MARKERS FOR PARALLEL LIST

Parallelism is one of the most heavily tested concepts in GMAT. The non-natives
struggle with this concept because most of them study this concept for the first
time when they start preparing for the GMAT. To help you understand this
concept better, we have decided to cover a few topics in parallelism through a few
articles. Beginning that endeavor, this article deals with Markers in the Parallel
List.

WHY TO LEARN ABOUT MARKERS

Most of the times, it becomes difficult to solve an SC problem pertaining to
parallelism because we cannot identify the correct list in the sentence. Hence, it is
important to learn about the markers in the parallel list as they help us in more
than one way. Knowledge of markers has the following benefits:
1. It helps in identifying the correct intended list in the sentence.

2. It helps in ascertaining the correct marker for the list.

3. It helps in making all the entities in the list grammatically as well as logically
parallel.

This article is aimed at helping you gain better understanding of the markers so
that you are better prepared to handle parallelism problems.

LAWS OF PARALLELISM

Before delving into the markers and learning how to identify a list with the help of
these markers, let us take a quick look at the general laws of parallelism:
1. A parallel list always contains a marker.
2. The list contains the appropriate marker to convey the intended meaning through
the list.

3. The entities in the list are grammatically as well as logically parallel.

So let us now study a bit more about these laws.

TYPES OF MARKERS

As we said, every parallel list contains a marker. Hence, it is important to learn

about them to identify the correct list. Identifying the correct list is half battle
won in solving the parallelism problem. Once the correct list is identified,
identifying the errors in the entities and making them parallel, both
grammatically and logically become really easy.

We can find two kinds of markers in parallel lists – single-word makers and dual-
word markers.

SINGLE-WORD MARKERS
As the name suggests, „single-word markers‟ are the markers that consist of only
one word. For example – and, or, but, etc. These markers join two or more
entities and appear before the last entity in the list. Let‟s take a few example
sentences to see the usage of these markers:

SIMPLE EXAMPLE 1:

The sentence gives us general information about Joe. It says that he never goes
anywhere without his wallet, his watch, and his umbrella. Notice the presence of
“and”. It is one of the most common single-word markers that indicate the
 presence of a list in the sentence. Hence, the entities joined by “and” make the list
in the sentence. The 3 entities joined by “and” are
 Wallet

 Watch

 Umbrella

SIMPLE EXAMPLE 2:

The sentence says that Sue needs something to mark a particular advertisement
in the newspaper. She can do the job of highlighting the ad by using a pen, a
pencil, or a marker. Notice that “or” is the marker in the sentence that indicates
the presence of a list in this sentence. This marker joins 3 similar entities
 a pen

 a pencil

 a marker

COMPLEX EXAMPLE 1:

The sentence says that this year‟s drought has led to scarcity of food that has
forced the bears to come to town in search of food. They have walked into
farmer‟s market, broken into cars, and even gotten into people‟s kitchen.

This sentence uses one-word marker “and” that joins the three actions done by
the bears to look for food. The sentence has a list of three actions done by the
bears.
 Have wandered through farmer‟s markets

 Have broken into cars after sniffing out fast-food leftovers

 Have ransacked people‟s kitchens

OFFICIAL EXAMPLE 1: OGV2#1 (WITH CORRECT ANSWER

CHOICE E)

This sentence presents comparison between ants and termites. Just like ants,
termites also have a detailed social structure with well-defined jobs. While some
reproduce, the others serve the colony. They do this job by looking after the young
ones, collecting food, building the nest, or battling intruders.

This OG sentence has two parallel lists. The first list is marked in blue while the
second list is marked in purple. Both the lists contain single-word markers –
“and” and “or” respectively.

The first list is the main list that defines the main jobs of termites in their society.
The second list is the sub-list that defines the actions done under serving the
colony. While “and” join two main jobs of termites, “or” joins together the actions
done to serve the colony.

