Parallel construction

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Parallel construction

by ranjithreddy.k9 » Sat May 14, 2011 3:50 am
8) In recent times, bus companies have traded their old buses for a smaller number of new
buses, in part because high fuel costs should be lowered and repair costs should be reduced and
partly because new bus companies have created intense competition.
A. in part because high fuel costs should be lowered and repair costs should be
reduced
B. in part that high fuel costs might be lowered and repair costs might be reduced
C. partly because high fuel costs should be lowered and repair costs should be
reduced
D. partly for the lowering of high fuel costs and the reduction of repair costs
E. partly to lower high fuel prices and reduce repair costs



Can sumone help me with this??..Ans is E but whats wrong with C ??

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by atulmangal » Sat May 14, 2011 6:25 am
What's the source of this question???

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by aspirant2011 » Sat May 14, 2011 9:00 am
ranjithreddy.k9 wrote:8) In recent times, bus companies have traded their old buses for a smaller number of new
buses, in part because high fuel costs should be lowered and repair costs should be reduced and
partly because new bus companies have created intense competition.
A. in part because high fuel costs should be lowered and repair costs should be
reduced
B. in part that high fuel costs might be lowered and repair costs might be reduced
C. partly because high fuel costs should be lowered and repair costs should be
reduced
D. partly for the lowering of high fuel costs and the reduction of repair costs
E. partly to lower high fuel prices and reduce repair costs



Can sumone help me with this??..Ans is E but whats wrong with C ??
usage of "should" in GMAT should be avoided as these are called extreme sentences

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by raunekk » Sat May 14, 2011 9:06 am
I wouldnt say "should" should be avoided on GMAT but yes I would prefer milder language to a stronger one...Moreover, here, an infinitive would definitely do a better job..

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by sameerballani » Sat May 14, 2011 11:09 am
ranjithreddy.k9 wrote:8) In recent times, bus companies have traded their old buses for a smaller number of new
buses, in part because high fuel costs should be lowered and repair costs should be reduced and
partly because new bus companies have created intense competition.
A. in part because high fuel costs should be lowered and repair costs should be
reduced
B. in part that high fuel costs might be lowered and repair costs might be reduced
C. partly because high fuel costs should be lowered and repair costs should be
reduced
D. partly for the lowering of high fuel costs and the reduction of repair costs
E. partly to lower high fuel prices and reduce repair costs

Can sumone help me with this??..Ans is E but whats wrong with C ??
I feel the answer is C, despite of the fact it seems wordy !!

The structure of the sentence is like: in part because P(=X and Y) and partly because Q
So i feel we need to use either partly or in part. As the non underlined part has partly, we need to go with partly. ELiminates option A and B.

In option D is tempting!! but i feel, for the lowering of high fuel costs is not parallel to the reduction of repair costs

We need to go with structure like: partly P(because X and Y) and partly Q(because....)
And we need to make sure X(high fuel costs should be lowered) an Y(repair costs should be reduced) are parallel
Also, we need to make sure P(because high fuel costs should be lowered and repair costs should be reduced) is parallel to Q(because new bus companies have created intense competition)

So will go with C(and even i believe there is no reason other than grammatical error to avoid should on GMAT)

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by VivianKerr » Sat May 14, 2011 11:23 am
This comes down to logic more than anything else. You're correct that this is a Parallelism question. "Partly...partly..." helps us eliminate A and B.

"Bus companies have traded, partly because...costs SHOULD be lowered..."

It doesn't make sense that bus companies have DONE something BECAUSE something "SHOULD" happen. They have DONE something BECAUSE something DID happen. Cause and effect. An action is taken BECAUSE of a fact, not because of what "should" occur. That is why C is eliminated.

Between D and E, we have the classic GMAT choice between participles and infinitives. The infinitive wins. E is correct.
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by smackmartine » Sat May 14, 2011 11:35 am
IMO E

Underlined portion has "and Party because" , so correct options should start with "party" to maintain parallelism. A & B are out.

C is tempting because "party because" makes it parallel to the underlined portion. But we should also see the logical construct of the sentence.
bus companies have traded their old buses for a smaller number of new uses , party (Reason 1) and party (Reason 2)

If we say Reason 1 --> because high fuel costs should be lowered ...bla bla (Does it makes sense that just because an idea is good , bus companies have traded their old buses?? No!! Sounds nonsensical. )

D --> "for the lowering of high fuel costs" is not parallel to "the reduction of repair costs"

E -> lower ....and reduce are parallel . Also " bus companies have traded their old buses...., party to....and party because.. is logical construct.
(Frankly speaking, after I have started preparing for GMAT,short sentences are attracting me because they may be concise. Luckily GMAT prefers that!! )

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by atulmangal » Sat May 14, 2011 4:02 pm
smackmartine wrote:IMO E

Underlined portion has "and Party because" , so correct options should start with "party" to maintain parallelism. A & B are out.

C is tempting because "party because" makes it parallel to the underlined portion. But we should also see the logical construct of the sentence.
bus companies have traded their old buses for a smaller number of new uses , party (Reason 1) and party (Reason 2)

If we say Reason 1 --> because high fuel costs should be lowered ...bla bla (Does it makes sense that just because an idea is good , bus companies have traded their old buses?? No!! Sounds nonsensical. )

D --> "for the lowering of high fuel costs" is not parallel to "the reduction of repair costs"

E -> lower ....and reduce are parallel . Also " bus companies have traded their old buses...., party to....and party because.. is logical construct.
(Frankly speaking, after I have started preparing for GMAT,short sentences are attracting me because they may be concise. Luckily GMAT prefers that!! )
Hi, i don't think, the reasoning you mentioned above for Op D is CORRECT.

"the lowering of" and "the reduction of" are both NOUNS.....so,

""for the lowering of high fuel costs" and " [for] the reduction of repair costs" are perfectly parallel.

Moreover, in Op E, its

To lower and [TO] reduce are parallel (infinitives)

Not , Lower and Reduce (Verbs)

The reason of picking Op E and Dropping Op D is something else...

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by smackmartine » Sat May 14, 2011 4:28 pm
To lower and [TO] reduce are parallel (infinitives)
@atulmangal ,My intention for E was same as what you said.Just missed to write "TO".

As you said D seems to be parallel. Thanks for correcting.

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by ranjithreddy.k9 » Sun May 15, 2011 1:38 am
atulmangal wrote:What's the source of this question???
2minuteGmat.com

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by ranjithreddy.k9 » Sun May 15, 2011 1:40 am
VivianKerr wrote:This comes down to logic more than anything else. You're correct that this is a Parallelism question. "Partly...partly..." helps us eliminate A and B.

"Bus companies have traded, partly because...costs SHOULD be lowered..."

It doesn't make sense that bus companies have DONE something BECAUSE something "SHOULD" happen. They have DONE something BECAUSE something DID happen. Cause and effect. An action is taken BECAUSE of a fact, not because of what "should" occur. That is why C is eliminated.

Between D and E, we have the classic GMAT choice between participles and infinitives. The infinitive wins. E is correct.
Thanks a lot..ur post really helped me