SC Question , 129 OG 11

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SC Question , 129 OG 11

by hhsdreamer » Thu Jul 16, 2015 1:34 pm
Hi there,

My Question is regarding the following question and why it is "turned" and not "liberating" that we should try to make the answer paralleled with.

129. Joan of Arc, a young Frenchwoman who claimed to be divinely inspired, turned the tide of english victories in her country by liberating the city of Orléans and she persuaded Charles VII of France to claim his throne.

The Official answer is :
persuaded Charles VII France to claim his throne

My answer was:
persuading that Charles VII of France should claim the throne

Now I do realize that my answer in hindsight might be viewed as weird and I am more interested in why the official answer is correct rather than mine was wrong.
How can you know that "persuaded / ing" should be parallel with "Turned" and not "liberating" as I thought?

Thanks in advance and sorry if I have made any error in this post (first time posting)[/u]

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by GMATGuruNY » Fri Jul 17, 2015 4:22 am
Joan of Arc, a young Frenchwoman who claimed to be divinely inspired, turned the tide of English victories in her country by liberating the city of Orléans and she persuaded Charles VII of France to claim his throne.

(A) she persuaded Charles VII of France to claim his throne
(B) persuaded Charles VII of France in claiming his throne
(C) persuading that the throne be claimed by Charles VII of France
(D) persuaded Charles VII of France to claim his throne
(E) persuading that Charles VII of France should claim the throne
Correct idiom: X persuades Y to do Z.
B: persuaded Charles...in claiming
C: persuading that the throne be claimed
E: persuading that Charles...should claim
None of these options offers the correct idiom.
Eliminate B, C and E.

A: Joan of Arc turned...and she persuaded
Here, the usage of she adds no meaning and is thus considered redundant.
Eliminate A.

The correct answer is D.
hhsdreamer wrote: My answer was:
persuading that Charles VII of France should claim the throne
A VERBing modifier such as by persuading implies CONCURRENT ACTION: an action happening AT THE SAME TIME as the main action.
The usage of persuading in C and E conveys the following meaning:
As Joan of Arc TURNED THE TIDE of English victories by liberating the city of Orleans -- in other words, as she fought bravely ON THE BATTLEFIELD -- she was at the same time PERSUADING Charles.
Not the intended meaning.
The intended meaning is that Joan performed two actions that were NOT concurrent but were DISTINCT, as in the OA:
Joan of Arc TURNED THE TIDE of English victories and PERSUADED Charles to claim his throne.
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by Jim@StratusPrep » Fri Jul 17, 2015 8:50 am
First Elimination

C and E - 'Persuading' is not parallel to turned

Second Elimination

A - The use of 'she' breaks down the parallelism to 'turned'

Third Elimination

B - Persuade X to do Y is the proper idiom.


THE ANSWER IS D
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by bolmstead » Fri Jul 17, 2015 3:33 pm
Thank you Mitch! That's a really helpful explanation. You present things in such a clear fashion. I intentionally seek your explanations out. I'll be working really hard to try to mirror your thought process!