DUAL-WORD MARKERS
As the name goes, these markers consist of two words. These dual words always
appear together in a list. For example: either… or…, both… and…, from… to…, etc.
The list containing „dual-word markers‟ has only two entities in the list. Let‟s take
a few examples here:

SIMPLE EXAMPLE 1:
The sentence says that because Sam has too many things to look after, he can do
any of the 2 things – either prepare a speech or participate in the inaugural song.

This sentence uses double-word marker “either… or…”. This is so because the
sentence talks about options. Sam can do only one of the two things.

Since the option is only between two activities, use of “either… or…” is
appropriate. If Sam had to choose one activity among three, then the sentence
would use the single-word marker “or”. Note that we cannot use dual-word markers
for more than two entities in the list.

SIMPLE EXAMPLE 2:

The sentence says that Mary got two presents for her birthday, an iPad and an
iPhone, both Apple products. These entities are joined by the dual-word marker
“both… and…”. Both these markers are followed by one entity each. If Mary had
gotten more than two presents, then the use of this dual-word marker would not
have been appropriate. Then the entities would have been joined together with
single-word marker “and”.

COMPLEX EXAMPLE 1:

This sentence talks about the new strain of swine flu. The external genes of this
particular strain that is called H3N2v jumped from humans to pigs in the 1990s
and circulated in pigs separately from the seasonal human flu H3N2. H3N2v has
reportedly killed one human so far.

So this sentence has two lists. The first list is marked in blue. This lists talks about
how the external genes of H3N2v spread. The second list, marked in purple uses
the dual-word marker “from… to…” to convey how did it spread. The external
genes jumped from one entity to another.
 OFFICIAL EXAMPLE 1: OGV2#4 (WITH CORRECT ANSWER
CHOICE C)

This sentence says that piles of personal papers of Edison prove that his
inventions came not in a flash of inspiration. All his work slowly evolved from
previous works.

This sentence presents two characteristics of Edison‟s inventions. They did not
come to life in a flash of inspiration. They slowly evolved from his previous works.
These characteristics are presented by dual-word marker “not… but…”. Both the
markers are followed by one entity each.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE MARKERS:

SINGLE-WORD MARKERS DUAL-WORD MARKERS

and Either… or…

but Neither… nor…

or Both… and…

Not… but…

Not only… but also…

Whether… or…

Rather than…

From… to
 Between… and…

Note that this is not the exhaustive list of the markers. This list also does not
contain the markers of comparison. Parallelism in comparison will be dealt in
separate article.

ERRORS PERTAINING TO
PARALLELISM MARKERS

So we learnt that presence of marker in a sentence indicates the presence of a list.

GMAC introduces parallelism errors in a sentence in various ways. One of the
ways to introduce error is by using inappropriate marker in the list. Using
inappropriate marker may include using a marker that changes the intended
meaning of the sentence, using a dual-word marker to list more than two entities
in a list, using wrong pairs in the dual-word marker, etc.

USING INCORRECT MARKER TO CONVEY INTENDED

MEANING THROUGH LIST
A list must contain an appropriate marker to correctly convey the intended
meaning of the sentence. Incorrect markers may change the intended meaning of
a sentence. Let‟s take examples to see how this error is introduced, what effect
this error has, and how it can be corrected.

SIMPLE EXAMPLE 1:
The sentence looks familiar? Well yes, we have already analyzed this sentence
under the heading “Single-Word Markers”. This sentence uses the marker “or” to
present options. Sue needs any one of the listed entities to mark the ad in the
newspaper. Now let‟s replace “or” here with “and”.

Using “and” changes the meaning of the sentence. Now, this sentence does not
talk of options. This sentence does not say that Sue needs any one of the listed
articles. It now says that Sue needs all the three listed items to mark the ad.
Probably, she needs to highlight that ad in a certain manner and that is why she
needs all three items. This sentence definitely conveys a different meaning than
that conveyed by the original one. Hence if the intended meaning per original
sentence has to be communicated, then the second sentence is incorrect because
“and” is not the correct marker to convey the intended logical meaning conveyed
by “or”. And vice-versa, i.e. if the original meaning is as communicated by second
sentence with “and”, then the first sentence changes that intended
meaning. Thus, make a note of how meaning communicated by the sentence can
change if the marker connecting the list changes.

