Q28: Building on civilizations that preceded them in coastal Peru, the Mochica developed their own elaborate society, based on cultivating such crops like corn and beans, the harvesting of fish and shellfish, and exploiting other wild and domestic resources.
(A) based on cultivating such crops like corn and beans, the harvesting of fish and shellfish, and exploiting
(B)based on the cultivation of such crops as corn and beans, the harvesting of fish and seafood, and the exploitation of
(C) and basing it on the cultivation of crops like corn and beans, harvesting fish and seafood, and the exploiting of
(D) and they based on their cultivation of crops such as corn and beans, the harvest of fish and seafood, and exploiting
(E) and the based it on their cultivating such crops like corn and beans, their harvest of fish and shellfish, and the exploited
After choosing the right answer myself and watching the explanation on Grockit GMAT OG TV, it is clear that the question is testing: 1) Parallelism and 2) SUCH X AS Y as against SUCH X LIKE Y.
What I want to ask is:
1) Even though I agree that choice B is || and choice A only seems ||. (Choice A has: cultivating..., the harvesting..., and exploiting... whereas choice B has the cultivation..., the harvesting..., and the exploitation) I understand that "the" in each phrase or verb makes the choice B correctly parallel and thus the right answer but I do not understand how cultivation, harvesting, and exploitation become parallel to each other. Even if I memorize this rule as a template for future questions, does this mean that any other question with similar ||ism situation can have -ing, -tion, and -ing || to each other?
(Choice B is also correct because of the SUCH X AS Y idiomatic phrase used correctly.)
2) Why do the answer choices switch between: "fish and shellfish" and "fish and seafood"?
(A) based on cultivating such crops like corn and beans, the harvesting of fish and shellfish, and exploiting
(B)based on the cultivation of such crops as corn and beans, the harvesting of fish and seafood, and the exploitation of
(C) and basing it on the cultivation of crops like corn and beans, harvesting fish and seafood, and the exploiting of
(D) and they based on their cultivation of crops such as corn and beans, the harvest of fish and seafood, and exploiting
(E) and the based it on their cultivating such crops like corn and beans, their harvest of fish and shellfish, and the exploited
After choosing the right answer myself and watching the explanation on Grockit GMAT OG TV, it is clear that the question is testing: 1) Parallelism and 2) SUCH X AS Y as against SUCH X LIKE Y.
What I want to ask is:
1) Even though I agree that choice B is || and choice A only seems ||. (Choice A has: cultivating..., the harvesting..., and exploiting... whereas choice B has the cultivation..., the harvesting..., and the exploitation) I understand that "the" in each phrase or verb makes the choice B correctly parallel and thus the right answer but I do not understand how cultivation, harvesting, and exploitation become parallel to each other. Even if I memorize this rule as a template for future questions, does this mean that any other question with similar ||ism situation can have -ing, -tion, and -ing || to each other?
(Choice B is also correct because of the SUCH X AS Y idiomatic phrase used correctly.)
2) Why do the answer choices switch between: "fish and shellfish" and "fish and seafood"?
