GMAT OG 2019 Thomas Mann’s novel Doctor Faustus

Hello Everyone!

Here is another great example of a question that focuses on two major concepts found in several GMAT Sentence Correction questions: parallel structure and idiomatic structure. Let’s start with idiomatic structure, and narrow our answers down to only a few options.

The idiomatic structure used here should be “not only X, but also Y.” Right away, we can rule out answers B and C because they use “not only X, and also Y,” which is INCORRECT.

This leaves us with answers A, D, and E. To find the right answer, let’s now look at parallel structure. The correct answer will use parallel structure for both the X and Y parts of the idiom:

A. an examination not only of how difficult it is to reconcile reason, will, and passion together in any art form, but also a skillfully navigated exploration of the major concerns of modernism

This is NOT PARALLEL because the phrase “an examination” needs to come after “not only” for this to be parallel. Therefore, this is INCORRECT.

D. not only an examination about the difficulty with reconciling reason, will, and passion together in any art form, but also a skillfully navigated exploration of the major concerns of modernism

This one is tricky, but it is also NOT PARALLEL because the phrases “an examination about” and “a skillfully navigated exploration of” are not parallel – they both need to say “about” or “of” to work. Therefore, this is also INCORRECT.

E. not only an examination of the difficulty of reconciling reason, will, and passion in any art form, but also a skillfully navigated exploration of the major concerns of modernism

This answer is PARALLEL in structure on both sides! It is the CORRECT answer!


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