OFFICIAL EXAMPLE 1: OG 12#17 (WITH CORRECT ANSWER

CHOICE D)

This sentence says that the commission has asked the advertisers not to use the
word “natural” for those foods that contain color or flavor additives, chemical
preservatives or anything made artificially. Hence the sentence presents option. If
the food contain any of one these listed items, then the advertisers cannot call it
“natural”.

Now let‟s analyze the sentence with incorrect answer choice E:

 This sentence is grammatically correct but changes the intended meaning of the
sentence. Doing away with “or” has taken away the options. The sentence now
means that the food cannot be called natural if it contains all the listed items. But
if it does not contain any one of the listed items, then it can be called “natural”
because to not have the “natural” tag, it has to have all the listed items. This is
certainly not the intended meaning of the sentence. Presence of any one of the
listed item will disqualify the food product from the designation of “natural”.

USING DUAL-WORD MARKER TO LIST MORE THAN

TWO ENTITIES
A list containing dual-word marker can only have two entities in the list. If the list
contains more than two items, then it should contain single-word marker and not
the dual-word marker. Let‟s take an official example that presents this error:

OFFICIAL EXAMPLE 1: OG V2#5

The sentence says that hundreds of species of fish discharge electric currents to
do three things:
1. to find and attack prey,

2. to defend themselves,

3. for communicating and navigating.

Note that we are only looking at the marker-related error in this sentence. There
are three items listed for which many species of fish discharge electric current.
But this list contains dual-word marker “either… or…”. Dual-word markers can
only be used to list two entities. Hence use of this marker is incorrect here. Hence
we can eliminate all those answer choices that uses dual-word marker.

Now let‟s take a look at the correct answer choice E:

This choice replaces the dual-word marker “either… or…” with only “or” to
correctly list three items. Use of single word marker “or” is correct to list three
items in the list. The sentence clearly communicates that the many species of fish
generate electric currents for one of the listed functions.

USING INCORRECT PAIR IN DUAL-WORD MARKER

Every dual-word marker has a well-defined usage so it should be used in
idiomatically correct fashion, i.e. it must be used with the words that make the
correct pair (check the list for dual-word markers above). If the pair is broken by
replacing any of the words in the dual-word maker with any other word, then the
sentence stands incorrect. This error may also be classified as idiom error. Let‟s
take an example:

OFFICIAL EXAMPLE 1: OG V2#12

This sentence talks about artist William H. Johnson. His artistic debt to
Scandinavia can be very well seen in paintings that range from sensitive portraits
of citizens in his wife‟s Danish home, Kerteminde, to awe-inspiring views of fjords
and mountain peaks in the western and northern regions of Norway.

The correct dual-word marker is “from… to…” and not “from… and…”. Hence this
sentence is incorrect because of the pairing of wrong words.

Choice B is the correct answer choice for this OG sentence:

 This choice uses the correct words to form the correct dual-word marker.

TAKE AWAY

In a nutshell always keep the following in mind about parallel lists and markers:

1. A parallel list always contains a marker.

2. The list contains the appropriate marker to convey the intended meaning through
the list.

3. The entities in a parallel list are grammatically as well as logically parallel.

PARALLELISM: IMPERFECT LIST

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 root-like 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.
1. Extending

2. Extends

3. Extended

4. it extended

5. is extending
 This is Q#42 from OG 12. It has been removed from OG 13. So if you want to
solve this question first, go ahead. But my belief is that most of you have already
solved this question before and will not forget the confusion it had created when
you encountered it for the first time. This question can safely be said to be one the
most confusing and extensively discussed official questions. Reason: The
seemingly “non-parallel” grammatical structure of the entities. We classify the list
as Imperfect List.

The OA for this one is choice A. Did you ask, “Hey, “spawned” and “extending”
are parallel? They don‟t even look grammatically similar.”

This reminds me of a similar question that we are always asked. “Can active voice
be parallel to passive voice?” The answer to all these questions is “Yes”.
“Spawned” is parallel to “extending” and active and passive voices can also be
parallel, another instance of Imperfect List.

