Services : Go for it ..

mundasingh123 wrote:I think the second By is redundant as we already have a by before and the first By should do for the second parallel clause as well . So D . In MGMAT there is an example in which you need a second By , but I have come across several SCs on BTG in which a second By is redundant

The repetition of a preposition is rarely an error of rendundancy. In the SC above, omitting the second by creates confusion:

By providing such services as mortages...and staying within the metropolitan areas...

The version above implies that staying within the metropolitan areas is one of the services being provided.

Repeating the preposition by makes the meaning clear:

By providing such services...and by staying within the metropolitan areas, Acme bank has become one of the most profitable banks.

An error of redunancy typically occurs when two different words convey the same meaning:

The current economy is presently very strong.

In the example above, current and presently form an error of redundancy.

bubbliiiiiiii wrote:

Jim@Grockit wrote:The repetition of by indicates that the staying is not one of the services, but rather one of the means by which Acme has become so profitable. It is an important difference.

Hi Jim,

Firstly, thanks for taking out time and replying to this thread.

From the statement above, I understand that we use by to differente between the list of services and means of Acme becoming profitable.

I thought the usage of two ands does that in the options.
and financial advice, and staying
This one acts to maintain parallelism among the list of services.
while, this one tries to maintain parallelism between the means by which Acme has become profitable.

Can you please clarify where my understanding goes wrong?

Also, can you please help me understand when to use reduntant bys and when not to use?

I understand what you are saying, I think -- why doesn't a second and, which shouldn't be there ordinarily, indicate that we have resumed the list of means by which Acme became profitable? The answer is, sadly, that very fact: and goes before the final item in a list, and a second one after the final item causes readers momentary doubt about the structure of the sentence. A reader might ask himself or herself, "Did the list have compound entries that I missed? Does the writer not know what he or she is doing?", and the GMAT is trying very hard to break habits that cause those reactions.

Unfortunately, there is no specific word count or grammatical structure I'm aware of that will always guarantee the repetition of a preposition for the sake of parallelism. Note that in real English it's never wrong to repeat it; only the GMAT cares so much about concision that repeating a two-letter word like by can cost you points. You can say We got there by using maps and asking for directions or We got there by using maps and by asking for directions.

The rule I use when I write (and do SC) is "Could the reader think something else is going on, grammatically? Could this be unclear?"; if the answer is yes, I make the parallelism more explicit or rewrite the sentence. I realize that may not be much help.

Jim@Grockit wrote:The repetition of by indicates that the staying is not one of the services, but rather one of the means by which Acme has become so profitable. It is an important difference.

Hi Jim,GmatGuruNy But the and before the Fin. Advice in

and financial advice, and staying

already signifies the end of list of services .[/b][/i]