* It is an oversimplified view of cattle raising

[pmal04]

Deleted

[pmal04]

I think it is testing parallel construction.

"...leave them...corral them...drive them..." in choice C are all parallel.

Choice B has "...to leave them...to corral them...drive them" Without the "to" before drive this is not parallel construction.

correct.

moreover, that particular list of 3 verbs is missing a comma after "to corral them". the gmat holds fast to the rule that there MUST be a comma after the penultimate item in a list of 3 or more things.
i.e.,
"X, Y and Z" = wrong;
"X, Y, and Z" = correct.

this rule is the subject of some debate, and is the precise opposite of the rule generally used in commonwealth ("british") english, but the opinion of the gmat is, as usual, a consensus of one.

Hi Ron,
question about parallel construction in choice C & your reply.
You said "X, Y, and Z" = correct.
However in choice C, it's X and Y and Z.
My doubt is why an extra 'and' before Y and no comma before 'and Z'.
Thanks in advance

[pmal04]

Hi Ron,
question about parallel construction in choice C & your reply.
You said "X, Y, and Z" = correct.
However in choice C, it's X and Y and Z.
My doubt is why an extra 'and' before Y and no comma before 'and Z'.
Thanks in advance

[RonPurewal]

Hi Ron,
question about parallel construction in choice C & your reply.
You said "X, Y, and Z" = correct.
However in choice C, it's X and Y and Z.
My doubt is why an extra 'and' before Y and no comma before 'and Z'.
Thanks in advance

nope, you're parsing the words incorrectly.

the way you should process choice (c) is

It is an oversimplified view of cattle raising to say that all one has to do with cattle is
leave them alone while they feed themselves
and then
corral them and drive them to market when the time is ripe

you can't treat the sentence as though all three elements are in a list together, because ... they aren't.
(and, as you have accidentally pointed out, the punctuation of the sentence GUARANTEES that these items are not all part of the same list.)

[RonPurewal]

D: Is there anything grammatically wrong with choice D or is it just bad because it is in passive voice.

the biggest problem with choice (d) is "...is leave..."

that is an attempt to create an infinitive, WITHOUT using "to".
that would be fine IF there were another infinitive somewhere else in the sentence, containing "to" (to which this one could be parallel), but there isn't.

[thrivamsi]

Ron,

Is usage of THEN in C correct?

[RonPurewal]

Ron,

Is usage of THEN in C correct?

(c) is the officially correct answer, so, yes.

[sudaif]

D: Is there anything grammatically wrong with choice D or is it just bad because it is in passive voice.

the biggest problem with choice (d) is "...is leave..."

that is an attempt to create an infinitive, WITHOUT using "to".
that would be fine IF there were another infinitive somewhere else in the sentence, containing "to" (to which this one could be parallel), but there isn't.

----
ron - what do you mean by the need for the infinitive "to" elsewhere in the sentence to ensure parallelism? what makes you say that?
also, is C correct b/c of a meaning issue. I picked D initially, but it seems unusual that the sentence says to leave them alone while at the same time corral them. is that why a different structure is needed - such as the one given in C? One more question about D. D starts off by referring to "one thing" and then lists 3 things...is that another reason why its wrong?
sorry, if above is convoluted - trying!
thanks in advance.

[RonPurewal]

ron - what do you mean by the need for the infinitive "to" elsewhere in the sentence to ensure parallelism? what makes you say that?

well, consider the context in which this verb form appears:
"all one has to do with cattle is _______"
in context, it should be clear that the blank should be filled with a noun -- or, at least, with something that plays the role of a noun. in this case, that must be an infinitive. if you just make a list of verbs in this context, that's ungrammatical.

in a list of infinitives, it's fine if the second and later entries don't repeat the word "to" -- "to VERB1, VERB2, and VERB3" -- but you must have the "to" somewhere.

also, is C correct b/c of a meaning issue. I picked D initially, but it seems unusual that the sentence says to leave them alone while at the same time corral them. is that why a different structure is needed - such as the one given in C?

choice (d) doesn't actually say that; it attempts to take the three verb forms and place them into a parallel list.
however, placing these three into a list is just as illogical as what you have cited here, since these three ideas are not all parallel to each other.
namely, "leave them alone" should appear by itself -- since this is the only thing you do with the cattle before they are ready for the market -- but then "corral" and "drive" should be parallel to each other, since those are two immediately sequential actions that occur when the cattle are ready for the market.
note the summary of this structure in the following post (which is from this thread):
post28183.html#p28183

One more question about D. D starts off by referring to "one thing" and then lists 3 things...is that another reason why its wrong?

that's a very perceptive observation -- i hadn't even noticed that. that is also quite problematic, yes; if the sentence says that something is "the only thing", then it should be one thing.

in fact, as long as we're on the topic, there is also another problem here: the use of the word "thing" actually doesn't make any sense, since the items in the list here are actions, not "things".

in addition, i have a very strong suspicion that the word "thing" will ALWAYS be incorrect when it appears -- it is extremely informal/colloquial and can always be replaced, in any context, by a better and more specific noun.

sorry, if above is convoluted - trying!

nah, it was quite clear what you were asking.

