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parallelism

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by PGMAT » Sun Apr 08, 2012 12:44 pm
Unparallel usage: He received a medal for sinking an enemy ship and the capture of its crew
Correct: He received a medal for the sinking of an enemy ship and the capture of its crew

Reason:
the sinking of an enemy ship is a complex gerund phrase
the capture of its crew is a noun phrase
The original sentence was incorrect because it attempted to put a simple gerund phrase (sinking an enemy ship) in parallel with an action noun phrase

My question:
Would the following be correct?
He received a medal for sinking an enemy ship and capturing its crew [here both are simple gerund phrases]
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Source: — Sentence Correction |

by patanjali.purpose » Sun Apr 08, 2012 12:52 pm
He received a medal for sinking an enemy ship and capturing its crew [here both are simple gerund phrases]

IMO sentence is parallel and grammatically correct.
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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Sun Apr 08, 2012 1:47 pm
Looks good to me.

He received a medal for (sinking...) and (capturing...).
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by GMAT Kolaveri » Sun Apr 08, 2012 6:28 pm
PGMAT wrote:Unparallel usage: He received a medal for sinking an enemy ship and the capture of its crew
Correct: He received a medal for the sinking of an enemy ship and the capture of its crew
Unparallel usage: He received a medal for sinking an enemy ship (verb) and the capture (noun) of its crew. Elements are not parallel.
Correct: He received a medal for the sinking of an enemy ship NOUN and the capture NOUN of its crew
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