<Kaplan> SC {High Level}

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voodoo_child: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 405; Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2011 1:44 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 3 times

by voodoo_child » Sun May 22, 2011 8:10 am

Methotrexate, which was originally developed for a single purpose, has proven its effectiveness in several applications, including treating cancer, relieving arthritis, and it is able to dull pain.
including treating cancer, relieving arthritis, and it is able to dull
including treating cancer, relieving arthritis, and dulling
including the treatment of cancer, relieving arthritis, and dulling
which includes treating cancer, relieving arthritis, and it is able to dull
which includes treating cancer, relieving arthritis, and dulling

This is a straightforward 2:3 split between b and c. I am confused as to why is b) a correct answer ? MGMAT SC recommends that noun form be preferred over gerund form. Essentially, 'treatment' is better than 'treating.'

Can any one please help me?

Thanks
Voodoo

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Sun May 22, 2011 8:10 am

niksworth: Legendary Member; Posts: 520; Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 10:44 amFollowed by: 6 members; Thanked: 70 times

by niksworth » Sun May 22, 2011 8:32 am

C violates parallelism.

C - including the treatment of cancer, relieving arthritis, and dulling pain

This is of the form - including noun, gerund, and gerund.

Ideally it should be either - including noun, noun, noun or including gerund, gerund, and gerund.

Option B - including treating cancer, relieving arthritis, and dulling pain is of the form including gerund, gerund, and gerund, which is acceptable.

scio me nihil scire

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Frankenstein: Legendary Member; Posts: 1448; Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 9:55 amFollowed by: 53 members; Location: India; Thanked: 375 times

by Frankenstein » Sun May 22, 2011 8:33 am

Hi,
Parallelism... cool...Niksworth has already mentioned.

Cheers!

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aspirant2011: Legendary Member; Posts: 1574; Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:52 amFollowed by: 13 members; Thanked: 88 times

by aspirant2011 » Sun May 22, 2011 9:23 am

niksworth wrote:C violates parallelism.

C - including the treatment of cancer, relieving arthritis, and dulling pain

This is of the form - including noun, gerund, and gerund.

Ideally it should be either - including noun, noun, noun or including gerund, gerund, and gerund.

Option B - including treating cancer, relieving arthritis, and dulling pain is of the form including gerund, gerund, and gerund, which is acceptable.

Hi Niksworth,

Though I agree with you on parallelism case but don't you feel that "including treating cancer" is awkward???????

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Frankenstein: Legendary Member; Posts: 1448; Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 9:55 amFollowed by: 53 members; Location: India; Thanked: 375 times

by Frankenstein » Sun May 22, 2011 9:48 am

aspirant2011 wrote:
niksworth wrote:C violates parallelism.

C - including the treatment of cancer, relieving arthritis, and dulling pain

This is of the form - including noun, gerund, and gerund.

Ideally it should be either - including noun, noun, noun or including gerund, gerund, and gerund.

Option B - including treating cancer, relieving arthritis, and dulling pain is of the form including gerund, gerund, and gerund, which is acceptable.
Hi Niksworth,

Though I agree with you on parallelism case but don't you feel that "including treating cancer" is awkward???????

Hi,
Parallelism is violated in A,C,D. So, we are left with B and E.
E is wrong because it incorrectly uses 'includes' instead of 'include', as applications is plural. So, B is the best choice for me.

Cheers!

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niksworth: Legendary Member; Posts: 520; Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 10:44 amFollowed by: 6 members; Thanked: 70 times

by niksworth » Sun May 22, 2011 10:07 am

aspirant2011 wrote: Hi Niksworth,

Though I agree with you on parallelism case but don't you feel that "including treating cancer" is awkward???????

A few things here.

1. When there is a choice between a clear grammatical error and awkwardness, we should rather go with the awkward choice.

2. B is the best choice of the given five.

3. Is there a better sentence than B (other than the given choices) that you can write and that maintains parallelism? I think not.

scio me nihil scire

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atulmangal: Legendary Member; Posts: 1112; Joined: Sat Feb 26, 2011 11:16 amFollowed by: 49 members; Thanked: 77 times

by atulmangal » Sun May 22, 2011 10:28 am

@aspirant2011

Hi, got your pm thats why stating almost the same thing which @niksworth has already stated.

First on parallelism: concepts from one of my old posts:

Distributing ---> Gerund a noun

See the parallelism rule:

Distribution || The Distribution of

but both of these CAN NOT be parallel to DISTRIBUTING

In sum,

A STANDARD NOUN (Distribution) can be || THE STANDARD NOUN OF (The Distribution of)

But both of them can not be parallel to a GERUND (DISTRIBUTING)

this is a general rule, apply in all cases

Secondly, MGMAT guide says that A STANDARD NOUN IS PREFERRED OVER A GERUND BUT ONLY IN THE CASE WHEN BOTH THE SENTENCE ARE CORRECT.

Parallelism is a grammatical error and preferred over Awkwardness. Thats why parallelism is a part of eight major error types but awkwardness is not.

Thanks

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aspirant2011: Legendary Member; Posts: 1574; Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:52 amFollowed by: 13 members; Thanked: 88 times

by aspirant2011 » Sun May 22, 2011 10:35 am

Thanks a lot niksworth and Atul

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Jim@Grockit: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 641; Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2009 3:07 pmFollowed by: 45 members; Location: Madison, WI; Thanked: 162 times; GMAT Score:760

by Jim@Grockit » Sun May 22, 2011 6:02 pm

aspirant2011 wrote:
niksworth wrote:C violates parallelism.

C - including the treatment of cancer, relieving arthritis, and dulling pain

This is of the form - including noun, gerund, and gerund.

Ideally it should be either - including noun, noun, noun or including gerund, gerund, and gerund.

Option B - including treating cancer, relieving arthritis, and dulling pain is of the form including gerund, gerund, and gerund, which is acceptable.

Hi Niksworth,

Though I agree with you on parallelism case but don't you feel that "including treating cancer" is awkward???????

This is actually a good question -- in general, repetition of similar forms with different grammatical uses can lead to ambiguity and confusion. However, the word "including" in the active form is transitive, and therefore expects a direct object. The lack of a comma after including tells us that including and treating are not both part of a list of things.

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