Parallel Issue

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Parallel Issue

by limestone » Thu Dec 08, 2011 6:53 pm
This is a question from Manhattan GMAT Sentence Correction. Parallel Section.

Many teachers choose to seek employment in the suburbs rather than facing low salaries in the city.

The official answer is to change "facing low salaries in the city" to "face low salaries in the city".

My question is that why not change the underlined phrase to "to face low salaries in the city".
Is the pattern "choose X rather than Y" correct? If so, "to seek employment" must be parallel to "to face low salaries".

Another sentence may be similar is:


They never want to go to that party, but stay at home.

Or

They never want to go to that party, but to stay at home.


Which sentence is correct? And why?

Would appreciate if any expert can explain.
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by essaysnark » Fri Dec 09, 2011 7:38 am
Hey limestone --

In the ManGMAT example, the verb is the only aspect that needs to be parallel, so "seek" and "face" are correct. The word "to" is technically called an infinitive marker in this case and does not need to be repeated or reused (� do you see how we just used another example of the same grammar rule in this sentence?).

The second example you cited is a little clunky and doesn't quite match the structure of the ManGMAT example. Let's try it this way instead:

They want to stay at home rather than go to that party.


In this case, "stay" and "go" are correctly parallel, and the word "to" (from "want to") is not repeated.

If we try to rephrase the sentence closer to how you presented it, we'd go with:

They do not want to go to that party, but will stay at home instead.

(Sorry, can't come up with a phrasing that uses "to" as an infinitive marker the way you have...)

HTH!
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by lunarpower » Tue Dec 13, 2011 7:27 pm
limestone wrote:This is a question from Manhattan GMAT Sentence Correction. Parallel Section.

Many teachers choose to seek employment in the suburbs rather than facing low salaries in the city.

The official answer is to change "facing low salaries in the city" to "face low salaries in the city".

My question is that why not change the underlined phrase to "to face low salaries in the city".
Is the pattern "choose X rather than Y" correct? If so, "to seek employment" must be parallel to "to face low salaries".
either version would be fine.
the one listed in the guide is the more compact of the two, but you wouldn't be forced to choose between them (as both are correct). for an official problem with a similar structure -- in fact, the problem upon which that particular exercise is based -- see #39 in the official guide verbal supplement.

They never want to go to that party, but stay at home.

Or

They never want to go to that party, but to stay at home.
out of these two, i think the second is better, because it more clearly delineates the actual contrast (between "to go" and "to stay"). the problem with the first sentence is that it's not crystal clear which verbs are actually being placed in contrast -- one could interpret the sentence as a contrast between "go" and "stay", but one could also interpret it as a contrast between "want (to go)" and "stay".
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by jaichil » Wed Dec 14, 2011 7:33 am
Many teachers choose to seek employment in the suburbs rather than face low salaries in the city.

In this sentence, Could one interpret it as a contrast between "choose" and "face"?
Teachers "choose" something rather than "face" something.

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by essaysnark » Wed Dec 14, 2011 7:48 am
jaichil wrote:Many teachers choose to seek employment in the suburbs rather than face low salaries in the city.

In this sentence, Could one interpret it as a contrast between "choose" and "face"?
Teachers "choose" something rather than "face" something.
Nope. The contrast is between seeking and facing (working in the 'burbs - oh the agony! - vs poor pay in the big city).

Funny - this is actually a ridiculous sentence, since salaries are higher in the cities... but you get the point. :D

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