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need expert opinion on OG Parallelism

Expert replies
by voodoo_child » Sat Sep 03, 2011 5:24 am
Doctors generally agree that such factors as cigarette smoking, eating rich foods high in fats, and alcohol consumption not only do damage by themselves but also aggravate genetic predispositions toward certain diseases.

  (A) not only do damage by themselves but also aggravate

  (B) do damage by themselves but also are aggravating to

  (C) are damaging by themselves but also are aggravating

  (D) not only do damage by themselves, they are also aggravating to

  (E) are doing damage by themselves, and they are also aggravating

OA : A

I was able to arrive at the correct answer. My question is about the non-underlined portion.

Are these things parallel?
cigarette smoking, eating foods, alcohol consumption ? I believe that "eating" foods is not. Correct?

Thanks
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Source: — Sentence Correction |

by aspirant2011 » Sat Sep 03, 2011 6:28 am
voodoo_child wrote:Doctors generally agree that such factors as cigarette smoking, eating rich foods high in fats, and alcohol consumption not only do damage by themselves but also aggravate genetic predispositions toward certain diseases.

  (A) not only do damage by themselves but also aggravate

  (B) do damage by themselves but also are aggravating to

  (C) are damaging by themselves but also are aggravating

  (D) not only do damage by themselves, they are also aggravating to

  (E) are doing damage by themselves, and they are also aggravating

OA : A

I was able to arrive at the correct answer. My question is about the non-underlined portion.

Are these things parallel?
cigarette smoking, eating foods, alcohol consumption ? I believe that "eating" foods is not. Correct?

Thanks
I don't see any problem with the word eating foods
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by navami » Sun Sep 04, 2011 1:17 am
Not Only But Also is the reason :)
This time no looking back!!!
Navami
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by lunarpower » Thu Oct 06, 2011 3:35 am
voodoo_child wrote:Doctors generally agree that such factors as cigarette smoking, eating rich foods high in fats, and alcohol consumption not only do damage by themselves but also aggravate genetic predispositions toward certain diseases.

  (A) not only do damage by themselves but also aggravate

  (B) do damage by themselves but also are aggravating to

  (C) are damaging by themselves but also are aggravating

  (D) not only do damage by themselves, they are also aggravating to

  (E) are doing damage by themselves, and they are also aggravating

OA : A

I was able to arrive at the correct answer. My question is about the non-underlined portion.

Are these things parallel?
cigarette smoking, eating foods, alcohol consumption ? I believe that "eating" foods is not. Correct?

Thanks
the core words in the parallel structure are smoking, eating, and consumption -- three noun forms. (the first two end with -ING because there are no dedicated noun forms for those verbs; i.e., there are no forms like smokation or eatage that would correspond to consumption.)

the placement of the other words (modifiers, objects) is a little weird, but the core parallelism is sound.
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by rajankishore.gupta » Thu Oct 06, 2011 5:25 am
(In addition to the explanation from Lunarpower) .... "Cigarette smoking" and "Eating Rich Food" are complex gerund , and consumption is an action noun..... we can make Complex Gerund and Action noun parallel.....
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by gmatblood » Thu Oct 06, 2011 1:10 pm
IMO : A
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