RBBmba@2014 wrote:

GMATGuruNY wrote: In C, provided and milking are not parallel. A conjunction such as and must connect PARALLEL FORMS. Eliminate C.

Hi GMATGuru - Is it ALWAYS TRUE in GMAT ?

For the following official SC, I think it's not applicable -
Scientists have recently discovered what could be the largest and oldest living organism on Earth, a giant fungus that is an interwoven filigree of mushrooms and rootlike tentacles spawned by a single fertilized spore some 10,000 years ago and extending for more than 30 acres in the soil of a Michigan forest.

In the above SC, conjunction and doesn't connect PARALLEL FORMS but rather connects two non-PARALLEL modifiers spawned & extending and this structure is correct. Right ?

Please clarify.

A conjunction such as and must serve to connect PARALLEL FORMS: forms that provide the SAME FUNCTION.
C: For the farmer who takes care to keep them cool, provided with high-energy feed, and milking them regularly...
Here, the parallel forms in red imply the following meaning:
For the farmer who takes care to keep the cows cool, to keep the cows provided with high-energy feed, and to keep the cows milking the cows regularly...
The phrase in blue is nonsensical.
Eliminate C.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

For the farmer who takes care to keep them cool, providing them with high-energy
feed, and milking them regularly, Holstein cows are producing an average of 2,275
gallons of milk each per year.
A. providing them with high-energy feed, and milking them regularly, Holstein cows are
producing
B. providing them with high-energy feed, and milked regularly, the Holstein cow
produces
C. provided with high-energy feed, and milking them regularly, Holstein cows are
producing
D. provided with high-energy feed, and milked regularly, the Holstein cow produces
E. provided with high-energy feed, and milked regularly, Holstein cows will produce

in B and D, them (plural) does not agree with the Holstein cow (singular). Eliminate B and D.

A conjunction such as and must serve to connect PARALLEL FORMS: forms that provide the SAME FUNCTION.
C: For the farmer who takes care to keep them cool, provided with high-energy feed, and milking them regularly...
Here, the parallel forms in red imply the following meaning:
For the farmer who takes care to keep the cows cool, to keep the cows provided with high-energy feed, and to keep the cows milking the cows regularly...
The phrase in blue is nonsensical.
Eliminate C.

As for A:
COMMA + VERBing serves to indicate an action happening AT THE SAME TIME as the verb in the preceding clause.
The implication is that the VERBing action and the preceding verb both occur as part of a SINGLE EVENT.
Typically, the VERBing action is a RESULT of the preceding action.
In A, providing them with feed and milking them regularly do NOT result from the preceding action (to keep them cool).
Thus, A does not convey the intended meaning.

The correct answer is E.

In E, the farmer takes care to keep the cows COOL, PROVIDED and MILKED.
Here, provided and milked serve as RESULTATIVE ADJECTIVES that are parallel with cool, the first resultative adjective in the list.

A resultative adjective follows the noun that it modifies and serves to indicate the RESULT of a preceding action.
John painted the room BLACK.
Here, the room is BLACK as a RESULT of the preceding action (John PAINTED).

In E, the three resultative adjectives describe the cows.
For the farmer who TAKES CARE, what are the results?
The cows are kept COOL, PROVIDED WITH FEED, and MILKED REGULARLY.