Help!! Manhattan SC "When to repeat and when not to

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dddanny2006: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 209; Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2012 12:59 pm

by dddanny2006 » Tue Mar 18, 2014 4:48 pm

Hi guys.
These feature in the Manhattan GMAT SC guide and didnt add up.

"Many teachers choose to seek employment in the suburbs rather than face low salaries in the city".

Why cant we have it this way :rather than to face low salaries in the city

"The joint business venture will increase employee satisfaction and improve relations between upper management and staff" - Please clarify if there is a need to insert"will", as in "employee satisfaction and will improve relations", or that the sentence can stand without the word "will", which then reads as "employee satisfaction and improve relations".

Can you please give me TakeAways when it comes to deciding on whether repititions are required or not,and when they are required to be repeated.I find it hard to decide on these things.

I want to retire to a place WHERE I can relax AND WHERE I pay low taxes

In the above sentence we do repeat it.Can you please explain how we can split and check if the second clauses can stand alone or be repeated.I'm sure there's a trick or two that you'll can share when it comes to these things.

Thanks.

Dan

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Tue Mar 18, 2014 4:48 pm

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ceilidh.erickson: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2095; Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 3:22 pmFollowed by: 247 members; Thanked: 1443 times

by ceilidh.erickson » Fri Mar 21, 2014 12:43 pm

I'm happy to help!

The rules of parallelism are a bit flexible when it comes to infinitives and compound verbs used with a single parallel marker (and, rather than, or, etc). These two sentences would be equally correct:

Many teachers choose to seek employment in the suburbs rather than face low salaries in the city.
Many teachers choose to seek employment in the suburbs rather than to face low salaries in the city.

In the former, it's implied that the "to" applies to both "seek" and "face." The GMAT will never make you choose between these two sentences - they're equally correct. The same is true of any compound verb:

The venture will increase... and improve = The venture will increase... and will improve.
I have eaten and slept = I have eaten and have slept.

Things get trickier with two-part parallel markers, though: both X and Y, either X or Y, from X to Y, etc. With these, the "X" and "Y" elements have to be identical. Consider:

The commission will vote either to approve or to reject the measure. -> correct
The commission will vote to either approve or reject the measure. -> correct (although the GMAT is unlikely to split the infinitive like that)
The commission will vote to either approve or to reject the measure. -> incorrect

For more on this topic, see here:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/survey-paral ... tml#557998
https://www.beatthegmat.com/help-on-a-sc ... tml#698422

Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education

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dddanny2006: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 209; Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2012 12:59 pm

by dddanny2006 » Fri Mar 21, 2014 1:45 pm

Thanks for your reply.I dont seem to get the third sentence that you posted below,why is it incorrect?And what makes the previous two correct?

If you find time,could you please clarify my doubt in MGMAT SC :Majority,Minority,Plurality too.
Here's the link

https://www.beatthegmat.com/mgmat-sc-dou ... tml#713700

Also,please tell me more parallel two-part markers that I could add to the list you previously gave me.

Thanks,
Dan

ceilidh.erickson wrote:
The commission will vote either to approve or to reject the measure. -> correct
The commission will vote to either approve or reject the measure. -> correct (although the GMAT is unlikely to split the infinitive like that)
The commission will vote to either approve or to reject the measure. -> incorrect

For more on this topic, see here:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/survey-paral ... tml#557998
https://www.beatthegmat.com/help-on-a-sc ... tml#698422

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GMAT/MBA Expert

ceilidh.erickson: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2095; Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 3:22 pmFollowed by: 247 members; Thanked: 1443 times

by ceilidh.erickson » Fri Mar 21, 2014 2:23 pm

When you have two-part parallel markers, such as either/or, the part that follows the first marker must directly match what follows the second marker (you can see these highlighted in red in my example).

So in my first example, it was to approve/to reject
In the second, it was approve/reject
In the third, it was approve/to reject, which is not a match

Here are all of the 2-part parallel markers I can think of:
not X but Y
either X or Y
neither X nor Y
not only X but also Y
both X and Y
from X to Y
rather X than Y

Here's more on 2-part parallel markers: https://www.beatthegmat.com/think-of-x-a ... tml#575578

Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education

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dddanny2006: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 209; Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2012 12:59 pm

by dddanny2006 » Sat Mar 22, 2014 7:41 am

Thanks a lot.Its clear now.

ceilidh.erickson wrote:When you have two-part parallel markers, such as either/or, the part that follows the first marker must directly match what follows the second marker (you can see these highlighted in red in my example).

So in my first example, it was to approve/to reject
In the second, it was approve/reject
In the third, it was approve/to reject, which is not a match

Here are all of the 2-part parallel markers I can think of:
not X but Y
either X or Y
neither X nor Y
not only X but also Y
both X and Y
from X to Y
rather X than Y

Here's more on 2-part parallel markers: https://www.beatthegmat.com/think-of-x-a ... tml#575578

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