Parallelism: early settlers of virginia

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TOPGMAT: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 86; Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2010 11:00 am; Thanked: 1 times

Parallelism: early settlers of virginia

by TOPGMAT » Mon Nov 08, 2010 8:04 am

I was stumped by the answer...
The earliest English settlers in Virginia failed to survive their first winter in the New World because of factors such
as inadequate food supplies, harsh weather, and an inability to communicate with Native Americans.
"¢ an inability
"¢ that they were unable
"¢ because they were unable
"¢ being unable
"¢ Lacking an ability

OA:A
Ron, Stacey can you please help ?
I am unable to understand the answer...

Thanks

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Mon Nov 08, 2010 8:04 am

EducationAisle: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 434; Joined: Sat Mar 27, 2010 10:42 pm; Location: Bangalore, India; Thanked: 91 times; Followed by:46 members

by EducationAisle » Mon Nov 08, 2010 8:48 am

What else did you think the answer could be?

inability is noun and is perfectly parallel with the other nouns namely: (inadequate) food supplies and (harsh) weather.

Also notice that B and C are clauses (these structures have both: a Subject and a Verb) and cannot be parallel with phrases (inadequate food supplies and harsh weather are phrases).

lacking an ability would have been better as: lack of ability, to emphasize the noun form of this phrase.

Ashish
MBA - ISB, GMAT - 99th Percentile
GMAT Faculty @ EducationAisle
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TOPGMAT: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 86; Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2010 11:00 am; Thanked: 1 times

by TOPGMAT » Mon Nov 08, 2010 9:57 am

Hi Ashish,
Yes thats the answer...
I never knew that inability was a noun...So I skipped that choice only to
find that none of the other answers seemed right!!!

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EducationAisle: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 434; Joined: Sat Mar 27, 2010 10:42 pm; Location: Bangalore, India; Thanked: 91 times; Followed by:46 members

by EducationAisle » Mon Nov 08, 2010 11:55 pm

Even if you did not realize that inability was a noun, in these kind of lists (in this case, group of elements connected by and), a rule of parallelism to be kept in mind is that phrases cannot be parallel with clauses. For example,

Topgmat is extremely determined, very hardworking and he is also quite firm.

he is also quite firm is a clause and cannot be parallel with the phrases: extremely determined and very hardworking

The correct sentence would be:
Topgmat is extremely determined, very hardworking and quite firm.