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@daagh In B, dont we need a conjunction to join two ICs? Is there an exception?
Appreciate your help!
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While Ethiopian Abebe Bikila is best known for his running accomplishments, as both the most famous barefoot Olympic champion and the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, also serving in the Ethiopian military in an elite infantry division tasked with protecting the emperor.

A. and the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, also serving
B. and the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, he also served
C. and as the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, he also served
D. and as the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, also serving
E. as well as the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, he had also served

The first sentence starts with 'while' (pl read it with the non-underlined part), a subordinate conjunction, it is not an IC but a DC. The whole sentence is a complex sentence. Therefore B is good to go per se
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An excellent yet easy question.

FIrst of all, it tests the knowledge of the most frequently used idiom "both X and Y".

Here We can eliminate E straight away for using incorrect Idiom(both X as well as Y is incorrect).

C & D can be eliminated for improper parallelism.
The sentence must be in the form of "AS both X and Y". Since X is a noun, Y must be a noun without as in the front.

Between A & B, we need an independent clause as sentence begins with a dependent clause(while). Only B supplies that.

HEnce B
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While Ethiopian Abebe Bikila is best known for his running accomplishments, as both the most famous barefoot Olympic champion and the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, also serving in the Ethiopian military in an elite infantry division tasked with protecting the emperor.

Structure to follow - While Ethiopian is best known for his running accomplishments as both A & B, he C...
contrast to show while after comma

A. and the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, also serving
While Ethiopian is best known..., also serving -> contrast is missing

B. and the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, he also served
While Ethiopian is best known for his running accomplishments , he also served..
as both the most famous... and the first athlete

C. and as the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, he also served
As Both the most famous...and as the first athlete - not parallel

D. and as the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, also serving
As Both the most famous...and as the first athlete - not parallel

E. as well as the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, he had also served
As Both the most famous...as well as the first athlete - need and as connector for both

B is the answer!
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While Ethiopian Abebe Bikila is best known for his running accomplishments, as both the most famous barefoot Olympic champion and the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, also serving in the Ethiopian military in an elite infantry division tasked with protecting the emperor.

A. and the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, also serving
B. and the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, he also served
C. and as the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, he also served
D. and as the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, also serving
E. as well as the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, he had also served


The options show that we need to determine the correct grammatical structure when pairing two clauses with the word “both” and the correct way to start the final clause in the sentence.

We’ll start with wording for the final clause. The sentence starts with “while,” which is a subordinate conjunction that is used in a dependent clause. The content between commas is a nonessential clause, so it can be ignored for the moment.

Since the sentence starts with a dependent clause, the rest of the sentence must be an independent clause, which requires a subject. Options A and D do not have an independent clause. The sentence would read “While Ethiopian Abebe Bikila is best known for his running accomplishments, also serving in the Ethiopian military in an elite infantry division tasked with protecting the emperor.” “Serving” cannot act as a verb without a helping verb, and there is no subject to start this independent clause. Options A and D cannot be the correct answers.

When pairing clauses together with the word “both,” parallel structure must be followed. If “both” is followed by a verb, preposition, adjective, or adverb then what comes after “and” needs to be the same part of speech as well. If there is a verb, preposition, adjective, or adverb in front of “both,” then what comes after “and” needs to work with that part of speech. The portion of the sentence that isn’t underlined includes “as both.” This means that whatever follows “and” needs to work with this “as.” Options C and D include an “as” after the “and,” which isn’t parallel with “as both.” They cannot be the correct answers.

Option E uses the phrase “as well as.” Idiomatically, this phrase should not be paired with “both.” Additionally, this option uses the past perfect tense (he had also served), and in this situation, the simple past tense (he also served) is all that is needed here. This cannot be the correct answer.

B is the correct option.
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globaldesi
While Ethiopian Abebe Bikila is best known for his running accomplishments, as both the most famous barefoot Olympic champion and the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, also serving in the Ethiopian military in an elite infantry division tasked with protecting the emperor.
given statement has "both' and 'and' is the logical follower of both.
thus eliminate E.
as is before both so 'as' cannot be repeated againn. Eliminate C and D.
No while needs a proper sentence after it whereas 'also serving' is a modifier clause not a sentence. Hence B is the only correct option

Well done, globaldesi! You cracked the code on how to answer this one!
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Shivan21
Block 2 Question 1 of 5
While Ethiopian Abebe Bikila is best known for his running accomplishments, as both the most famous barefoot Olympic champion and the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, also serving in the Ethiopian military in an elite infantry division tasked with protecting the emperor.

A. and the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, also serving
The main point of the sentence is that "While he is known for something, he also served as a royal guard", so the "Royal Guard" information cannot be presented as a modifier. Also it is not the result of the previous clause, so Comma+ING modifier is not correct. Plus since the sentence starts with WHILE, we also need an Independent Clause.

B. and the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, he also served
This is the Correct Choice. "He also served" is presented as an Independent Clause


C. and as the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, he also served
AS should not be repeated as it comes before BOTH and stands in for both the information "AS the most famous barefoot and AS the first athlete"

D. and as the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, also serving
Same error on AS like in option C. Same error on VERB+ING modifier at the ending like Option A

E. as well as the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, he had also served
BOTH and AS WELL AS: We should use one of these in a statement and not both. "He had also served": Since there is no chronology given or established in the sentence, we should continue in Simple Past rather than using Past Perfect.

So IMO answer is B

Well done, Shivan21!

You cracked the code on how to answer this one! We enjoy how you broke down each option to explain why they were correct/incorrect.

Kudos to you!
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aarkay
@daagh In B, dont we need a conjunction to join two ICs? Is there an exception?
Appreciate your help!

Hello aarkay!

There aren't 2 independent clauses in option B:

While Ethiopian Abebe Bikila is best known for his running accomplishments, as both the most famous barefoot Olympic champion and the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, he also served in the Ethiopian military in an elite infantry division tasked with protecting the emperor.

The sentence is structured this way:

Modifier + Modifier + Independent Clause

Since there is only one independent clause, there is no need for a conjunction.

I hope that helps answer your question. Feel free to tag us at EMPOWERgmatVerbal if you have any other questions!
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ArtVandaley
An excellent yet easy question.

FIrst of all, it tests the knowledge of the most frequently used idiom "both X and Y".

Here We can eliminate E straight away for using incorrect Idiom(both X as well as Y is incorrect).

C & D can be eliminated for improper parallelism.
The sentence must be in the form of "AS both X and Y". Since X is a noun, Y must be a noun without as in the front.

Between A & B, we need an independent clause as sentence begins with a dependent clause(while). Only B supplies that.

HEnce B

Well done, ArtVandaley! You cracked the code on how to answer this one!
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While Ethiopian Abebe Bikila is best known for his running accomplishments, as both the most famous barefoot Olympic champion and the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, also serving in the Ethiopian military in an elite infantry division tasked with protecting the emperor.

Structure to follow - While Ethiopian is best known for his running accomplishments as both A & B, he C...
contrast to show while after comma

A. and the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, also serving
While Ethiopian is best known..., also serving -> contrast is missing

B. and the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, he also served
While Ethiopian is best known for his running accomplishments , he also served..
as both the most famous... and the first athlete

C. and as the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, he also served
As Both the most famous...and as the first athlete - not parallel

D. and as the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, also serving
As Both the most famous...and as the first athlete - not parallel

E. as well as the first athlete to defend an Olympic marathon title, he had also served
As Both the most famous...as well as the first athlete - need and as connector for both

B is the answer!

Well done, snoep! You cracked the code on how to answer this one! We also like how you broke down each option to show WHY they are right/wrong.

Kudos to you!
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