Parallelism Active verb - Passive Verb

[kchidepudi]

Tobacco companies, which have been shaken by a string of legal setbacks in United States , but which retain strong growth prospects in the developing world ,face an uncertain future.

Can you please explain how Passive verb form (have been shaken) and active verb form (which retain) are parallel?

Source: Manhattan GMAT

Thanks in advance
Saran.

[gauravmarwah_84]

Tobacco companies, which have been shaken by a string of legal setbacks in United States , but which retain strong growth prospects in the developing world ,face an uncertain future.

Can you please explain how Passive verb form (have been shaken) and active verb form (which retain) are parallel?

Source: Manhattan GMAT

Thanks in advance
Saran.

You point would have been valid in case the comma before the "but" was absent. (Please note that but is in the same category as "and". So remember, whenever you encounter a sentence with and / but make sure the two clauses joined by the and are parallel, provided they are not separated by a comma.) That's why these two portions of the sentence need not be parallel. And the use of which and but fits the context of the sentence very well which goes like this Past events--> Present events-->future event.

Hope that helps!!

P.S. thanks to the Manhattangmat staff for their amazing posts!!

[tim]

this is not true at all. here's the real scoop on this one: even with a comma, the "but" requires parallelism unless you have independent clauses on both sides. the thing is, this example IS parallel! conjugated verb on one side, conjugated verb on the other side; what's the problem? :) do NOT fall for the myth that verbs have to be in the same tense, prepositional phrases have to start with the same preposition, or whatever. it is enough that you have the same part of speech on both sides of the parallelism..

yes, it would be nice if the verbs matched more closely (and you should even prefer that if possible), but sometimes a change from passive to active or past tense to present tense is required by the context, as it is here. tobacco companies didn't shake themselves, but they are doing their own retaining. see #42 in the 12th edition OG for another example..

[kchidepudi]

Appreciate,
Thanks for your help.

[tim]

my pleasure..