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Parallelism Issue

by sungoal » Sun Nov 13, 2011 6:54 pm
So dogged were Frances Perkins' investigations of the garment industry, and her lobbying for wage and hour reform was persistent, Alfred E. Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt recruited Perkins to work within the government, rather than as a social worker.
A. and her lobbying for wage and hour reform was persistent,
B. and lobbying for wage and hour reform was persistent, so that
C. her lobbying for wage and hour reform persistent, that
D. lobbying for wage and hour reform was so persistent,
E. so persistent her lobbying for wage and hour reform, that

I have few doubts in the correct answer choice E. Correct explanation says that we need to maintain parallelism between "So dogged were Frances Perkins' investigations of the garment industry" and the underlined portion of the sentence.

Below are my doubts:
a) In parallelism the items in parallel list are connected using "and" .As it is a list of two things, isn't "and" required to connect the list to main parallelism?
b) isn't "so persistent her lobbying for wage and hour reform" missing a verb in option E?
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by essaysnark » Sun Nov 13, 2011 7:42 pm
Hey sungoal - the same problem is being discussed here! https://www.beatthegmat.com/so-x-so-y-that-z-t95943.html

To answer your specific questions:

1. In this case (an unusual one, to be sure) the "and" is not needed, it is implied; we tried to explain it in that other thread
2. In the second phrase, the verb "was" is understood, based on the structure

Hope this helps!
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by GmatKiss » Sun Nov 13, 2011 10:22 pm
So dogged were Frances Perkins' investigations of the garment industry, and her lobbying for wage and hour reform was persistent, Alfred E. Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt recruited Perkins to work within the government, rather than as a social worker.

A. and her lobbying for wage and hour reform was persistent,
B. and lobbying for wage and hour reform was persistent, so that
C. << missing >> her lobbying for wage and hour reform persistent, that
D. lobbying for wage and hour reform was so persistent,
E. so persistent her lobbying for wage and hour reform, that

IMO: E
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by sam2304 » Sun Nov 13, 2011 11:29 pm
IMO E.

A B D can be eliminated as it doesn't have so x, that y structure. C is incomplete.
sungoal wrote: Below are my doubts:
a) In parallelism the items in parallel list are connected using "and" .As it is a list of two things, isn't "and" required to connect the list to main parallelism?
See ron's explanation in

https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/sc- ... 77-15.html
b) isn't "so persistent her lobbying for wage and hour reform" missing a verb in option E?
'lobbying' is the verb. Hope this helps :)
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by essaysnark » Sun Nov 13, 2011 11:48 pm
sam2304 wrote:
b) isn't "so persistent her lobbying for wage and hour reform" missing a verb in option E?
'lobbying' is the verb.
Sorry, no - 'lobbying' is a gerund; 'lobbying' is the subject of this sentence, and thus a noun.

That middle bit of this problem could be rephrased to this basic sentence structure:

Her lobbying ... [was] so persistent that ...

The word "was" is implied based on the structure of the first bit about her dogged investigations.

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by GMATGuruNY » Mon Nov 14, 2011 7:29 am
sungoal wrote:So dogged were Frances Perkins' investigations of the garment industry, and her lobbying for wage and hour reform was persistent, Alfred E. Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt recruited Perkins to work within the government, rather than as a social worker.
A. and her lobbying for wage and hour reform was persistent,
B. and lobbying for wage and hour reform was persistent, so that
C. her lobbying for wage and hour reform persistent, that
D. lobbying for wage and hour reform was so persistent,
E. so persistent her lobbying for wage and hour reform, that

I have few doubts in the correct answer choice E. Correct explanation says that we need to maintain parallelism between "So dogged were Frances Perkins' investigations of the garment industry" and the underlined portion of the sentence.

Below are my doubts:
a) In parallelism the items in parallel list are connected using "and" .As it is a list of two things, isn't "and" required to connect the list to main parallelism?
b) isn't "so persistent her lobbying for wage and hour reform" missing a verb in option E?
I received a PM asking me to comment.

Parallel structures sometimes employ ELLIPSIS: the omission of words whose presence is understood.

To illustrate:
John is the fastest swimmer on the team; Mike, the slowest.
The sun was so bright, the sky so blue, that John could not wait to start the day.

