GMAT Prep Question

[chaitanya.mehrotra]

The single-family house constructed by the Yana, a Native American people who lived in what is now northern california, was conical in shape, its framework of poles overlaid with slabs of bark, either cedar or pine, and banked with dirt to a height of three to four feet.

a. banked with dirt to a height of
b. banked with dirt as high as that of
c. banked them with dirt to a height of
d. was banked with dirt as high as
e. was banked with dirt as high as that of

I chose D because it seemed to best show parallelism (was conical...and was banked). However A is the right answer. Why is it A?

[VivianKerr]

Let's think of how each part adds to the meaning.

The house WAS CONSTRUCTED by the Yana, [description], WAS conical in shape, [description of shape], [description of bark], and BANKED with dirt (description of poles)....

The meaning is that the house (1) was constructed and was conical. We don't necessarily need the 3rd "was" because "banked" is describing the poles and not the house itself.

Also, "dirt" itself can't be "as high as three to four feet" since dirt is just tiny particles. But dirt can be banked to reach a certain height.

[VivianKerr]

Got a PM asking for further clarification.

This is more MEANING than grammar. In my explanation, I show how D confuses the meaning (dirt can be BANKED, but is not itself "as high as" a certain height.

C also changes the meaning. The house was not BANKED with dirt. The clause "banked with dirt" is describing the "framework of poles". The POLES were banked with dirt, not the HOUSE.

[mirantdon]

+1 for A.
Yep watch out for the parallelism marker and . after that just try to make it structurally parallel
the others are obvious errors.