We were dismayed to learn that our neighbors were untidy,

Question

We were dismayed to learn that our neighbors were untidy, disagreeable, and they
were uninterested to make new friends.

Answer:

We were dismayed to learn that our neighbors were untidy, disagreeable, and untinterested to make new friends

My question is, why not:

We were dismayed to learn that out neighbors were untidy and disagreeable, and that they were uninterested to make new friends.

i feel untidy /disagreeable fit better as one component, and "uninterested to make new friends" another component, instead of breaking them up into 3 components.

crick20002002 · Answer

There is nothing wrong with your version as well.

Crick

arjunbt · Answer

But just that its not as concise as the other option.

immaculatesahai · Answer

IMO both are correct, but the former is more concise.

rajeevrks27 · Answer

untidy, disagreeable, and
uninterested is what we are interested in this sentence
1. A typical X,Y,and Z structure.
2. Tested for principles of parallelism and concision.
3. while ur answer choice may be correct with the former principle of point 2, however, it will be negated by the latter principle and will be called WORDY i suppose.
4. hope it helps.

kituz · Answer

In making is correct but is there anything wrong with using to make as in the following sentence:

We were dismayed to learn that our neighbors were untidy, disagreeable, and uninterested  /  new friends

sakshamgmat · Answer

This is a Manhattan guide question and the OA is
We were dismayed to learn that our neighbors were untidy, disagreeable, and uninterested in making new friends.

Why is to make replaced by in making here ?

Is there anything wrong in this sentence which rectifies parallelism error ?
We were dismayed to learn that our neighbors were untidy, disagreeable, and untinterested to make new friends.

DmitryFarber · Answer

This is just an issue of idiom. We never say "interested to do something." We only say "interested in doing something." Typically, we say we are interested in a thing ("I am interested in chemistry."), so if we want to show our interest in an activity, we use the same form and put the verb in "-ing" form to make it into an activity:

I would like to learn differential equations.
I am interested in learning differential equations.

I would like to learn differential equations. 
I am interested in learning differential equations.

bmvs · Answer

Hi,

Untidy and Disagreeable are adjectives. 
Uninterested in making new friends is a verb phrase. (Neighbors were uninterested)
So does it mean Adjectives and Verb phrases can be in parallel?

omkartadsare · Answer

Hi Dmitry, Sorry to dig open this old thread again. I am not able to understand this completely.

When we say "We were dismayed to learn that our neighbors were untidy, disagreeable and uninterested in making new friends", does it not sound like, along with uninterested, neighbors were untidy and disagreeable in making new friends?

Can we frame it like this to remove the ambiguity.
 "We were dismayed to learn that our neighbors were untidy, disagreeable and that they were uninterested in making new friends".

We were dismayed to learn that our neighbors were untidy,

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