Parallelism

This topic has expert replies
User avatar
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 67
Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2014 11:04 am
Thanked: 3 times
Followed by:2 members

Parallelism

by sapuna » Wed Jul 30, 2014 12:15 am
10. Troubled by nightmares, Raul is pursuing hypnosis and is hoping it will affect his dreams positively.

A. Raul is pursuing hypnosis and is hoping it will affect his dreams positively.
B. Raul was pursuing hypnosis and is hoping it will affect his dreams positively.
C. Raul is pursuing hypnosis and hopes hypnosis will affect his dreams positively.
D. Raul was pursuing hypnosis and hopes it will affect his dreams positively.
E. Raul is pursuing hypnosis and hopes it will affect his dreams positively.

I`ve marked A , but E is marked as the correct answer. Shouldn`t the correct form match the verb tenses - is pursuing and is hoping ? Isn`t the structure is pursuing and hopes wrong ?

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1556
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2012 11:18 pm
Thanked: 448 times
Followed by:34 members
GMAT Score:650

by theCodeToGMAT » Wed Jul 30, 2014 2:11 am
{A} - KEEP; looks good
{B} - INCORRECT; "was" is making sentence illogical
{C} - INCORRECT; "it" has not ambiguity so no need to again state hynosis
{D} - INCORRECT; "was" is making sentence illogical
{E} - KEEP; looks good

Out of {A} & {E} .... {E} is more concise.. Eliminate {A}

{E}

Aside, we always check that verb || verb, adjective || adjective, etc.. here, both {A} & {E} are parallel so we should ignore the blind parallelism check.
R A H U L

User avatar
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 67
Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2014 11:04 am
Thanked: 3 times
Followed by:2 members

by sapuna » Wed Jul 30, 2014 8:47 am
Lol , come on ? So how do we decide whether to mark the concise option as correct or the one with the proper parallelism ?

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1556
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2012 11:18 pm
Thanked: 448 times
Followed by:34 members
GMAT Score:650

by theCodeToGMAT » Wed Jul 30, 2014 9:14 am
sapuna wrote:Lol , come on ? So how do we decide whether to mark the concise option as correct or the one with the proper parallelism ?
We select the concise sentence once we are sure that the left over options are grammatically correct.
Raul is pursuing hypnosis --> "is pursuing" is also verb construct..
and
Raul hopes it will affect his dreams positively --> "hopes" is verb
So, both are grammatical parallel.
R A H U L

User avatar
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 67
Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2014 11:04 am
Thanked: 3 times
Followed by:2 members

by sapuna » Wed Jul 30, 2014 10:06 am
theCodeToGMAT wrote:
sapuna wrote:Lol , come on ? So how do we decide whether to mark the concise option as correct or the one with the proper parallelism ?
We select the concise sentence once we are sure that the left over options are grammatically correct.
Raul is pursuing hypnosis --> "is pursuing" is also verb construct..
and
Raul hopes it will affect his dreams positively --> "hopes" is verb
So, both are grammatical parallel.
Hmm ? From the Gmat grammar I read it says for the parallel to be correct the part before "and" and the one after it should be the same, exact same tense.

Meaning you a sentance like " Mike likes to play the guitar and swimming." should be wrong.

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1556
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2012 11:18 pm
Thanked: 448 times
Followed by:34 members
GMAT Score:650

by theCodeToGMAT » Wed Jul 30, 2014 8:38 pm
sapuna wrote:
theCodeToGMAT wrote:
sapuna wrote:Lol , come on ? So how do we decide whether to mark the concise option as correct or the one with the proper parallelism ?
We select the concise sentence once we are sure that the left over options are grammatically correct.
Raul is pursuing hypnosis --> "is pursuing" is also verb construct..
and
Raul hopes it will affect his dreams positively --> "hopes" is verb
So, both are grammatical parallel.
Hmm ? From the Gmat grammar I read it says for the parallel to be correct the part before "and" and the one after it should be the same, exact same tense.

Meaning you a sentance like " Mike likes to play the guitar and swimming." should be wrong.
Yes, this sentence is wrong.. Mike likes to do what?
1. To play guitar
2. To swim
We need to make sure that objects in discussion are in parallel form..
R A H U L

User avatar
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 67
Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2014 11:04 am
Thanked: 3 times
Followed by:2 members

by sapuna » Thu Jul 31, 2014 12:42 am
Hmm, I still don`t get it completely lol. Why is to play and swimming wrong when is pursuing and hopes is correct

Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Aug 01, 2014 6:42 pm

by peterparker » Sat Aug 02, 2014 11:22 pm
Troubled by nightmares, raul is doing x.

The pronoun should take the position of x

hence, hypnosis is singular, so it will be the pronoun

Option E best fits this category, and is grammatically correct because he is doing it

The other options have 'was', which is not correct.

Try to replace wordy sentences with x, y etc, and it becomes a logic. :)