A LITTLE TWEAK

Logic and grammar run parallel in parallelism. Entities in a list must be Logically
as well as Grammatically parallel. Many a times, it becomes difficult to maintain
identical grammatical structure to convey the logical intended meaning. In these
scenarios, the grammatical structures are not compromised but tweaked a bit to
maintain logic in the sentence. Overall, logic trumps grammar. After all grammar
is a tool to express logic!! (or shall I say intended meaning).

This tweak results in Imperfect List where we see apparently “non-parallel”

grammatical entities such as “spawned” and “extending”, active and passive voice
entities, noun forms and “ing” noun forms (gerund), etc. Here are some
structures of possible imperfect lists:
1. Noun forms and “ing” noun forms (gerund).

2. Active and passive voice entities

3. Verb-ed and Verb-ing modifiers

 SIMPLE IMPERFECT LIST

Let‟s take a few simple examples before analyzing the confusing OG problems.
Look at these five example sentences below and mark the sentences that parallel.
(You will need a pen and paper for that)
1. The new lamp decorated with pink flowers and resembling a star brought a large
smile on the child‟s face.

2. The new lamp decorated with pink flowers and resembled a star brought a large
smile on the child‟s face.

3. The new lamp decorating with pink flowers and resembling a star brought a large
smile on the child‟s face.

4. The new lamp decorated with pink flowers and that resembles a star brought a
large smile on the child‟s face.

5. The new lamp that is decorated with pink flowers and that resembles a star
brought a large smile on the child‟s face.

EXPLANATION

Let‟s analyze one sentence at a time.

1. The new lamp decorated with pink flowers and resembling a star brought a large
smile on the child‟s face.
This sentence is about a new lamp that made a child smile. Two characteristics of
this lamp are mentioned here. The new lamp:
a. is decorated with pink flower and

b. resembles a star.

Notice that “decorated” is the verb-ed modifier presenting one quality of the
lamp. “resembling” is a verb-ing modifier presenting another quality of the lamp.
So, both these words are modifiers that perform the same function. Hence,
 “decorated” and “resembling” are parallel. Yes, one is a Verb-ed Modifier and the
other is Verb-ing Modifier. But they both are “Modifiers” and modify the same
entity. This is the reason why these two are parallel.
2. The new lamp decorated with pink flowers and resembled a star brought a large
smile on the child‟s face.
In this sentence, “decorated” and “resembled” are structurally identical but not
parallel. “Decorated” is a verb-ed modifier but “resembled” is a simple past tense
verb. They do not perform the same function. Hence, they are not parallel.

Also notice that now “The new lamp” has two verbs “resembled” and “brought”
that are not connected properly. So this sentence is INCORRECT.
3. The new lamp decorating with pink flowers and resembling a star brought a large
smile on the child‟s face.
Here too, “decorating” and “resembling” are structurally identical but not
parallel. The phrase “decorating with flowers” seems to suggest that the lamp was
doing the action of decorating.
Moreover, “decorating” by itself cannot be a continuous verb because it is not
preceded by any helping verb (is/am/are/was/were). So, even if they look
identical, these two entities are not parallel.
4. The new lamp decorated with pink flowers and that resembles a star brought a
large smile on the child‟s face.
Here, “decorated” is a verb-ed modifier and “that resembles” is also a modifier.
They perform the same function. But there grammatical structure is not parallel.
“Decorated” is a verb-ed modifier and “that resembles” is a clause. A word/phrase
CANNOT be parallel to a clause.

In this case, even if the list makes logical sense, grammar does not approve it as
parallel because the clause can be written in the form to make it parallel to
“decorated”. “that resembles” can be written as “resembling” and this will make
the list parallel.
5. The new lamp that is decorated with pink flowers and that resembles a star
brought a large smile on the child‟s face.
This sentence rectifies the error of sentence 4. and turns single-word verb-ed
modifier “decorated” into “that is decorated”, a “that clause”. Now the entities in
the list are absolutely parallel.

