The media often hastens to chastise celebrities who have come into sudden and unexpected prominence, whether they be actors, musicians, or some other high-profile vocation.

A. they be actors, musicians, or some other high-profile vocation
>> I feel it should be "they are"
B. their vocation be acting, music performance, or some other high-profile vocation
>> I'm having my doubts with this one. Sentence is using vocation two time in the sentence. This is the only reason I'm eliminating this option.
C. they be actors, music, or some other high-profile vocation
>> it should be musician.
D. their vocation is that of actor, musician, or otherwise a high-profile one
>> looks good to me.
E. they are actors, are musicians, or in some other high-profile vocation
>> parallelism error.

challenger63 wrote:The media often hastens to chastise celebrities who have come into sudden and unexpected prominence, whether they be actors, musicians, or some other high-profile vocation.

A. they be actors, musicians, or some other high-profile vocation
B. their vocation be acting, music performance, or some other high-profile vocation
C. they be actors, music, or some other high-profile vocation
D. their vocation is that of actor, musician, or otherwise a high-profile one
E. they are actors, are musicians, or in some other high-profile vocation

Source: 800Score
OA after discussion

A. they be actors, musicians, or some other high-profile vocation
-> two different kind of nouns are compared.
B. their vocation be acting, music performance, or some other high-profile vocation
-> I think, this is correct.
C. they be actors, music, or some other high-profile vocation
-> Not related words. actors and music.
D. their vocation is that of actor, musician, or otherwise a high-profile one
-> Not parallel - sud be that of actor, musician or otherwise high-profile one
E. they are actors, are musicians, or in some other high-profile vocation
- Not Parallel.

A. they be actors, musicians, or some other high-profile vocation - parallelism error:
B. their vocation be acting, music performance, or some other high-profile vocation - No error,
C. they be actors, music, or some other high-profile vocation - parallelism error
D. their vocation is that of actor, musician, or otherwise a high-profile one - changes meaning, "otherwise a high profile one" is different from "other high profile one"
E. they are actors, are musicians, or in some other high-profile vocation - parallelism error

Would go with B, even though it repeats the word 'vocation', not a strong enough reason to eliminate it unless it changes the meaning. Looking forward to the OA.