ruplun wrote:After moving to Switzerland in the 1890's, Albert Einstein attended the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich, receiving in-depth training in quantitative analysis and developing a foundation for his future work in mathematical physics.

(A) attended the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich, receiving in-depth training in quantitative analysis and developing 1. receiving is a participle ( ing ) modifier which modifies the preceding clause ... which is correct here 2. receiving and developing is parallel

(B) attended the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich, receiving in-depth training in quantitative analysis and developed parallelism is broken ( receiving and developed) hence incorrect
(C) attended the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich, received in-depth training in quantitative analysis, and he developed Received is ed participle which modifies the preceding noun, which is Zurich here hence incorrect
(D) attended the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich, received in-depth training in quantitative analysis, developing 1. issues same as C
(E) attending the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich, receiving in-depth training in quantitative analysis, and developing attending is incorrect as the event was in past

niksworth wrote:I think that the correct answer should be B. Let me try to reason this one out.

The clear reasoning for A seems that Einstein did two things at the school in Zurich -
A) received in-depth training
b) developed a strong foundation to his future work.

Since these two need to be in parallel, option A with receiving and developing seems right.

However, if the intended meaning of the statement is that after moving to Switzerland in the 1890's, Einstein did two things
a) attended the school in Zurich, receiving in depth training in quantitative analysis
b) developed a foundation for his future work in physics

Then attended and developed need to be in parallel, which they clearly are in option B.

So, it boils down to - what does the author actually mean here.
I think that to say that Einstein developed his foundation in school is narrowing down too much. It is safer to say that he did so during his stay in Zurich. This makes B the correct choice.

Or am I reading too much into it? What is the OA here? Please also mention the source.

BastiG wrote:

niksworth wrote:I think that the correct answer should be B. Let me try to reason this one out.

The clear reasoning for A seems that Einstein did two things at the school in Zurich -
A) received in-depth training
b) developed a strong foundation to his future work.

Since these two need to be in parallel, option A with receiving and developing seems right.

However, if the intended meaning of the statement is that after moving to Switzerland in the 1890's, Einstein did two things
a) attended the school in Zurich, receiving in depth training in quantitative analysis
b) developed a foundation for his future work in physics

Then attended and developed need to be in parallel, which they clearly are in option B.

So, it boils down to - what does the author actually mean here.
I think that to say that Einstein developed his foundation in school is narrowing down too much. It is safer to say that he did so during his stay in Zurich. This makes B the correct choice.

Or am I reading too much into it? What is the OA here? Please also mention the source.

The original sentence determines what the author means except it is illogical or obviously wrong. OA should be A. And remember that the structures Before and after "and" needs to be ||. What you are describing is not parallel.