "outside" of the construction with vertical blue lines.
→  X and Y, Correct:   She traveled by airplane and passenger train.

→   Both X and Y, Correct:    She traveled  by    ||   both airplane and passenger train.   ||      
→   Both X and Y, Correct:   She traveled || both  by  airplane and  by  passenger train.||  
→   Both X and Y, Correct but weird:    She traveled  ||  both  by  airplane and  via  passenger train.  ||   
→   Both X and Y, Wrong:   She traveled  by    ||   both airplane and  via  passenger train.   ||

ELIMINATE B 
We eliminate option B because it use the preposition "of" once inside, a placement that is incorrect.
 Wrong : . . . free   ||   both  of  England and her own parochialism   ||   ( once inside )

Eliminate D and E 
We eliminate options D and E because  as well  is redundant and GMAC doesn't like the phrase much.

Option C is better than option A  
True, in both options, a preposition is "twice inside."
But why, as in option A, are we using different prepositions,  of  and  from ?
Is there any good reason to do so? 
I can't think of one.

By contrast, we have option C: the preposition of is the same and is properly repeated.
Hence the word  of  is properly "twice inside" the structure.
Option C is better than option A.

The best answer is C.

• NOTES

This issue of preposition (or verb) placement in correlative conjunctions is tested fairly often on the GMAT.

I have posted a few questions that test correlative conjunctions and parallelism.

I recommend that you try  this question, here,  and read my explanation in  this post, here .

That question and its explanation are good ways to cement this "once outside, twice inside" hack into your mind.

COMMENTS

eakabuah  ,  Enkhhulan  , and  zhanbo  , you are all spot on.

Very nicely done.

Kudos to all.

zhanbo · Answer

I chose  (C) , (But minute differences between "free of" and "free from" may actually work in choice "A"'s favor.)

(A) I eliminated A based on the different prepositions used: of VS. from. 
(B) Definitely wrong as it breaks parallelism.
(C) Parallelism is maintained. 
(D) "As well" is redundant. 
(E) The same as above.

KhulanE · Answer

Both X and Y, here X and Y should be parallel: preposition and preposition. So B is wrong.
"Both X and Y as well" is redundant. D is out.
E is incorrect, because structure "and ... as well" couldn't connect to the preceding clause efficiently.
C is grammatically correct, but I think it is wrong because of the meaning.
So I refer A over C.

Posted from my mobile device

eakabuah · Answer

I chose C as the right answer.

This question tests parallelism in the use of  both   X  and  Y .  X  and  Y  must be parallel.

In A, X is  of England  while Y is  from her own parochialism . X and Y are both prepositional phrases. In some sense, one can argue that both X and Y are parallel because they are both prepositional phrases. Let's keep A and look for an option where the prepositions preceding the objects are the same and make sense in the context of the sentence. It is worth mentioning that  free of  and  free from  are both correct idiomatically.

In B, X is  of England  and Y is  her own parochialism . X and Y are not parallel. A prepositional phrase is not parallel to a noun. Eliminate B.

In C, X is  of England  and Y is  of her own parochialism . X and Y are parallel and the preposition preceding the objects in X and Y are the same. C is better than A. Eliminate A and keep C.

In D and E, the use of  as well  is inappropriate or redundant at best. Eliminate D and E.

C is left as the best answer.

A) The Irish playwright John Synge wanted to see Ireland free  both   of England  and  from her own parochialism .

B) The Irish playwright John Synge wanted to see Ireland free  both   of England  and  her own parochialism .

C) The Irish playwright John Synge wanted to see Ireland free  both   of England  and  of her own parochialism .

D) The Irish playwright John Synge wanted to see Ireland free of both  England  and  her own parochialism   as well .

E) The Irish playwright John Synge wanted to see Ireland free  of England  and  from her own parochialism   as well .

generis · Answer

The official explanation is  here . I will post OEs for the other questions on March 4 in the evenings, Pacific Standard Time.

VerbalBot · Answer

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The Irish playwright John Synge wanted to see Ireland free both of Eng

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

The Irish playwright John Synge wanted to see Ireland free both of Eng

Prep Toolkit

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