tzohrabyan wrote:I was reviewing the flashcards and came across this one that looked a bit suspicious. Here is the sentence:

Among the dog's offenses are a refusal to eat anything but expensive rib eye steak and a penchant for attacking postal workers, neighbors and relatives, including my nephew and grandmother.

In the flip side, it is written that nothing is wrong with this sentence. I, however, do not think so (perhaps i am wrong).
1. parallelism is violated here - shouldn't it be - offenses are a refusal to eat ..... and a penchant TO (not for) attack?
2. In the MGMAT SC book, it is written that AND should be proceeded with a comma if there are three or more items. So, here it is the case. Shouldn't it be - postal workers, neighbors, and relatives?

Thanks in advance!

tzohrabyan wrote:Thanks for your input. However, i wanted to point out that refusal is also noun - so both refusal and penchant are nouns.

As for the comma, well, the first "and" refers to offenses as you mentioned and is there to show that both refusal to ...... and a penchant for ..... are offenses. However, at the end of the penchant ..... it starts listing the victims of attach: postal workers, neighbors and relatives. So there is no "and" here to separate these three examples of victims. Hence, a comma after neighbor should be imputed in the sentence.

Can any MGAMT instructor provide any feedback? Thanks