Did you just say, “But these two entities are written in two different voices.” I‟m
glad you noticed. J
 An active voice entity CAN very well be parallel to a passive voice as long as the
subject of the verbs is same. Notice in both “that clause”, “that” stands for “The
new lamp”. So the sentence says that:
1. The new lamp is decorated with pink flowers. – Passive Voice; Note the active
voice will be Rosy decorated the lamp with pink flowers.

2. The new lamp resembles a star. – Active Voice.

APPLYING THE LOGIC TO OG12#42

So now we can easily explain why “spawned” and “extending” are parallel.

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.

Let‟s first understand the meaning of this sentence. Scientists have discovered a
giant fungus that is a complex filigree. Two characteristics of this giant fungus are
mentioned, and these two characteristics are the reason why scientists think this
giant fungus can be the oldest and largest living organism on Earth.
1. The filigree = the fungus is spawned by a single fertilized spore some 10,000
years ago.

2. The filigree = the fungus extends for more than 30 acres in the soil of a Michigan
forest.

“spawned” is a verb-ed modifier that modifies the fungus. “extending” is a verb-

ing modifier that modifies the same entity. They perform the same function. They
both are modifiers, modify the same entity, and both are phrases. That is why
these two are parallel. This sentence is correct as is.

Choices B, C and E are verb entities that CANNOT be parallel to verb-ed

modifiers. Choice D is a clause that again grammatically is not parallel to a single
word modifier.
 TAKE AWAYS

1. Structurally identical entities are not always parallel.

2. Logic governs the structure of the entities in the list.

3. Verb-ed and Verb-ing modifiers can be parallel.

4. Active and Passive Voice verbs can be parallel if the verbs have the same subject.

PRACTICE EXERCISES

Solve these two official problems and let us know why the correct answer is
correct and why the incorrect ones are incorrect.
1. Dressed as a man and using the name Robert Shurtleff, Deborah Sampson, the
first woman to draw a soldier‟s pension, joined the Continental Army in 1782 at
the age of 22, was injured three times, and was discharged in 1783 because she
had become too ill to serve.

A. 22, was injured three times, and was discharged in 1783 because she had become
B. 22, was injured three times, while being discharged in 1783 because she had become
C. 22, and was injured three times, and discharged in 1783, being
D. 22, injured three times, and was discharged in 1783 because she was
E. 22, having been injured three times and discharged in 1783, being

2. First discovered more than 30 years ago, Lina‟s sunbird, a four-and-a-half-inch

animal found in the Phillipines and that resembles a hummingbird, has
shimmering metallic colors on its head; a brilliant orange patch, bordered with
red tufts, in the center of its breast; and a red eye.

A. found in the Phillipines and that resembles

B. found in the Phillipines and that, resembling

C. found in the Phillipines and resembling

D. that is found in the Phillipines and it resembles

E. that is found in the Phillipines, resembling

PARALLELISM: GRAMMAR VS
LOGIC

Hi folks,
Before we start discussing whether grammar is more important in parallelism or
logic, let‟s look at the following sentence.
1. John prepared for impending currency crisis, storing enough food and water for
future and posting his pictures online.

2. John prepared for impending currency crisis, storing enough food and water for
future and posted his pictures online.

Which choice do you think is correct – A or B. Which of them is grammatically

parallel? Both A and B look to be grammatically parallel, however only B makes
logical sense. How do we say that?
When you look at the meaning of the sentence, you will notice that structurally
“storing enough food and water” and “posting his pictures online” represent
“how” John prepared for the impending currency crisis. However, logically
“posting his pictures online” has nothing to do with how John prepared for the
impending currency crisis.
On the other hand, choice B is structurally different where the sentence is so
written such that “posted his pictures online” is a separate activity from preparing
from “preparing for impending currency crisis”, thus making the entire sentence
logical.

TAKE AWAY: PARALLELISM – GO BY LOGIC

Every time we get to a problem pertaining to parallelism, instinctively we check
the grammatical structure of the entities to make the list parallel. Now, the
entities must have same grammatical structure to make the list parallel, alright.
 What we must keep in mind is that the grammatically parallel entities in the list
must convey the LOGICAL INTENDED meaning of the sentence. If the
grammatically parallel entities make the sentence illogical, then the list is not
considered parallel.

