OA: A

I wish to discuss the structure(grammatical) of the options in detail for this question.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

richachampion wrote:Minivans carry as many as seven passengers and, compared with most sport utility vehicles, cost less, get better gas mileage, allow passengers to get in and out more easily, and have a smoother ride.

A. Minivans carry as many as seven passengers and, compared with most sport utility vehicles, cost less,
B. Minivans, which carry as many as seven passengers, compared with most sport utility vehicles, they cost less,
C. Minivans carry as many as seven passengers, in comparison with most sport utility vehicles, and have a lower cost, they
D. Minivans, carrying as many as seven passengers, compared with most sport utility vehicles, cost less,
E. Minivans, which carry as many as seven passengers, compared with most sport utility vehicles the cost is lower, and they

Original sentence:
Minivans carry as many as seven passengers and, compared with most sport utility vehicles, cost less, get better gas mileage, allow passengers to get in and out more easily, and have a smoother ride.
Here, compared appears AFTER the conjunction and.
Implication:
The four blue actions that appear AFTER the conjunction and -- cost, get, allow, have -- are being COMPARED with respect to minivans and most sports utility vehicles.
Conveyed comparisons:
Minivans cost less than most sport utility vehicles.
Minivans get better mileage than most sport utility vehicles.
Minivans allow passengers to get in and out more easily than do most sport utility vehicles.
Minivans have a smoother ride than most sport utility vehicles.

CLAUSE + COMMA + compared
CLAUSE + COMMA + as compared
CLAUSE + COMMA + in comparison
In these constructions, an action in the clause that PRECEDES COMMA + compared is being compared.
Official examples:
Today, more than 43 percent of Californians under the age of eighteen are Hispanic, compared with about 35 percent a decade ago.
CEO's now earn 419 times the pay of blue-collar workers, as compared to 42 times their pay, the ratio in 1980.
In each case, the blue action that precedes COMMA + compared is being compared to information that follows.

B. Minivans, which carry as many as seven passengers, compared with most sport utility vehicles
C. Minivans carry as many as seven passengers, in comparison with most sport utility vehicles
D. Minivans, carrying as many as seven passengers, compared with most sport utility vehicles
E. Minivans, which carry as many as seven passengers, compared with most sport utility vehicles
In these options, COMMA + compared and COMMA + in comparison seem to refer to the preceding action in red.
Not the intended meaning.
The intention of the original sentence is to make the four green comparisons above.
Since the original sentence conveys a logical meaning, eliminate any answer choice that does not convey this meaning.
Eliminate B, C, D and E.

The correct answer is A.

Dear Mitch,
How can all actions be parallel? Carry, cost, allow, and have. How many list do we have here?

Also, I can't understand why D is wrong?

Choice D: Minivans, Non essential modifier= carrying......, adjective modifier (compared) , .................

Minivans, compared of sport......, cost less, get better gas mileage, allow passengers to get in and out more easily, and have a smoother ride.

Can you help please?

Thanks

Dear Mitch,
How can all actions be parallel? Carry, cost, allow, and have. How many list do we have here?

The four verbs above are all in the simple present tense.
Each expresses a GENERAL TRUTH about minivans.
Since they all are in the same tense and serve the same function, the four verbs are parallel.

Also, I can't understand why D is wrong?

Choice D: Minivans, Non essential modifier= carrying......, adjective modifier (compared) , .................

Minivans, compared of sport......, cost less, get better gas mileage, allow passengers to get in and out more easily, and have a smoother ride.

Can you help please?

Thanks

COMMA + compared generally serves to compare two nouns with respect to a PRECEDING action.
In D, only one action precedes COMMA + compared: the act of CARRYING passengers.
For this reason, a reader of D is likely to construe that COMMA + compared is serving to compare minivans to sport utility vehicles with respect to the act of CARRYING passengers.
Not the intended meaning.

Another error:
Minivans, carrying as many as seven passengers, cost less.
Generally, a VERBing modifier expresses an action concurrent with the main action
Here, the usage of carrying implies that -- when minivans COST LESS -- they are at the same time CARRYING as many as seven passengers.
This sequence is nonsensical.
Minivans cost less because they are sold at a lower price; they are not CARRYING as many as seven passengers when they are sold.
Eliminate D.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

Dear Mitch,
How can all actions be parallel? Carry, cost, allow, and have. How many list do we have here?

The four verbs above are all in the simple present tense.
Each expresses a GENERAL TRUTH about minivans.
Since they all are in the same tense and serve the same function, the four verbs are parallel.

If this is the case, so why 'and' in OA exists? does not it destroy the parallelism?

Minivans carry as many as seven passengers , compared with most sport utility vehicles, cost less, get better....., alloow,,,,, and have......

Thanks

Mo2men wrote:

GMATGuruNY wrote:

Dear Mitch,
How can all actions be parallel? Carry, cost, allow, and have. How many list do we have here?

The four verbs above are all in the simple present tense.
Each expresses a GENERAL TRUTH about minivans.
Since they all are in the same tense and serve the same function, the four verbs are parallel.

If this is the case, so why 'and' in OA exists? does not it destroy the parallelism?

Minivans carry as many as seven passengers , compared with most sport utility vehicles, cost less, get better....., allow,,,,, and have......

Thanks

CLAUSE + COMMA + compared serves to compare two nouns with respect to an event in the clause PRECEDING the comma.
It cannot refer to actions that FOLLOW the compared-modifier.
Minivans carry as many as seven passengers, compared with most sport utility vehicles.
Here, COMMA + compared compares minivans to sport utility vehicles with respect to the action in red.
It does NOT compare minivans to sport utility vehicles with respect to any actions that follow.
Thus, the sentence above does not convey the intended meaning of the OA.
Even worse, the sentence above does not convey a clear meaning.
Do sport utility vehicles carry FEWER THAN seven passengers or MORE THAN seven passengers?
Since the intended meaning is unclear, the sentence is not viable.

OA: Minivans carry as many as seven passengers and, compared with most sport utility vehicles, cost less, get better gas mileage, allow passengers to get in and out more easily, and have a smoother ride.
Here, the purpose of and is to show that the modifier in blue is NOT connected to the red action in the preceding clause but refers only to the green actions that FOLLOW and.
Conveyed meaning:
Compared with most sport utility vehicles, [minivans] cost less, get better gas mileage, allow passengers to get in and out more easily, and have a smoother ride.