[sudaif]

Thanks Ron! This is helpful.
Parallelism is most tricky when the sentence meaning is unclear to me....

[sandeep.19+man]

D: Is there anything grammatically wrong with choice D or is it just bad because it is in passive voice.

the biggest problem with choice (d) is "...is leave..."

that is an attempt to create an infinitive, WITHOUT using "to".
that would be fine IF there were another infinitive somewhere else in the sentence, containing "to" (to which this one could be parallel), but there isn't.

C. all one has to do with cattle is leave them alone while they feed themselves and then corral them and
D. the only thing that has to be done with cattle is leave them alone while they feed themselves, corral them, and

If D is wrong because it omits TO, isnt C wrong for the same reason as well?

Thanks

[mschwrtz]

That's quite a vexing question. I'll bounce this off Ron, in case I've missed a nuance in his account, but my answer is....

C and D are similar in that each distributes a single "to" over a multi-part infinitive (I'd like to call it a compound infinitive, but that has a narrower specialized meaning).

Usually you can do this. These are all fine,

"I want to dance and sing."
"She refused to sit quietly and smile."
"To spend more than you earn is imprudent."

Sometimes you need to repeat the "to."

WRONG: "'Tis better to have loved and lost than never loved at all."
RIGHT: "'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."
WRONG: "To know him is love him."
RIGHT: "To know him is to love him."
WRONG: "To spend more than you earn is court disaster."
RIGHT: ""To spend more than you earn is to court disaster."

These examples might suggest that different parts of an infinitive used as a compound subject can share a single "to" (so long as they aren't separated by more than six or so words), and that different parts of an infinitive used as a compound object can share a single "to" (so long as they aren't separated by more than six or so words), but that subject and object infinitives should share a single "to." C shows that the GMAT observes no such rule; it's the OA, and the "to" is distributed over both the subject and the object of the clause. The GMAT is never wrong about the GMAT, so whatever rule they're observing is more subtle than this.


One perhaps relevant difference between C and D is that D attempts to use the same "to" for the passive infinitive "to be done" and the active infinitives that follow. Parallelism does not generally require that elements be in the same voice (though one needs a good reason to change voice), but perhaps there's a special stricture for infinitives.

[jibanezd]

Sorry, but which "to" is distributed in C?
I would like to see something like: all one has to do with cattle is TO leave them bla bla bla...

Without that "to" how can "leave them alone bla bla bla" act as a noun?

Thanks!

That's quite a vexing question. I'll bounce this off Ron, in case I've missed a nuance in his account, but my answer is....

C and D are similar in that each distributes a single "to" over a multi-part infinitive (I'd like to call it a compound infinitive, but that has a narrower specialized meaning).

Usually you can do this. These are all fine,

"I want to dance and sing."
"She refused to sit quietly and smile."
"To spend more than you earn is imprudent."

Sometimes you need to repeat the "to."

WRONG: "'Tis better to have loved and lost than never loved at all."
RIGHT: "'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."
WRONG: "To know him is love him."
RIGHT: "To know him is to love him."
WRONG: "To spend more than you earn is court disaster."
RIGHT: ""To spend more than you earn is to court disaster."

These examples might suggest that different parts of an infinitive used as a compound subject can share a single "to" (so long as they aren't separated by more than six or so words), and that different parts of an infinitive used as a compound object can share a single "to" (so long as they aren't separated by more than six or so words), but that subject and object infinitives should share a single "to." C shows that the GMAT observes no such rule; it's the OA, and the "to" is distributed over both the subject and the object of the clause. The GMAT is never wrong about the GMAT, so whatever rule they're observing is more subtle than this.


One perhaps relevant difference between C and D is that D attempts to use the same "to" for the passive infinitive "to be done" and the active infinitives that follow. Parallelism does not generally require that elements be in the same voice (though one needs a good reason to change voice), but perhaps there's a special stricture for infinitives.

[tim]

um, since when is "leave them ..." supposed to be a noun? it is very clearly a verb. maybe i'm not understanding your question..

[jibanezd]

um, since when is "leave them ..." supposed to be a noun? it is very clearly a verb. maybe i'm not understanding your question..

I was referring to the text below (by Ron), in which I understood that we need a noun here (so we need the TO, in order to have an infinitive acting as a noun).

I'm missing something here...

Thanks!


well, consider the context in which this verb form appears:
"all one has to do with cattle is _______"
in context, it should be clear that the blank should be filled with a noun -- or, at least, with something that plays the role of a noun. in this case, that must be an infinitive. if you just make a list of verbs in this context, that's ungrammatical.

in a list of infinitives, it's fine if the second and later entries don't repeat the word "to" -- "to VERB1, VERB2, and VERB3" -- but you must have the "to" somewhere.