Sentence Correction

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.

A)an inability
B)that they were unable
C)because they were unable
D)being unable
E)Lacking an ability

[spoiler]OA:L8r[/spoiler]

OA has to be Op A only

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.

A)an inability
B)that they were unable -----> we need to have continuous sentence as factors using such as are being discussed, therefore lacks parallelism
C)because they were unable -----> we need to have continuous sentence as factors using such as are being discussed, therefore lacks parallelism
D)being unable ------> usage of being
E)Lacking an ability -----> awkward

Although A seems right because of parallelism, I think there should be a hidden trick in the sentence
So I am between A and C

Ozlemg wrote:Although A seems right because of parallelism, I think there should be a hidden trick in the sentence
So I am between A and C

parallelism is set between nouns "inadequate food supplies, harsh weather" so the final element has to be a noun...Op C is a clause, thus can not be parallel to a noun...hence no hidden trick in the given question

OA: A

The original sentence contains a list of factors that kept the settlers from surviving their first winter in Virginia: "inadequate food supplies, harsh weather, and an inability to communicate with Native Americans." In lists of examples, all the examples must be parallel (in the same form). In this case, all the examples are nouns. This presents no error.
(A) CORRECT. This choice is correct as it repeats the original sentence.
(B) This choice is incorrect because "that they were unable to communicate with Native Americans" is a clause rather than a noun, thus violating the parallelism.
(C) This choice is incorrect because "and because they were unable to communicate with Native Americans" is a clause rather than a noun, thus violating the parallelism.
(D) This choice is incorrect because "and being unable to communicate with Native Americans" is a verb construction rather than a noun, thus violating the parallelism.
(E) This choice is incorrect because "and lacking an ability to communicate with Native Americans" is a verb construction rather than a noun, thus violating the parallelism.