Parallelism

[gmat740]

In a leveraged buyout, investors borrow huge sums of money to buy companies, hoping to pay off the debt by using the company’s earnings and to profit richly by the later resale of the companies or their divisions.
(A) by using the company’s earnings and to profit
(B) by using the companies’ earnings and by profiting
(C) using the companies’ earnings and profiting
(D) with the company’s earnings, profiting
(E) with the companies’ earnings and to profit


OA E
I am confused between E and C

[blackarrow]

The answer choice C does not follow parallelism

C- to pay and profiting is not parallel

E- To pay and to profit is parallel

This the right answer is E

[karmayogi]

The investor is hoping two things (1) “to pay off dept with the companies’ earnings” and (2) “to profit richly by the later resale of the companies or their divisions.” Both (1) and (2) are parallel. However, in option C “using” is parallel to “profiting,” making profit a mean to pay off dept - wrong. Hence, E is the OA.

[gmat740]

Thanks Karmyogi and Black Arrow.

I have another doubt, hope you solve this too.

Biologists believe that they have found one of the substances that tell individual genes both when to become active and when to remain quiescent in the earliest phases of an embryo’s development.

(A) tell individual genes both when to become active and when to remain
(B) tell individual genes both at which time they should become active and should remain
(C) tells individual genes both when to become active and when to remain
(D) tells individual genes both when to activate and when to
(E) tell an individual gene both about when it should become active and when it should remain


My doubt: Is one of the Substances Singular or Plural

[karmayogi]

Thanks Karmyogi and Black Arrow.

I have another doubt, hope you solve this too.

Biologists believe that they have found one of the substances that tell individual genes both when to become active and when to remain quiescent in the earliest phases of an embryo’s development.

(A) tell individual genes both when to become active and when to remain
(B) tell individual genes both at which time they should become active and should remain
(C) tells individual genes both when to become active and when to remain
(D) tells individual genes both when to activate and when to
(E) tell an individual gene both about when it should become active and when it should remain


My doubt: Is one of the Substances Singular or Plural

“one of the substances that tell” is correct. “one of the substance” could be singular or plural depending on the context. Check the following thread that explains this concept in detail: https://www.beatthegmat.com/has-have-who-that-t426.html

[gmat740]

Just because King Alfred occupied and fortified London in 886 did not mean that he also won the loyalty of its citizens: the invading Danes were well aware of this weakness and used it to their advantage in 893.

(A) Just because King Alfred occupied and fortified London in 886 did not mean that he
(B) The fact that King Alfred had occupied and fortified London in 886 did not mean that he had
(C) Just because King Alfred occupied and fortified London in 886, it did not mean he
(D) The fact that King Alfred occupied and fortified London in 886, it did not mean that he
(E) Just because King Alfred had occupied and fortified London in 886, it did not mean he



OA B

[karmayogi]

Just because King Alfred occupied and fortified London in 886 did not mean that he also won the loyalty of its citizens: the invading Danes were well aware of this weakness and used it to their advantage in 893.

(A) Just because King Alfred occupied and fortified London in 886 did not mean that he
(B) The fact that King Alfred had occupied and fortified London in 886 did not mean that he had
(C) Just because King Alfred occupied and fortified London in 886, it did not mean he
(D) The fact that King Alfred occupied and fortified London in 886, it did not mean that he
(E) Just because King Alfred had occupied and fortified London in 886, it did not mean he



OA B

Now this is becoming a Q&A series . I would request you to post a new question in a fresh new post.

Anyways, let's work on this problem. In C and E, grammatically, "...,it..." can refer back to London only, while, clearly, in this context “it” is pointing to the idea mentioned before. However, “it” can’t refer to an idea; only “that” can refer back to an idea. In D, there are two issue. One, use of “it” is ambiguous - can refer to fact or London. Second, the option has similar problem as C and E have. Between A and B, I selected A because I thought use of past perfect is unnecessary here as sequence of actions are clear. As per my understanding, we use past perfect to show the sequence of action, when the sequence of actions is important and is not clear. In this question, first action took place in 886 and second in 893, hence past perfect is not required. However, OA is B, so I am confused here.

Experts comment plz???

One more doubt: Can “it” refer to a number/year such 886?

[pJackson79]

Just because King Alfred occupied and fortified London in 886 did not mean that he also won the loyalty of its citizens: the invading Danes were well aware of this weakness and used it to their advantage in 893.

(A) Just because King Alfred occupied and fortified London in 886 did not mean that he

Wrong.
Needs past perfect tense.
Just as...also is not idiomatic

(B) The fact that King Alfred had occupied and fortified London in 886 did not mean that he had

(C) Just because King Alfred occupied and fortified London in 886, it did not mean he

Wrong.
Comma splice. Needs past perfect tense.

(D) The fact that King Alfred occupied and fortified London in 886, it did not mean that he

Wrong.
Comma splice. Needs past perfect tense.

(E) Just because King Alfred had occupied and fortified London in 886, it did not mean he

Wrong.
Comma splice. Needs past perfect tense.

[Rashmi1804]

A cannot be the answer because " didnot " doesnt have proper noun in the sentence.....WHO DIDNOT OR WHAT DID NOT?? is it that "because he did x and y" dint mean or that "he" dint mean ??

the sentence wants the convey that " he did x and y but the fact that he did x and y doesnt mean that he did Z also"

I think "just because x is true, it dint mean y" is a meaningless construction.
although we use it in our daily life.....i think it is not grammatical.

Any comments ???

Also, the use of "had" or "did" should be consistent through out the sentence.
However, we need " had" here because the latter part of the sentence say they knew THIS FACT. this fact has to be in past perfect[/b]

[gmat740]

Still confused between A and B

I am more inclined to A than B

Please help

[ken3233]

Still confused between A and B

I am more inclined to A than B

Please help

The issue here is that the clause is talking about an "as if" -- or hypothetical -- situation. Specifically, Alfred did not really win the loyalty of London's citizens by fortifying the city (imaginary condition).

Such "as if" constructions are known as conditional sentences, and they sometimes use past perfect or simple past verb forms. Thus, in this case we say "...does not mean that he had also won the loyalty of its citizens..."

"A" can be ruled out because it is not a conditional sentence; "B" is written in the conditional tense, and is thus correct.

Unfortunately, MGMAT SC does not address "as if" constructions in depth. You should look at these links for more on the subject:
https://www.geocities.com/athens/olympus ... dless.html

https://netgrammar.altec.org/Units/Unit_ ... 01000.html

Also, you may find the discussion in this link (from a grammar forum) informative because it addresses a very tricky conditional sentence:
https://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=168213

"As if" and "conditional" constructions are part of the subjunctive mood.



Just because King Alfred occupied and fortified London in 886 did not mean that he also won the loyalty of its citizens: the invading Danes were well aware of this weakness and used it to their advantage in 893.

(A) Just because King Alfred occupied and fortified London in 886 did not mean that he
(B) The fact that King Alfred had occupied and fortified London in 886 did not mean that he had
(C) Just because King Alfred occupied and fortified London in 886, it did not mean he
(D) The fact that King Alfred occupied and fortified London in 886, it did not mean that he
(E) Just because King Alfred had occupied and fortified London in 886, it did not mean he

[Rashmi1804]

so the construction " just because x is true, it dint mean y" is grammatically correct ???