A recent poll indicates that many people in the United State

[drn354]

thank you!

[RonPurewal]

you're welcome.

[junl961]

I read the whole thread through, so, D and E is incorrect for fragment..

But still I have a question, does the form while...., .... needs good parallelism?

I am not trying to question the correct answer- because it is GMAC defined correct, but I just want to learn from the correct answer.

If it is they denounce ..., saying ... ,while at the same time they support, I will take this answer.

But since this "they denounce big government, saying government is doing too much and has become too powerful, while at the same time supporting" is correct. Can I infer from it that for while structure, parallelism is not compulsory?

Or it is just because other options are so bad, that it is the only possible one to choose?

Thanks

[RonPurewal]

that's not a parallel structure at all—nor is it meant to be one. think about meaning.

if you write "x while y", then "x" is the MAIN point, and "y" is a SIDE point.

e.g.,

My friend spent $2000 on clothes last month, while spending just $50 on food.
—> the point of this sentence is "Compared to his meager food budget, my friend spent an unbelievable amount of money on clothes."

My friend spent just $50 on food last month, while spending $2000 on clothes.
—> the point of this sentence is "Compared to his extravagant clothing budget, my friend spent an incredibly small amount of money on food."

__

the whole point of parallel structures is to connect things of EQUAL IMPORTANCE, so this is definitely not a parallel structure—and it shouldn't be one.

[XuZ368]

I didn't see anyone bring this up, maybe it is just a stupid question, but please help me clarify.
in answer choice B,C,E
the last portion of the underline part said "support/supporting at the same time (something)"
does that even make sense?
can we therefore eliminate B C E?
THX

[RonPurewal]

that's not incorrect (...and, more importantly, word order is not tested on this exam—so there's no reason to worry about word order).

however, it's objectively better to place "supporting" closer to its object. thus, we can eliminate all the choices that don't put "supporting" all the way at the end.