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Recent efforts of Panama's agricultural sector have improved

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Recent efforts of Panama's agricultural sector have improved

by BTGmoderatorRO » Sun Apr 01, 2018 10:04 am
Recent efforts of Panama's agricultural sector have improved techniques, equipment, quality of seeds ... ultivating its most promising crops such as bananas and coffee.

(A) techniques, equipment, quality of seeds up to global standards, and have reduced wastage in cultivating
(B) up to global standards techniques, equipment, quality of seeds, and reduced wastage in cultivating
(C) up to global standards the techniques, equipment, quality of seeds, while reducing wastage in the cultivation of
(D) techniques, equipment, and quality of seeds up to global standards while reducing wastage in the cultivation of
(E) techniques, equipment, quality of seeds up to global standards, and reduced wastage in the cultivation of
OA is d

what is wrong with option B in the question?
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by Terry@ThePrincetonReview » Mon Apr 02, 2018 9:51 pm
Clauses & Connectors Error. The most obvious error in choice B is that the three direct objects of the main verb have improved lack a conjunction between the last two nouns (equipment and quality of seeds). The conjunction and is there after the comma, but it joins not the direct objects but the verbs have improved and [have] reduced.

Misplaced Modifier Error. The phrase in cultivating ... crops less clearly modifies wastage than does the phrase [wastage] in the cultivation of ... crops in choice D. The phrase in cultivating ... crops is in fact ambiguous. It would more commonly be understood to imply that the efforts reduced wastage through the action of cultivating ... crops, which is clearly not the intended meaning.

Of the two errors, the Clauses & Connectors Error is the fatal one. The Misplaced Modifier Error is a nuance that would probably not be the sole reason for eliminating an answer choice, but it's certainly enough to arouse suspicion.

Terry Serres
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TTT

by Akrita@Jamboree » Tue Apr 03, 2018 11:54 pm
This is a good question to test your understanding of grammatical and logical parallelism. As I have already discussed in one of my posts on parallelism, there needs to be a conjunction before the last element of the list of items being logically put in parallel, and we need to do the same for every list. This is to ensure that the lists can be clearly delineated into different lists. On the trickier GMAT questions (700+), the GMAT will often test your understanding of multiple layers of parallelism. Let us understand this through an example -

INCORRECT John eats chocolate, pizzas, bread, and likes to swim
CORRECT John eats chocolate, pizzas, and bread, and likes to swim

In the above example, we have two logical lists - namely the things that John eats, and the actions John performs. Therefore, the conjunction (and) needs to be there before the last element of both the lists.

Coming back to the question above, there are two sets of things that we are looking to put in parallel, and these need to be clearly identified:
  • 1. the stuff that has been improved by the efforts - techniques, equipment, and quality of seeds
    2. efforts have improved and (have) reduced
Only option E uses the necessary conjunctions to properly identify the two lists. Every other option is missing the crucial conjunction and before the last element 'quality of seeds' of the first list.

Please let me know if anything doesn't make sense.
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