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Different Voices in Parallel Structure

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Different Voices in Parallel Structure

by haveto » Sun Jun 13, 2010 8:03 am
It is well known in the supermarket industry that how items are placed on shelves and the frequency of inventory turnovers can be crucial to profits.
(A) the frequency of inventory turnovers can be
(B) the frequency of inventory turnovers is often
(C) the frequency with which the inventory turns over is often
(D) how frequently is the inventory turned over are often
(E) how frequently the inventory turns over can be

Source: GMAT OG 10th Ed
OA: [spoiler](E)[/spoiler]

This question has been posted before and am kind of convinced why E is preferred to D; however I want to know one conceptual piece. When we are making two items parallel to each other then can we have one item in active and another in passive? So far I thought that both items SHOULD be in same voice - but above mentioned OG example contradicts my understanding. Can someone please confirm?

Previous Post: https://www.beatthegmat.com/supermarket- ... 35527.html
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by student22 » Sun Jun 13, 2010 8:18 am
I want to say that D changes the meaning of the sentence, so I don't know how helpful this is to you. But basically what D is saying is that something/or someone is turning the inventory over. The phrase : is the inventory turned over, is what gives it away. Basically, the inventory can turn over. It CANNOT be turned over...that wouldn't make sense.
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by martin.jonson007 » Sun Jun 13, 2010 8:27 am
gud ques.. indeed!

me 2 got confused...Literally!
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by thephoenix » Sun Jun 13, 2010 8:53 am
hey haveto
i wud rather say that in GMAT the correct ans will always be grammatically correct. here D is wrong for subject verb agreement ARE a plural verb needs a plural sub.
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by haveto » Sun Jun 13, 2010 9:01 am
Hi thephoenix,

I agree with you that OG is unquestionable but am trying to find out the answer for my question as posted above.

You said " here D is wrong for subject verb agreement ARE a plural verb needs a plural sub." I know you are quite strong in SC but I think you are missing one point here - the question is:

"It is well known in the supermarket industry that X and Y (are/can be) crucial to profits."

So ARE is referring to "X and Y";
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by thephoenix » Sun Jun 13, 2010 9:05 am
coming to your question if the option is having a llel active voice and is not the correct answer then it will certainly have some error.However in a situation where we land up with two answers having no error in then definitely the other things such as voice, conciseness and clarity will be key parameters in deciding a correct answer
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by pradeepkaushal9518 » Sun Jun 13, 2010 9:08 am
only d and e looks is parallel and E is grammatically correct D changes the meaning
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by haveto » Sun Jun 13, 2010 9:33 am
Thanks thephoenix.

I think what you said makes sense. clarity and grammar are more important.....
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by FightWithGMAT » Sun Jun 13, 2010 10:07 am
haveto wrote:It is well known in the supermarket industry that how items are placed on shelves and the frequency of inventory turnovers can be crucial to profits.
(A) the frequency of inventory turnovers can be
(B) the frequency of inventory turnovers is often
(C) the frequency with which the inventory turns over is often
(D) how frequently is the inventory turned over are often
(E) how frequently the inventory turns over can be

Source: GMAT OG 10th Ed
OA: [spoiler](E)[/spoiler]

This question has been posted before and am kind of convinced why E is preferred to D; however I want to know one conceptual piece. When we are making two items parallel to each other then can we have one item in active and another in passive? So far I thought that both items SHOULD be in same voice - but above mentioned OG example contradicts my understanding. Can someone please confirm?

Previous Post: https://www.beatthegmat.com/supermarket- ... 35527.html

"can be" and "are" are different in meaning.
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by student22 » Sun Jun 13, 2010 10:36 am
But it doesn't matter in this case, since the sentence uses are often and not are by itself.

Are, is being hedged by the word often.
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by laxmanrr » Sun Jun 13, 2010 11:06 am
A typical GMAT problem to confuse the subject of the sentence.

In the two parallel structures, the subjects are items, inventory respectively.

<Noun> precedes <Verb> in both the answers only in E.

One of the basic rule and one of the difficult rule to spot, the Subject identification in a sentence,
involves more than instinctive correction.

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