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akhil.kathuria
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Parallelism and "And"

by akhil.kathuria Fri Oct 23, 2009 4:52 pm

Need some help in getting my concepts clear with And. The question mentioned below is from Grockit.

Recently implemented "virtual lectures" conducted remotely at the request of college students have reduced test scores, grades, discussion among students, and have increased student retention of the material

A) discussion among students, and have increased
B) discussion among students, and increased
C) and discussion among students while increasing
D) lowered discussion among students, but increased
E) and discussion among students was reduced while increasing

OA - C

Here i am clear with the reasoning for C - Implementing virtual lectures has reduced test scores, grades, and discussion among students. However, it has increased retention of the material. For sentence clarity, the list of three elements that have been improved require "and" before the final element. Also, contrast is needed between these three negative effects and the one positive outcome (increased retention).

Problem: "while increasing" in the correct answer C, i dont think its parallel with the first line - "virtual lectures" reduced (i think it should be increased) but since its the best posssible option out of all so C might be correct. Its just that i want to be clear if my concepts are clear. How can i re-phrase the answer choice to make it perfect?
1. and discussion among students, and have increased
2. and discussion among students, but have increased

Is it ok the way i wrote in 1 and 2 above? Please explain?
gnetiq
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Re: Parallelism and "And"

by gnetiq Fri Oct 23, 2009 5:14 pm

akhil.kathuria Wrote:Problem: "while increasing" in the correct answer C, i dont think its parallel with the first line - "virtual lectures" reduced (i think it should be increased) but since its the best posssible option out of all so C might be correct. Its just that i want to be clear if my concepts are clear. How can i re-phrase the answer choice to make it perfect?
1. and discussion among students, and have increased
2. and discussion among students, but have increased

Is it ok the way i wrote in 1 and 2 above? Please explain?


Hi Akhil, I think you are on the right track with your understanding of C as the correct answer, but perhaps you should not spend too much time on making the answer choices perfect. :)

Noticed "but" above in bold? Similarly, (as you rightly mentioned the need for contrast) I think "and discussion among students, but have increased" would be a better option. I say better, not the perfect :)
RonPurewal
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Re: Parallelism and "And"

by RonPurewal Sat Nov 28, 2009 5:01 am

akhil.kathuria Wrote:Need some help in getting my concepts clear with And. The question mentioned below is from Grockit.

Recently implemented "virtual lectures" conducted remotely at the request of college students have reduced test scores, grades, discussion among students, and have increased student retention of the material

A) discussion among students, and have increased
B) discussion among students, and increased
C) and discussion among students while increasing
D) lowered discussion among students, but increased
E) and discussion among students was reduced while increasing

OA - C

Here i am clear with the reasoning for C - Implementing virtual lectures has reduced test scores, grades, and discussion among students. However, it has increased retention of the material. For sentence clarity, the list of three elements that have been improved require "and" before the final element. Also, contrast is needed between these three negative effects and the one positive outcome (increased retention).

Problem: "while increasing" in the correct answer C, i dont think its parallel with the first line - "virtual lectures" reduced (i think it should be increased) but since its the best posssible option out of all so C might be correct. Its just that i want to be clear if my concepts are clear. How can i re-phrase the answer choice to make it perfect?
1. and discussion among students, and have increased
2. and discussion among students, but have increased

Is it ok the way i wrote in 1 and 2 above? Please explain?


idiomatically, it's ok to follow "while" with the -ING participle here. for official evidence, see here:
industrialization-and-modern-methods-usage-of-while-and-but-t1871.html

your #1 and #2 are both grammatically ok, but they make value judgments that the correct choice doesn't.
"while", in this context, emphasizes the simultaneity of the actions, without placing a connotation on the three aforementioned changes.

if context is meant to indicate that "reduced test scores, grades, and discussion among students" is a good thing, then "and" would make sense (since increasing student retention is clearly a good thing).

if the context is meant to indicate that "reduced test scores, grades, and discussion among students" is a bad thing, then "but" would make sense.

but -- we have no basis on which to judge whether "reduced test scores, grades, and discussion among students" is a good thing or a bad thing.