Sentence Correction

Performing tricks on a skateboard gives young men the opportunity of displaying mastery, showing off physical prowess, and flaunting bravado, but skateboarding tricks also involve the potential for physical harm and embarrassment.

(A) of displaying mastery, showing off physical prowess, and flaunting bravado, but skateboarding tricks also involve
(B) of displaying mastery, physical prowess, and bravado, but involved skateboarding tricks also have
(C) to display mastery, physical prowess, and bravely flaunting, but involving skateboarding tricks have
(D) to display mastery, showing off physical prowess, and flaunting bravado, but skateboarding also involves tricking
(E) to display mastery, physical prowess, and bravado, but skateboarding tricks also involve

(A) of displaying mastery, showing off physical prowess, and flaunting bravado, but skateboarding tricks also involve
right idiom is opportunity to
(B) of displaying mastery, physical prowess, and bravado, but involved skateboarding tricks also have
right idiom is opportunity to
(C) to display mastery, physical prowess, and bravely flaunting, but involving skateboarding tricks have
"bravely fluanting is not parallel",
(D) to display mastery, showing off physical prowess, and flaunting bravado, but skateboarding also involves tricking
"showing off physical prowess is wordy",
(E) to display mastery, physical prowess, and bravado, but skateboarding tricks also involve
correct

The sentence checks for idioms and Parallelism .


The correct Idiom is Opportunity TO and not Opportunity OF. So we can straight away eliminate A and B .

(C) to display mastery, physical prowess, and bravely flaunting, but involving skateboarding tricks have
[BRAVELY = ADVERB should modify a VERB instead modifying a noun flaunting, eliminate]
(D) to display mastery, showing off physical prowess, and flaunting bravado, but skateboarding also involves tricking
[Skateboarding dose not involve TRICKING potential for physical harm and embarrassment. IT changes the meaning comletely , eliminate]
(E) to display mastery, physical prowess, and bravado, but skateboarding tricks also involve
[opportunity To Display x , y AND z (parallelism maintained)] Correct

yupp this question tests idiom and parallelism. rockey and neoreaves have done a great job explaining why one should eliminate the answer options.
I will just add one more way to eliminate A and opt for E. this is for those, like me, who are not that good at memorizing minor idioms.
If you observe in A-> display, showing off and flaunting all mean one and the same. they are just synonyms. so it can be considered redundant in the style point of view. E on the other hand removes this redundancy.
Thus E is concise and better worded than A. So you can eliminate A and go for E.

Hope this helps!

I still dint get whats wrong in D.
How does it change the meaning of the sentence?

more than changing the meaning of the sentence, the sentence is not parallel.
to display -> infinitive
showing off-> participle
flaunting -> participle.

so tell me can we consider these elements parallel?
That is the reason why we eliminate D.

Hope i cleared your doubt!

Yes u did. But i was confused with the below mentioned explanation provided.Its saying D is parallel and that it changes the meaning of the sentence,which even rockeyb has said.


[spoiler]Answer: E
First, consider the difference between "of displaying" and "to display." The correct usage is "the opportunity to..." so (A) and (B) are incorrect.

Next look at the list of three items (mastery, physical prowess, and bravado). In (C), the list is not parallel, as "bravely flaunting" is not of the same grammatical form as "mastery" or "physical prowess." (D) is parallel, but includes superfluous language--it has the same content as the list in (E), but with three additional words.

If this isn't enough to select (E), consider the last few words of the underlined portion, in which (D) changes the meaning with the phrase "also involves tricking." "Tricking the potential" is nonsensical, and certainly not what the sentence is trying to get across. Choice (E) is correct.[/spoiler]

fibbonnaci wrote:more than changing the meaning of the sentence, the sentence is not parallel.
to display -> infinitive
showing off-> participle
flaunting -> participle.

so tell me can we consider these elements parallel?
That is the reason why we eliminate D.

Hope i cleared your doubt!

bhumika.k.shah wrote:I still dint get whats wrong in D.
How does it change the meaning of the sentence?

IMO in d meaning is changed as the original is talking about risk involve in skateboard tricks....
but D is saying that the skateboards involves the tricking of the potential to harm

ok well i missed that part of rocky's explanation. anyways now that u have realized why D is wrong, i am sure u will add it to ur flashcards list.

thanks guys. I arrived at E as well. But I have a little doubt in general. My intuition said 'opportunity to' is the right idiom though I haven't read a list of idioms or anything. Have you guys been learning some lists of idioms or is it just by intuition you guys arrive at the right usage?