Parallelism Flashcards
What sort of entities can be present in a parallel list?
- Single word or phrases
a. All noun entities
b. All verb entities
c. All modifiers
i. The biggest issue of 21st century that needs to be tackled collectively by the whole world are global warming, waste treatment, and deforestation
a. We have all noun entities in the above list
ii. Henry lives in New Jersy and works in New York
b. We have all verb entities lives and works in the above list
iii. Marie is considered the most intelligent, diligent and meticulous student in her class
c. We have all modifiers in the above list
2. Clauses
Annie is the only girl in the class who is considered very hardworking and who is always favoured by the teachers
a. who is considered very hardworking and who is always favoured by the teachers are two clauses
What are common lists markers that indicate parallelism?
- Single word list markers
a. ‘and’ , ‘or’, and ‘but’
X and Y ; X , Y and Z
X or Y ;
X but Y - Dual word markers
a. Either X or Y
b. Neither X nor Y
c. Not Only A but Also Y
d. Not A but Y
e. From A to Y
f. Both A and B
g. Whether X or Y
h. Rather X than Y
a. The critics found John’s work both exhilarating one’s senses and depressing those heightened senses at the same time
exhilarating one’s senses and depressing those heightened senses are parallel
b. It would be better to apply to B-school in Septmeber rather than in January
in Septmeber and in January are parallel
What is wrong with the below sentence
I wish I could travel to cities where I can live a leisurely life and I work only occasionally
The problem is the list in the sentence is ambiguous because it can be interpreted in multiple ways
I wish
I could travel to cities where I can live a leisurely life
I work only occasionally
I wish I could travel to cities where
I can live a leisurely life
I work only occasionally
Because of the above ambiguity, the sentence is not correct and the ambiguity can be fixed if we place where again after “and” , Case in point being: repeat the word when list is becoming ambiguous
I wish I could travel to cities where I can live a leisurely life and where I work only occasionally
Are the below construction correct?
Both X as well as Y
Both X in addition to Y
No, correct construction is Both X and Y
What is wrong with the below sentence?
The paintings of Caravenho which were discovered accidentally by some monks looking for a place to meditate, have been hailed as works of the early 13th Century artists rather than the 14th Century ones, are credited to the classical school of art rather than the Greek school
The issue with this sentence is
have been hailed as work of the
Early 13th Century artists
rather than
The 14th Century
Are credited
to the classical school of art
rather than
the Greek school
Two verbs have and “are” are connected only with a comma which is wrong, we need an and to join them. Hence correct answer choice is
The paintings of Caravenho which were discovered accidentally by some monks looking for a place to meditate, have been hailed as works of the early 13th Century artists rather than the 14th Century ones, and are credited to the classical school of art rather than the Greek school
What are the two rules of parallelism?
Entities in the list should be grammatically parallel and entities in the list should be logically parallel as well
What is wrong with the below sentence?
- The new companies bill, which was formulated by the previous government and which has been rejected twice in earlier sessions, will be presented again in the Parliament’s upcoming session by the members of the ruling party
- The new companies bill formulated by the previous government and which has been rejected twice in earlier sessions, will be presented again in the Parliament’s upcoming session by the members of the ruling party
a. The first sentence is correct as we have two clauses joined by “and”
- which was formulated by the previous government
- which has been rejected twice in earlier sessions
b. The second sentence is incorrect as we have one phrase and another a clause joined by “and”
- formulated by the previous government
- which has been rejected twice in earlier sessions
What is wrong with the below sentence?
- Jeremy Taylor choose to pursue a career in acting, enrolled in the New York School of Arts, and dedicated his whole life towards acting
- Jeremy Taylor choose to pursue a career in acting, enrolled in the New York School of Arts, and dedicating his whole life towards acting
- The first sentence is parallel as it contains the list of verbs
choose, enrolled and dedicated
- The second sentence is not parallel as it contains two verbs and an ing verbal in the end
choose, enrolled and dedicating
Observe the below sentence
Dedicated by Emperors Shah Jahan to his wife, Taj Mahal which was built over a period starting some years before Mumtaz’s death, ending shortly before Shah Jahan’s death in 1666 and outshining all the other monuments built by him
This sentence violates the rule that all items in list should be logical
The last item in the list does not make any logical sense. We have ‘ing’ modifiers modifying period
starting some years before Mumtaz’s death
ending shortly before Shah Jahan’s death in 1666
outshining all the other monuments built by him
How can period outshines all the other monuments, hence we need to correct the list
Observe the below sentence
The professor asked students not only to complete their own assignments on time but also to sharing their assignments with other students
The sentence is wrong for multiple reasons
- With “to” we should use the base form of the verb hence correct construction is “to share”
- If we attach the first part of the sentence with the part after “but also” we get the incomplete meaning
The professor asked students sharing their assignments with other students
Observe the below sentences
- Manuela struggled to balance her work and home life, leaving early for work, returning home by mid-morning to do chores, and rushing back to work till late evening
- Manuela struggled to balance her work and home life, leaving early for work, returned home by mid-morning to do chores, and rushing back to work till late evening
- Manuela struggled to balance her work and home life, left early for work, returned home by mid-morning to do chores, and rushed back to work till late evening
- The first sentence is correct as all the three modifiers leaving, returning and rushing are parallel and are modifying the verb struggled. They tell us more about how she struggled
- The second sentence is incorrect as second item in the list is not parallel to other two modifiers i.e. returned is not parallel to leaving and rushing
- The third sentence is correct in that it uses 4 verbs that are parallel to each other but the intended meaning now for the third sentence is not the same as of original
When we have below structure
Entity 1 -> Entity 2 + Modifier -> Entity 3 + Modifier
Then entity 1,2 and 3 should be parallel but modifers associated with each entity need not be parallel
Davidson was a politician, an orator possesing an unusually sharp wit and a visionary blessed with an amazing foresight
a politician -> No modifier
an orator -> possesing an unusually sharp wit
a visionary -> blessed with an amazing foresight
All entities on left side are parallel i.e. they are noun and the modifier associated with each need not be parallel
What are commonly used parallelism markers on GMAT?
- Not Only X but Also Y
- Not X But Y / Not X But Rather Y
- From X to Y
- Between X and Y
- Both X and Y
- X rather than Y
- Either X or Y
- Neither X nor Y
- As much X as Y
- As X so Y
- Distinguish/Distinction between X and Y
