the company moved itself from emphasizing

[herogmat]

In an effort to increase profits, the company moved itself from emphasizing its chemicals business to expand into high-growth pharmaceuticals and futuristic biotechnologies.
A. itself from emphasizing its chemicals business to expand
B. itself from emphasizing its chemicals business then to expanding
C. from an emphasis on its chemicals business and to expanding
D. from an emphasis on its chemicals business and to expand
E. from emphasizing its chemicals business to expanding

What will be the correct choice for the above? My take is A. Tutor please guide.

[hberens18]

Can you post what the official answer to this problem is?

[herogmat]

OA is E

[ctrajaram]

Idiom:

From X to Y where X and Y are parallel

E

from emphasizing ..to expanding...

[ashish.jere]

(E)

[RonPurewal]

Idiom:

From X to Y where X and Y are parallel

E

from emphasizing ..to expanding...

yep, this is it.

the meaning is definitely that the company moved from one endeavor to another, so ELEMENT 1 and ELEMENT 2 in the construction "moved from ELEMENT 1 to ELEMENT 2" must be parallel.

--

also, "moved itself" is redundant / wordy, and will NEVER be preferred to the more compact, idiomatically better "moved".

[mcmebk]

Idiom:

From X to Y where X and Y are parallel

E

from emphasizing ..to expanding...

yep, this is it.

the meaning is definitely that the company moved from one endeavor to another, so ELEMENT 1 and ELEMENT 2 in the construction "moved from ELEMENT 1 to ELEMENT 2" must be parallel.

--

also, "moved itself" is redundant / wordy, and will NEVER be preferred to the more compact, idiomatically better "moved".

Hi Tutors

How does it work? To is followed by -ING? I thought to is inifinitive and can only be followed by VERB in its inifinitive form.

Thanks.

[RonPurewal]

How does it work? To is followed by -ING? I thought to is inifinitive and can only be followed by VERB in its inifinitive form.

Thanks.

nah. that's one function of "to", but certainly not the only one.
i have to go to school.
i gave the gift to Thomas yesterday.
i drove from St. Louis to Reno in one day.
etc.

here, the "ing" forms are nouns, so they work like the last example above.

--

more generally, your question is actually a bit worrisome, in that it suggests that you're just memorizing "rules" of sentence correction, rather than paying attention to how the language is written in general.

for instance, here's a random NY Times article (not cherry-picked -- it was just the first article on the page at this exact moment):

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/08/world ... ml?hp&_r=0

this article has forty instances of the word "to", and they are certainly not all "to + VERB".
if there are 40 instances of "to" in this one article alone, then, in general, you are probably going to see the principle above at work in almost everything you ever read in english. so try to notice stuff as you go!

[eggpain24]

Idiom:

From X to Y where X and Y are parallel

E

from emphasizing ..to expanding...

yep, this is it.

the meaning is definitely that the company moved from one endeavor to another, so ELEMENT 1 and ELEMENT 2 in the construction "moved from ELEMENT 1 to ELEMENT 2" must be parallel.

--

also, "moved itself" is redundant / wordy, and will NEVER be preferred to the more compact, idiomatically better "moved".

HI，ron

is it “from... then to" in choice B redundant or unidiomatic

I think there is no need of "then"

[jnelson0612]

is it “from... then to" in choice B redundant or unidiomatic

I think there is no need of "then"

Unidiomatic, and there is indeed no need of "then".

[FanPurewal]

Idiom:

From X to Y where X and Y are parallel

E

from emphasizing ..to expanding...

yep, this is it.

the meaning is definitely that the company moved from one endeavor to another, so ELEMENT 1 and ELEMENT 2 in the construction "moved from ELEMENT 1 to ELEMENT 2" must be parallel.

--

also, "moved itself" is redundant / wordy, and will NEVER be preferred to the more compact, idiomatically better "moved".

hi ron, sometimes i find *itself* is necessary in a construction, but sometime i find it is indeed redundant.

can you please tell me about the usage of *-self*?
thank you in advance.

[RonPurewal]

in this kind of context, you may need to use "__self/ves" for verbs that REQUIRE an object.

e.g.,

• "move" does NOT require an object, though it's possible to use one. (i.e., you can move something... but you can also just move.)
so, "move yourself/itself/themselves" will generally be redundant, unless there's a very compelling reason, in terms of style and/or emphasis, to use it. (Neither style nor emphasis is tested on this exam, so any exceptions are irrelevant.)

• "remove" MUST take objects. (you can remove things/people from a situation. you cannot, however, "remove from a situation".)
so, since it's impossible to write "i removed from the ballot", we write "i removed myself from the ballot" instead.

[RonPurewal]

there are other uses of "__self/ves", too.
most of them are style issues, so you won't have to know any principles that govern their use. however, you'll have to recognize that they exist and are not wrong, so that you don't mistakenly eliminate them.

[RonPurewal]

e.g., in sentences that make unusual comparisons (= between two things that aren't of the same "type"), this ending is sometimes used to signal such a comparison. in other words, it basically announces, "yes, dear reader, this IS the intended comparison."
for instance:
Hemingway's books were never as infamous as Hemingway.
--> while not incorrect, this sentence is hard to understand. our brains are primed for a comparison to other books; "hemingway" violates that expectation. usually that sort of cognitive dissonance isn't resolved in one quick read-through.
Hemingway's books were never as infamous as Hemingway himself.
--> this sentence is much easier to read, since the ending basically reassures us that we haven't misunderstood it.

[RonPurewal]

see #37 in the o.g. diagnostic section for a sample problem that uses this "__self" in the correct answer.

in that problem, "__self" is certainly not a necessary decision point; there are plenty of other criteria that can be used to eliminate the wrong answers.
however, if a student mistakenly thinks "itself" is incorrect or redundant, then (s)he may mistakenly cross off the correct answer! so, it's important to know at least that this construction exists.