Parallelism basics

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Parallelism basics

by rishijhawar » Mon Apr 16, 2012 10:24 pm
Hi Friends, need some clarity related to basics of parallelism involving infinitives. This might have been discussed earlier, but thought could be a good refresher for all. Thanks

Example from Manhattan SC Guide: We would like NOT ONLY to hear your side of the story BUT ALSO to provide a response.

#1: Does GMAT consider the following sentence grammatically correct?

We would like to NOT ONLY hear your side of the story BUT ALSO provide a response (just one to before NOT ONLY).

#2: We would like NOT ONLY to hear your side of the story BUT ALSO provide a response. I believe this is incorrect as to needs to be repeated just before BUT ALSO), the same way its done in the Example shown above.
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by Jim@StratusPrep » Tue Apr 17, 2012 7:58 am
1 is not correct because you created a split infinitive with to hear.

2 also does not make sense. You need infinitive forms of 'to hear' and 'to provide.'
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by rishijhawar » Tue Apr 17, 2012 9:45 am
Hi Jim, my 1st sentence (in Italics below) is primarily based on #3 option in the following construction. Is there any specific rule in 'infinitive' construction.

"We would like to NOT ONLY hear your side of the story BUT ALSO provide a response (just one to before NOT ONLY)".

#1:Incorrect: He not only lost his luggage but also his tickets.
#2:Correct: He not only lost his luggage but also lost his tickets.
#3:Correct: He lost not only his luggage but also his tickets.

Any thoughts? Thanks
Last edited by rishijhawar on Sat Apr 21, 2012 6:21 am, edited 1 time in total.

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by rishijhawar » Sat Apr 21, 2012 6:19 am
Hi Jim and folks, appreciate your inputs here.
rishijhawar wrote:Hi Jim, my 1st sentence (in Italics below) is primarily based on #3 option below. Is there any specific rule in 'infinitive' construction you mentioned in your post:

"We would like to NOT ONLY hear your side of the story BUT ALSO provide a response (just one to before NOT ONLY)".

#1:Incorrect: He not only lost his luggage but also his tickets.
#2:Correct: He not only lost his luggage but also lost his tickets.
#3:Correct: He lost not only his luggage but also his tickets.

Any thoughts? Thanks

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