BTGmoderatorRO wrote:The tornado left a path of destruction in its wake, causing the collapse of several homes, massive power outages, tearing apart construction projects, and widespread business closures.
a) tearing apart construction projects
b) the tearing apart of construction projects
c) tore apart construction projects
d) construction projects torn apart
e) construction projects that were torn apart
OA is a
Please, i want experts to help me with the solution here. Thanks
This is an
excellent question testing the concepts of
logical and grammatical parallelism. Quite often, on
the trickier GMAT SC questions, the GMAT will test you on the
logical use of parallel structures. In such cases, always identify the things that should be
logically put in the set.
In this question, we want to put the different elements of destruction caused by the tornado in parallel. In the non underlined portion, we have '
causing the collapse of several homes, massive power outages,.., and widespread business closures' put in parallel. The only way as to how these two elements can be put in parallel is if 'causing' acts as a common word to these elements. In other words, the tornado left a path of destruction..,
causing the collapse of several homes, causing massive power outrages...UNDERLINED PORTION, and causing widespread business closures. We want the underlined portion to make sense with 'causing' logically and be parallel to the rest of the elements in the non-underlined portion grammatically. The elements in the non-underlined portion are basically 3 simple nouns, namely -
the collapse of several homes
massive power outrages
widespread business closures
Therefore, our underlined portion should also be a simple noun. This
eliminates A and C - 'tearing' and 'tear' are not simple nouns.
Out of B, D, and E - the noun in D and E is 'construction projects that..', and the noun in B is 'the tearing apart of construction projects'. This is where we must think a bit logically, and ask the question "What destruction could the tornado have caused - construction projects OR the tearing apart of construction projects?". Logically, "Construction projects" aren't a destruction, so it doesn't make sense to say that the tornado caused 'construction projects' (unless these were severely corrupt construction projects
). Therefore, although D and E are grammatically parallel - we are connecting 4 nouns in the list - they are not
logically parallel.
Eliminate D and E
Hence,
Bis the only logically and grammatically correct parallel construction and the
correct answer.
