patanjali.purpose wrote:Originally developed by ancient Hawaiians, surfing appeals to people due to the sport's unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable, and the camaraderie that often develops among people in their common quest to conquer nature.

A)surfing appeals to people due to the sport's unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable, and the camaraderie that often develops
B)surfing's appeal is its unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable, and the camaraderie that often develops
C)surfing's appeal to people is due to the sport's unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable, and developing camaraderie
D)surfing appeals to people due to the sport's unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, a backdrop that is unpredictable and that is, by turns, gracefully and serenely violent and formidable, and the camaraderie that often develops
E)surfing appeals to people due to their unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable, and the camaraderie that often develops

[spoiler]MGMAT; OA-A; [/spoiler]

Pls explain which elements are parallel and how do you know they are parallel

GMATGuruNY wrote:

patanjali.purpose wrote:Originally developed by ancient Hawaiians, surfing appeals to people due to the sport's unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable, and the camaraderie that often develops among people in their common quest to conquer nature.

A)surfing appeals to people due to the sport's unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable, and the camaraderie that often develops
B)surfing's appeal is its unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable, and the camaraderie that often develops
C)surfing's appeal to people is due to the sport's unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable, and developing camaraderie
D)surfing appeals to people due to the sport's unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, a backdrop that is unpredictable and that is, by turns, gracefully and serenely violent and formidable, and the camaraderie that often develops
E)surfing appeals to people due to their unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable, and the camaraderie that often develops

[spoiler]MGMAT; OA-A; [/spoiler]

Pls explain which elements are parallel and how do you know they are parallel

In B and C, developed incorrectly modifies appeal. It was not surfing's APPEAL but SURFING ITSELF that was originally DEVELOPED by ancient Hawaiians. Eliminate B and C.

In E, their seems to refer to people, implying that PEOPLE'S confluence of adrenaline, skill and high-paced maneuvering is why surfing has such appeal. The intended meaning is to attribute this confluence to the SPORT itself, not to the people. Eliminate E.

In D, serenely violent is an oxymoron: a contradiction in terms. Serene means peaceful and calm; violent means just the opposite. It makes no sense to say that surfing is peacefully violent. Eliminate D.

The best answer is A.

While A is the best answer here, I have two reservations:

Due to is an ADJECTIVE that means resulting from. Thus, A implies that PEOPLE are resulting from the sport's unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill and high-paced maneuvering -- clearly not the intended meaning.
I would avoid an answer choice that includes a possessive construction such as the SPORT'S confluence. The GMAT seems to prefer adding 's only to nouns that represent living things (people, animals, a company, etc.).

patanjali.purpose wrote:

GMATGuruNY wrote:

patanjali.purpose wrote:Originally developed by ancient Hawaiians, surfing appeals to people due to the sport's unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable, and the camaraderie that often develops among people in their common quest to conquer nature.

A)surfing appeals to people due to the sport's unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable, and the camaraderie that often develops
B)surfing's appeal is its unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable, and the camaraderie that often develops
C)surfing's appeal to people is due to the sport's unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable, and developing camaraderie
D)surfing appeals to people due to the sport's unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, a backdrop that is unpredictable and that is, by turns, gracefully and serenely violent and formidable, and the camaraderie that often develops
E)surfing appeals to people due to their unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable, and the camaraderie that often develops

[spoiler]MGMAT; OA-A; [/spoiler]

Pls explain which elements are parallel and how do you know they are parallel

In B and C, developed incorrectly modifies appeal. It was not surfing's APPEAL but SURFING ITSELF that was originally DEVELOPED by ancient Hawaiians. Eliminate B and C.

In E, their seems to refer to people, implying that PEOPLE'S confluence of adrenaline, skill and high-paced maneuvering is why surfing has such appeal. The intended meaning is to attribute this confluence to the SPORT itself, not to the people. Eliminate E.

In D, serenely violent is an oxymoron: a contradiction in terms. Serene means peaceful and calm; violent means just the opposite. It makes no sense to say that surfing is peacefully violent. Eliminate D.

The best answer is A.

While A is the best answer here, I have two reservations:

Due to is an ADJECTIVE that means resulting from. Thus, A implies that PEOPLE are resulting from the sport's unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill and high-paced maneuvering -- clearly not the intended meaning.
I would avoid an answer choice that includes a possessive construction such as the SPORT'S confluence. The GMAT seems to prefer adding 's only to nouns that represent living things (people, animals, a company, etc.).