The portions in red employ ellipsis. Words have been omitted, but their presence is understood. Without ellipsis:

John is the fastest swimmer on the team; Mike is the slowest swimmer on the team.
The sun was so bright, and the sky was so blue, that John could not wait to start the day.

Ellipsis allows for a more concise sentence, with no loss of meaning.

Here is the OA to the SC above:

So dogged were Frances Perkins' investigations of the garment industry, so persistent her lobbying for wage and hour reform, that Alfred E. Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt recruited Perkins to work within the government, rather than as a social worker.

The portion in red employs ellipsis. Words have been omitted (and and was), but their presence is understood. If we were to include the omitted words, the sentence would read as follows:

So dogged were Frances Perkins' investigations of the garment industry and so persistent was her lobbying for wage and hour reform that Alfred E. Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt recruited Perkins to work within the government, rather than as a social worker.

Be on the lookout for ellipsis if you notice the following:

-- a series of parallel structures
-- the omission of words whose presence seems to be understood

If you suspect ellipsis, hold onto the answer choice. Look for errors in the other answer choices.
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by aditya8062 » Wed Dec 24, 2014 5:35 pm
So dogged were Frances Perkins' investigations of the garment industry and so persistent was her lobbying for wage and hour reform that Alfred E. Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt recruited Perkins to work within the government, rather than as a social worker.
Good Day Guru
i get a feeling that if we include "AND" as has been done by in the form of ellipses then the "COMMA" before "THAT" in the original sentence would make that sentence wrong . in other words E would read as follows : So dogged were Frances Perkins' investigations of the garment industry and so persistent was her lobbying for wage and hour reform, that Alfred E. Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt recruited Perkins to work within the government, rather than as a social worker.

i feel that this problem will not exist if we do not consider "AND" in ellipses . please tell me if my thought process is correct

Thanks and regards
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by GMATGuruNY » Sat Dec 27, 2014 5:42 am
aditya8062 wrote:
So dogged were Frances Perkins' investigations of the garment industry and so persistent was her lobbying for wage and hour reform that Alfred E. Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt recruited Perkins to work within the government, rather than as a social worker.
Good Day Guru
i get a feeling that if we include "AND" as has been done by in the form of ellipses then the "COMMA" before "THAT" in the original sentence would make that sentence wrong . in other words E would read as follows : So dogged were Frances Perkins' investigations of the garment industry and so persistent was her lobbying for wage and hour reform, that Alfred E. Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt recruited Perkins to work within the government, rather than as a social worker.

i feel that this problem will not exist if we do not consider "AND" in ellipses . please tell me if my thought process is correct

Thanks and regards
You have omitted the comma that follows industry in the non-underlined portion.
If and is added to E, the sentence would read as follows:
So dogged were Frances Perkins' investigations of the garment industry, and so persistent was her lobbying for wage and hour reform, that Alfred E. Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt recruited Perkins to work within the government.
The implication of the two commas is that the clause in red can be removed without altering the core meaning of the sentence:
So dogged were Frances Perkins' investigations of the garment industry that Alfred E. Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt recruited Perkins to work within the government.
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by jain2016 » Sun May 22, 2016 5:29 am
I received a PM asking me to comment.

Parallel structures sometimes employ ELLIPSIS: the omission of words whose presence is understood.

To illustrate:
John is the fastest swimmer on the team; Mike, the slowest.
The sun was so bright, the sky so blue, that John could not wait to start the day.

The portions in red employ ellipsis. Words have been omitted, but their presence is understood. Without ellipsis:

John is the fastest swimmer on the team; Mike is the slowest swimmer on the team.
The sun was so bright, and the sky was so blue, that John could not wait to start the day.

Ellipsis allows for a more concise sentence, with no loss of meaning.

Here is the OA to the SC above:

So dogged were Frances Perkins' investigations of the garment industry, so persistent her lobbying for wage and hour reform, that Alfred E. Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt recruited Perkins to work within the government, rather than as a social worker.

The portion in red employs ellipsis. Words have been omitted (and and was), but their presence is understood. If we were to include the omitted words, the sentence would read as follows:

So dogged were Frances Perkins' investigations of the garment industry and so persistent was her lobbying for wage and hour reform that Alfred E. Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt recruited Perkins to work within the government, rather than as a social worker.