HOW TO GET TO THE LOGIC

So, now we know that when we get to solve a parallelism problem, we must first
understand the logical meaning of the sentence, and accordingly make the
entities grammatically parallel to convey that meaning. A grammatically correct
parallel list will still be incorrect if it does not convey logical meaning.
There are two essential things that can lead us to the logical meaning of a
sentence:
1. Understand the context of the sentence: It is very important to spend some time with
the original sentence, analyzing it to decipher the logical intended meaning. The
original sentence always sets the context for the logical meaning. Even if any
enetity in the list conveys illogical meaning, that is a clear hint that we must
correct that entity first for logical parallelism and then make it grammatically
parallel with other logical entities in the list.
2. Pay close attention to sentence structure: Knowledge of sentence structure helps in
determining the correct role of the entities in the list so that they can convey
logical sense. This knowledge also helps in choosing appropriate grammatical
structure of the entities to keep them grammatically parallel.

GUIDED PRACTICE

We have changed a few words in some of the official questions and the answer
choices so that our discussion on the topic later in the article is more pertinent to
parallelism without the fear of getting digressed to other conceptual errors. Try
these questions before viewing the explanations.

EXAMPLE 1
 John prepared for Hurricane Sandy in advance, storing enough food and water,
purchased flashlights and candles for possible power outages, and charging his
cellphone to reach out to authorities in case of emergency.
1. storing enough food and water, purchased flashlights and candles for possible
power outages, and charging

2. storing enough food and water, purchased flashlights and candles for possible
power outages, had charged

3. storing enough food and water, purchasing flashlights and candles for possible
power outages, and charging

4. stored enough food and water, purchased flashlights and candles for possible
power outages, and charged

5. stored enough food and water, and purchased flashlights and candles for possible
power outages, being charged

MEANING ANALYSIS:
It is very essential to understand the meaning of the sentence. The sentence says
that John prepared himself for Hurricane Sandy. Following is the list of things he
did for his preparation:
1. He stored enough food and water,

2. He purchased flashlights and candles to handle power crisis, and

3. He charged his cellphone for emergency use.

ERROR ANALYSIS: (RELATED ONLY TO PARALLELISM)

There is a list of things that John did to prepare himself for Hurricane Sandy. The
verb-ing modifier “storing…” correctly modifies the preceding clause, giving
additional information as to what all John did in his preparation. Since there is
list of things John did, the entities in this list must be parallel. However,
“purchased…” is not parallel to “storing…” and “charging…”

POE:
Since we are talking about the logical and grammatical parallelism in this article,
let us take a look at those answer choices that stand incorrect despite being
grammatically parallel. Here, we will also analyze the correct answer choice to
reinforce the importance of Logic in parallelism.
 GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT BUT LOGICALLY INCORRECT CHOICE D:

stored enough food and water, purchased flashlights and candles for possible
power outages, and charged: This choice is grammatically sound because all the
entities in this choice are grammatically parallel. Notice that “stored…”,
“purchased…”, and “charged…” are now parallel to “prepared” as well. However,
despite being grammatically parallel, this choice is incorrect because the meaning
conveyed by this choice is ILLOGICAL.
Per this choice, the entities in the list do no present information as to HOW John
prepared for Sandy. These entities are now independent entities and the choice
now conveys that John performed all these four actions independent of each
other. This is not the intended meaning of the sentence.

CORRECT CHOICE C:

storing enough food and water, purchasing flashlights and candles for possible
power outages, and charging: This choice is CORRECT because it is not only
grammatically parallel but also logically parallel. The three verb-ing modifiers in
the correctly modifies the preceding clause, presenting information about the
modified clause.

