Lesson: Parallelism - Part IV

Thanks for the kind words!

Tough one.

If we write "...and will benefit...", I think it's unclear who or what will benefit. There are just too many words in between "will respond" and "will benefit" to be able to see the parallelism.

If we say "People have experienced trauma and witnessed others," then there are two different tenses at play.

The present perfect tense, "have experienced," suggests that the experiencing has occurred in the past AND may continue into the present and future

The simple past tense, "witnessed," suggests that the witnessing occurred in the past.

If the experiencing and the witnessing have both occurred in the past AND may continue into the present and future, then we need HAVE in front of "experienced" and "witnessed".

Some will argue that, since we have the structure "Dr. Higgins contents THAT individuals . . . . and THAT they . . .", then it's obvious that "they" refers to those individuals.

Others will argue that, since there are SO MANY words preceding "they" that "they" could be referring to "others," "circumstances," "conditions" or "levels"

It's hard to say what the official test-makers would think of this sentence. However, I think it's usually a safe bet to always try to avoid any potential for ambiguity.

The phrase "known for his military expeditions against the German tribes of the Chauci and Catti" is a participial phrase that tells us more about Emperor Claudius.

The commas separate this non-vital modifier from the rest of the sentence. For more on non-vital modifiers, see: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gmat-sentence-correction/video/1166

Also, notice that we could have also placed the participial phrase first and offset it with brackets, as in:

"Known for his military expeditions against the German tribes of the Chauci and Catti, Emperor Claudius..."

The last part of the sentence ("...the population of ancient Rome exceeded that of any other city in the Roman Empire.") is an independent clause (the subject is POPULATION and the verb is EXCEEDED).

Does that help?

Cheers,
Brent

I could be either; it depends on how many times the blood sugar was measured.
If we measured the blood sugar 4 times and the measurements were 4.5, 3.9, 4.3 and 3.8, then we'd have to say LEVELS.

The phrase IN THE is not necessarily wrong.
For example, it's grammatically correct to say "Joe has confidence IN THE economy."

Here's a nice analysis of the question: https://gmatclub.com/forum/according-to-some-analysts-the-gains-in-the-s...

Cheers,
Brent

Question link: https://gmatclub.com/forum/while-some-propose-to-combat-widespread-illeg...

Tough question!

Here's the correct answer (E):
While SOME PROPOSE to combat widespread illegal copying of computer programs by attempting to change people's attitudes toward pirating, OTHERS SUGGEST reducing software prices to decrease the incentive for pirating, and still OTHERS ARE CALLING for the prosecution of those who copy software illegally.

When we ignore the "fluff", we get: While SOME PROPOSE, OTHERS SUGGEST, and still OTHERS ARE CALLING."

In general, we have: While NOUN+VERB, NOUN+VERB, and still NOUN+VERB."

For more on ignoring the fluff, see: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gmat-sentence-correction/video/1158

Does that help?

Cheers,
Brent

Thanks!

If we drop the 2nd HAVE (and write "People HAVE EXPERIENCED trauma and WITNESSED others," then we now have two different tenses at play.

The present perfect tense (HAVE EXPERIENCED_ suggests that the experiencing has occurred in the past AND may continue into the present and future

The simple past tense, WITNESSED suggests that the witnessing occurred in the past and is a COMPLETED action.

If the experiencing and the witnessing have both occurred in the past AND may continue into the present and future, then we need HAVE in front of both "experienced" and "witnessed".

Does that help?

Cheers,
Brent

Question link: https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-relative-prosperity-of-the-first-years-of...

(D) The relative prosperity of the first years of the twentieth century came to a halt in 1907 when drains on the money supply revealed both a weak national financial infrastructure of banking and credit and precipitating an economic crisis that lasted nearly a year.

By using the word BOTH, this sentence suggests that the drains (on the money supply) REVEALED two things:
1) a weak national financial infrastructure of banking and credit
2) an economic crisis that lasted nearly a year.

#2 doesn't make any sense in the context of the sentence.
The drains (on the money supply) did not REVEAL an economic crisis that lasted nearly a year.

Instead, the drains (on the money supply) PRECIPITATED an economic crisis that lasted nearly a year.

So, as it stands, we cannot use the word BOTH, since it suggests that two things were REVEALED.

Instead, we need to say that the DRAINS (on the money supply) did two things:
1) REVEALED a weak national financial infrastructure
2) PRECIPITATED an economic crisis

For this reason answer choice E is the best

Cheers,
Brent

Hi zakki,

Technically-speaking, we have a relative clause within another relative clause.

The clause "THAT individuals who have experiences emotional trauma in a hospital setting... benefit from hypnotherapy" is a relative clause modifying CONTENDS (it answers the question "What did Dr. Higgins contend?")

Nested within that relative clause, the relative clause "WHO have experienced emotional trauma in a hospital setting and witnessed others in similar circumstances" modifies INDIVIDUALS.

Does that help?

Great questions.

BY is a preposition. So, "BY insufficient sleep" is a prepositional phrase, which means we must use BY + low blood pressure to maintain parallelism (as far as the GMAT is concerned).

Likewise if we have a relative clause beginning with THAT, but then any other relative clauses in the sentence must begin with THAT.

These concepts are discussed at 0:58 of the following video: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gmat-sentence-correction/video/1169

Question link: https://gmatclub.com/forum/scientists-have-recently-discovered-what-coul...

Scientists have recently discovered what could be the largest and oldest living organism on Earth, a giant fungus that is an interwoven filigree of mushrooms and rootlike tentacles spawned by a single fertilized spore some 10,000 years ago and EXTENDING for more than 30 acres in the soil of a Michigan forest.

(A) extending
(B) extends
(C) extended
(D) it extended
(E) is extending

If we remove most of the "fluff," the sentence becomes: Scientists discovered a giant fungus SPAWNED by a single fertilized spore and EXTENDING for more than 30 acres.

So, the sentence is telling us two things about the fungus:
1) It was SPAWNED (past tense) by a single fertilized spore
2) It EXTENDS (present tense) for more than 30 acres.

Note: It's perfectly fine to have two different tenses describe the same thing.

If we reverse the order of the two points, we get: Scientists discovered a giant fungus EXTENDING for more than 30 acres and SPAWNED by a single fertilized spore.

When we reverse the order of the two points, it's easier to see that "EXTENDING for more than 30 acres" is a participial phrase modifying FUNGUS.

Answer: A

On the GMAT, the second BY is necessary.