Be on the lookout for ellipsis if you notice the following:

-- a series of parallel structures
-- the omission of words whose presence seems to be understood

If you suspect ellipsis, hold onto the answer choice. Look for errors in the other answer choices.
[/quote]

Hi GMATGuruNY ,

Can you please explain, what HER refer to OA?

Also, please give me a reason to eliminate option D.

Many thanks in advance.

SJ
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by GMATGuruNY » Sun May 22, 2016 6:38 am
jain2016 wrote:Hi GMATGuruNY ,

Can you please explain, what HER refer to OA?
OA: So dogged were Frances Perkins' investigations of the garment industry, so persistent her lobbying for wage and hour reform, that Alfred E. Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt recruited Perkins to work within the government, rather than as a social worker.
Here, her (possessive pronoun) serves to refer to Frances Perkins' (the preceding possessive).
Also, please give me a reason to eliminate option D.

Many thanks in advance.

SJ
D: So dogged were Frances Perkins' investigations of the garment industry , lobbying for wage and hour reform was so persistent
Red portion = MODIFIER (so dogged) + VERB (were) + SUBJECT (Francis Perkins' investigations of the garment industry).
Blue portion = SUBJECT (lobbying for wage and hour reform) + VERB (was) + MODIFIER (so persistent).
The two portions are not parallel.
Eliminate D.
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by Needgmat » Sun Aug 14, 2016 1:37 am
D: So dogged were Frances Perkins' investigations of the garment industry , lobbying for wage and hour reform was so persistent
Red portion = MODIFIER (so dogged) + VERB (were) + SUBJECT (Francis Perkins' investigations of the garment industry).
Blue portion = SUBJECT (lobbying for wage and hour reform) + VERB (was) + MODIFIER (so persistent).
The two portions are not parallel.
Eliminate D.

Hi GMATGuruNY ,

Is this the only reason to eliminate option D or is there any other reason.

If above is the only reason, then please explain more above part.

Many thanks in advance.

Kavin
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by GMATGuruNY » Sun Aug 14, 2016 8:27 pm
Needgmat wrote:
D: So dogged were Frances Perkins' investigations of the garment industry , lobbying for wage and hour reform was so persistent
Red portion = MODIFIER (so dogged) + VERB (were) + SUBJECT (Francis Perkins' investigations of the garment industry).
Blue portion = SUBJECT (lobbying for wage and hour reform) + VERB (was) + MODIFIER (so persistent).
The two portions are not parallel.
Eliminate D.

Hi GMATGuruNY ,

Is this the only reason to eliminate option D or is there any other reason.

If above is the only reason, then please explain more above part.

Many thanks in advance.

Kavin
The primary reason to eliminate D is a lack of parallelism.
D: So dogged were Frances Perkins' investigations of the garment industry, lobbying for wage and hour reform was so persistent
In the red portion, the verb (were) PRECEDES the subject (investigations).
In the blue portion, the verb (was) FOLLOWS the subject (lobbying).
The result is a lack of parallelism.
Eliminate D.

Another reason:
lobbying...was so persistent.
Here, it is unclear WHO was lobbying.
In the original sentence and in the OA, the usage of her makes it crystal clear that FRANCIS PERKINS was lobbying.
Since D does not convey the intended meaning, eliminate D.
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by Needgmat » Wed Aug 17, 2016 4:32 am
The primary reason to eliminate D is a lack of parallelism.
D: So dogged were Frances Perkins' investigations of the garment industry, lobbying for wage and hour reform was so persistent
In the red portion, the verb (were) PRECEDES the subject (investigations).
In the blue portion, the verb (was) FOLLOWS the subject (lobbying).
The result is a lack of parallelism.
Eliminate D.

Another reason:
lobbying...was so persistent.
Here, it is unclear WHO was lobbying.
In the original sentence and in the OA, the usage of her makes it crystal clear that FRANCIS PERKINS was lobbying.
Since D does not convey the intended meaning, eliminate D.
[/quote]

Hi GMATGuruNY ,

Thank you so much for your explanation.

All clear now.

Thanks,

Kavin
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