Thanks Mitch. I have the same opinion about DUE TO (I thought DUE TO does not modify PEOPLE and therefore we could drop A/D/E, But that means dropping all the five options as B/C has other errors).

My another concern is whether the original sentence contains three parallel elements: "the unusual confluence," "an unpredictable backdrop," and "the camaraderie"? The way sentence is written it is very difficult to understand that these THREE elements are parallel elements - I COULD NOT GET A CLUE FROM PUNCTUATIONS as well.

For example, "an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable," - here 'graceful and serene, violent and formidable' MODIFIES "AN UNPREDICTABLE BACKDROP", but I could not find a AND (OR THE 3RD LIST element to complete the series of modifiers to modify "AN UNPREDICTABLE BACKDROP") and therefore thought "and the camaraderie" is an element of LIST attached with "AN UNPREDICTABLE BACKDROP" - if this were true then element "AN UNPREDICTABLE BACKDROP...NATURE" becomes a modifier of THE PREVIOUS CLAUSE (ie Surfing...maneuvering). Could you pls suggest how is this analysis incorrect?

GMATGuruNY wrote:

patanjali.purpose wrote:

GMATGuruNY wrote:

patanjali.purpose wrote:Originally developed by ancient Hawaiians, surfing appeals to people due to the sport's unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable, and the camaraderie that often develops among people in their common quest to conquer nature.

A)surfing appeals to people due to the sport's unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable, and the camaraderie that often develops
B)surfing's appeal is its unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable, and the camaraderie that often develops
C)surfing's appeal to people is due to the sport's unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable, and developing camaraderie
D)surfing appeals to people due to the sport's unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, a backdrop that is unpredictable and that is, by turns, gracefully and serenely violent and formidable, and the camaraderie that often develops
E)surfing appeals to people due to their unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering, an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable, and the camaraderie that often develops

[spoiler]MGMAT; OA-A; [/spoiler]

Pls explain which elements are parallel and how do you know they are parallel

In B and C, developed incorrectly modifies appeal. It was not surfing's APPEAL but SURFING ITSELF that was originally DEVELOPED by ancient Hawaiians. Eliminate B and C.

In E, their seems to refer to people, implying that PEOPLE'S confluence of adrenaline, skill and high-paced maneuvering is why surfing has such appeal. The intended meaning is to attribute this confluence to the SPORT itself, not to the people. Eliminate E.

In D, serenely violent is an oxymoron: a contradiction in terms. Serene means peaceful and calm; violent means just the opposite. It makes no sense to say that surfing is peacefully violent. Eliminate D.

The best answer is A.

While A is the best answer here, I have two reservations:

Due to is an ADJECTIVE that means resulting from. Thus, A implies that PEOPLE are resulting from the sport's unusual confluence of adrenaline, skill and high-paced maneuvering -- clearly not the intended meaning.
I would avoid an answer choice that includes a possessive construction such as the SPORT'S confluence. The GMAT seems to prefer adding 's only to nouns that represent living things (people, animals, a company, etc.).

Thanks Mitch. I have the same opinion about DUE TO (I thought DUE TO does not modify PEOPLE and therefore we could drop A/D/E, But that means dropping all the five options as B/C has other errors).

My another concern is whether the original sentence contains three parallel elements: "the unusual confluence," "an unpredictable backdrop," and "the camaraderie"? The way sentence is written it is very difficult to understand that these THREE elements are parallel elements - I COULD NOT GET A CLUE FROM PUNCTUATIONS as well.

For example, "an unpredictable backdrop that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable," - here 'graceful and serene, violent and formidable' MODIFIES "AN UNPREDICTABLE BACKDROP", but I could not find a AND (OR THE 3RD LIST element to complete the series of modifiers to modify "AN UNPREDICTABLE BACKDROP") and therefore thought "and the camaraderie" is an element of LIST attached with "AN UNPREDICTABLE BACKDROP" - if this were true then element "AN UNPREDICTABLE BACKDROP...NATURE" becomes a modifier of THE PREVIOUS CLAUSE (ie Surfing...maneuvering). Could you pls suggest how is this analysis incorrect?

Elements in a list must be PARALLEL.
Camaraderie (a NOUN) cannot be part of the list of ADJECTIVES (graceful and serene, violent and formidable) modifying the backdrop.
Thus, camaraderie must be part of the list of NOUNS that contribute to surfing's appeal: the CONFLUENCE, the BACKDROP, and the CAMARADERIE.