GUIDED EXAMPLE 2

Among lower paid workers union members are less likely than non-union
members to be enrolled in lower end insurance plansimposing stricter limits on
medical services and requiring doctors to see more patients and spend less time with
each. (GMAT Prep)

1. imposing stricter limits on medical services and requiring doctors to see more
patients, and spend

2. imposing stricter limits on medical services, requiring doctors to see more

patients, and spending
3. that impose stricter limits on medical services, require doctors to see more
patients, and spend

4. that impose stricter limits on medical services and require doctors to see more
patients, spending

5. that impose stricter limits on medical services, requiring doctors to see more
patients and spending

MEANING ANALYSIS:
Lower end insurance plans do two things:
1. impose strict limits on medical services, and

2. require doctors to see more patients.

As a result of seeing more patients, the doctors will spend less time with each
patient.
ERROR ANALYSIS: (RELATED ONLY TO PARALLELISM)
Verb-ing modifiers “imposing…” and “requiring…” correctly modifies “low end
insurance plans”. They are grammatically parallel too. However, “and spend
time…” is not correctly written. This entity is not the part of the list but the result
of the last entity in the list. Hence, it must be written correctly.
POE:
Since we are talking about the logical and grammatical parallelism in this article,
let us discuss only those answer choices that pertain to the topic of this article.
GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT BUT LOGICALLY INCORRECT CHOICE B:
imposing stricter limits on medical services, requiring doctors to see more
patients, and spending: Per this grammatically correct choice, the “low end
insurance policies” do three things. This certainly does not make sense because
the policies do not spend less time with each (patient).
GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT BUT LOGICALLY INCORRECT CHOICE C:
that impose stricter limits on medical services, require doctors to see more
patients, and spend: This choice is similar to choice B: It again conveys the same
illogical meaning by making all the three entities grammatically parallel to each
other.
GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT BUT LOGICALLY INCORRECT CHOICE E:
that impose stricter limits on medical services, requiring doctors to see more
patients and spending: This choice is also grammatically correct. The verb-ing
modifiers “requiring…”and “spending…” preceded by comma modifies the
preceding clause. This modification conveys absolutely illogical meaning. It now
says that the result of imposing stricter limits are that the doctors will have to see
more patients and the policies will spend less time with each patient.
 CORRECT CHOICE D:
that impose stricter limits on medical services and require doctors to see more
patients, spending: This choice corrects the list by making “impose…” and
“require…” grammatically parallel to each other. Verb-ing modifier “spending”
preceded by comma correctly presents the result of the preceding action, correctly
conveying the result of doctors seeing more patients

TAKE AWAYS
1. It is not enough for the entities in the list just to be grammatically parallel. The
grammatically correct entities must convey LOGICAL meaning.

2. Grammatically parallel list will stand incorrect if it communicates illogical

meaning.

3. Logic governs the grammatical structure of the entities in the parallel list.

EXERCISE QUESTIONS
We have changed a few words in some of the official questions and the answer
choices so that our discussion on the topic later in the article is more pertinent to
parallelism without the fear of getting digressed to other conceptual errors. Try
these questions
Since digital recording offers essentially perfect reproduction – on compact discs,
digital audiotapes, or digital videodiscs – audiophiles can accumulate music,
transferring them from one format to another, copying it, and digitally altering it with
little effort and not damaging the sound quality. (GMAT Prep)
1. music, transferring them from one format to another, copying it, and digitally
altering it with little effort and not damaging

2. music, transferring it from one format to another, copying it, and digitally
altering it with little effort and no damage to

3. music, transfer it from one format to another, copy it, and digitally alter it with
little effort and no damage to
4. music and transfer it from one format to another, copy it, and then digitally
altering it with little effort and not damaging

5. music and transfer it from one format to another, copying it, and digitally alter it
with little effort and no damage to

As the etched lines on computer memory chips have become thinner and the
chips’ circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they
drive have vastly increased. (GMAT Prep)

1. the chips‟ circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic
devices they drive have

2. the chips‟ circuits more complex, the power of both the chips and the electronic
devices they drive has

3. the chips‟ circuits are more complex, both the power of the chips and the
electronic devices they drive has

4. their circuits are more complex, the power of both the chips and the electronic
devices they drive have

5. their circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic
devices they drive have