Parallelism in MGMAT Q

[sunil_snath]

MGMAT5:

The coloration of insects can serve as camouflage, as in the case of green insects that spend their lives in or near foliage, or to warn predators, as in the case of insects colored in yellow and black, which often signals that it is poisonous.

A. or to warn predators, as in the case of insects colored in yellow and black, which often signals that it is poisonous.
B. or for warning predators, as in the case of insects that have yellow and black coloring, which often signals that it is poisonous.
C. or as a warning to predators, as in the case of insects bearing a combination of yellow and black, which often signals that they are poisonous.
D. or as a predator's warning, as in the case of insects that are colored yellow and black, which often signals that they are poisonous.
E. or to warn predators, as in the case of yellow-and-black insects, which often signals that they are poisonous.

The below construction looks right to me (E):
The coloration of insects can serve as comouflage
The coloration of insects can serve to warn predators

However the explanation suggests the following (C):
The coloration of insects can serve as camouflage
The coloration of insects as a warning to predators

Any help?

[sarfrazyusuf]

Pretty straightforward - serve as X or serve as Y is parallel

OR

serve to X or serve to Y is parallel

How can serve as X or serve to Y be parallel? On one hand you are saying serve 'as' and on the other hand you are saying serve 'to'; not parallel by any stretch.

On a different note I think all the options incorrectly use 'which' to refer to 'black' or 'black coloring' both of which are incorrect!

[tim]

sarfrazyusuf is right as usual! :)

[sidd.shah123]

MGMAT5:

The coloration of insects can serve as camouflage, as in the case of green insects that spend their lives in or near foliage, or to warn predators, as in the case of insects colored in yellow and black, which often signals that it is poisonous.

A. or to warn predators, as in the case of insects colored in yellow and black, which often signals that it is poisonous.
B. or for warning predators, as in the case of insects that have yellow and black coloring, which often signals that it is poisonous.
C. or as a warning to predators, as in the case of insects bearing a combination of yellow and black, which often signals that they are poisonous.
D. or as a predator's warning, as in the case of insects that are colored yellow and black, which often signals that they are poisonous.
E. or to warn predators, as in the case of yellow-and-black insects, which often signals that they are poisonous.

The below construction looks right to me (E):
The coloration of insects can serve as comouflage
The coloration of insects can serve to warn predators

However the explanation suggests the following (C):
The coloration of insects can serve as camouflage
The coloration of insects as a warning to predators

Any help?

The test answer says for option D => It also incorrectly uses "which", which should refer only to the previous noun, not to an entire action or clause.However we have the same format for "which " for some of the other choices including the OA C ..so how does "which" refer correctly to the preceeding noun in c but not in some of the other choices

[jnelson0612]

sidd, this thread may help you: the-which-rule-t7033.html

Read that, and then look carefully at the difference between C and D in regards to the use of "which".

[nadkarni.sujay]

I dont know how helpful I will be. But, sometimes rotating the order helps.

For eg: The coloration of insects can serve as a warning - looks correct.

[jnelson0612]

Good tip! That is a good strategy to check parallelism.

[ivy]

The test answer says for option D => It also incorrectly uses "which", which should refer only to the previous noun, not to an entire action or clause.However we have the same format for "which " for some of the other choices including the OA C ..so how does "which" refer correctly to the preceeding noun in c but not in some of the other choices

See the explanation given by Emily below:

"Which" must refer to a noun, specifically the noun immediately preceding "which."

In (C), that noun is "a combination (of yellow and black)." Even though "black" is the last word before the comma, it is the object of a prepositional phrase. The last noun is "combination." It makes sense that the particular color combination signals a poisonous insect.

In (D), before the "which" we find "insects (that are colored yellow and black)." The noun is insects, modified by a relative clause in parentheses above. Possible interpretations:
(1) "which" modifies the noun "insects" similar to the logic in (C). But that doesn’t make sense: The insect itself is not what signals a poisonous insect.
(2) "which" phrase tells us HOW it is signaled (i.e. insects bear a combination to signal they are poisonous). This is problematic, as "which" can only modify things (telling WHO, WHAT, WHERE), not actions (telling HOW, WHY, WHAT RESULTED).
(3) "which" modifies "black" as it is the closest noun. But that doesn’t make sense: The color black is not what signals a poisonous insect, it is the specific combination of yellow and black that does.

[ivy]

sidd, this thread may help you: the-which-rule-t7033.html

Read that, and then look carefully at the difference between C and D in regards to the use of "which".

let me refine emily's previous post a bit.

from what we've seen, the gmat will primarily use "which" to refer to "X of Y" when Y itself is ineligible to serve as the antecedent.

let's take a look at emily's examples:

The framed painting of the Statue of Liberty, which was dusty, has been removed for cleaning.

while i won't say this is 100% wrong, it'd be unlikely to appear on the test, since "which" could conceivably be the statue.

The coloration of insects can serve as camouflage, as in the case of green insects that spend their lives in or near foliage, or as a warning to predators, as in the case of insects bearing a combination of yellow and black, which often signals that they are poisonous.

So, the above sentence is not 100% right, as 'black' is eligible to serve as the antecedent of pronoun 'which'. Am I right?

Thanks! :)

[jnelson0612]

sidd, this thread may help you: the-which-rule-t7033.html

Read that, and then look carefully at the difference between C and D in regards to the use of "which".

let me refine emily's previous post a bit.

from what we've seen, the gmat will primarily use "which" to refer to "X of Y" when Y itself is ineligible to serve as the antecedent.

let's take a look at emily's examples:

The framed painting of the Statue of Liberty, which was dusty, has been removed for cleaning.

while i won't say this is 100% wrong, it'd be unlikely to appear on the test, since "which" could conceivably be the statue.

The coloration of insects can serve as camouflage, as in the case of green insects that spend their lives in or near foliage, or as a warning to predators, as in the case of insects bearing a combination of yellow and black, which often signals that they are poisonous.

So, the above sentence is not 100% right, as 'black' is eligible to serve as the antecedent of pronoun 'which'. Am I right?

Thanks! :)

Well, I would certainly say that it is not ideal. However, it is the correct answer, so we have to live with it. I suspect that the GMAT would explain that the which is actually describing "the combination of yellow and black", and that the "yellow and black" is an essential intervening modifier describing the combination. See Ben's thread for more detail: sentence-correction-chapter-7-problem-set-question-5-t8151.html