parallelism between 2 clauses

[thanghnvn]

// Whereas high speeds generally cannot be achieved by ramjets without their initially being assisted by// a rocket, a scramjet, or supersonic combustion ramjet, can attain high speeds by reducing airflow compression at the entrance of the engine and letting air pass through at supersonic speeds.

(A) Whereas high speeds generally cannot be achieved by ramjets without their initially being assisted by

(B) Whereas a ramjet generally cannot achieve high speeds without the initial assistance of

(C) With ramjets, high speeds generally are not able to be achieved without initially being assisted by

(D) Unlike with ramjets, generally unable to achieve high speeds without the initial assistance of

(E) Although a ramjet generally does not have the capability of achieving high speeds without the initial assistance from

oa. e

we should learn from oa. this is from gmatprep. because you can see it all over the internet

we prefer the paralelism between subordinate clause and main clause. is that right?

[RonPurewal]

Similar ideas should, in general, be expressed in parallel constructions.
This is not a grammar issue. Just think about whether the ideas at hand are "bullet points", or "A and B", or "#1 and #2", or whatever.

E.g.,
(A) Ramjets do this.
(B) Scramjets do that.

These make sense as "A and B", or as "two bullet points". So, make them parallel.

[eggpain24]

But I got this one. OA is B

E is wrong because of these two following error

capability of doing is unidiomatic. → it should be “capability to do”

although is incorrect here → we need a comparison

I think although is correctly used in the context

where we mention “mitigating consequence” or “ paradoxical relationship” in the main clause

Please clarify

thanks，Ron！

[aditya8062]

i want to further add one more point, though this point is subjected to revision by RON, that nonliving things such as "ramjet" cannot have "capability" and "ability" .so for this reason i eliminated E

[jnelson0612]

i want to further add one more point, though this point is subjected to revision by RON, that nonliving things such as "ramjet" cannot have "capability" and "ability" .so for this reason i eliminated E

I would be very careful about this. I'm not sure that that is correct. Did you read this somewhere?

[gmatkiller_24]

But I got this one. OA is B

E is wrong because of these two following error

capability of doing is unidiomatic. → it should be “capability to do”

although is incorrect here → we need a comparison

I think although is correctly used in the context

where we mention “mitigating consequence” or “ paradoxical relationship” in the main clause

Please clarify

thanks，Ron！

I dont think the use of although is choice E is logical.

can some experts shed some light on this issue? Thanks!

[RonPurewal]

"although" is bad, but for reasons that are much too subtle to matter here.
for the purposes of this exam, "although = contrast" is good enough. (the two parts of this sentence do, in fact, contrast with each other.)

beyond that, you should look for other, more fundamental, problems.

[RonPurewal]

*** YOU DO NOT NEED TO KNOW ANYTHING IN THIS POST FOR THE EXAM ***

in case you're wondering--

"Although xxxx, yyyy" implies that, given xxxx, we normally wouldn't expect yyyy--but yyyy is true nonetheless.
e.g.,
Although I left home twenty minutes late, I still arrived at work on time.
--> the point is that, given my late departure, i could reasonably have been expected to be late to work. nonetheless, for some reason, i still managed to make it on time.

"Whereas xxxx, yyyy", on the other hand, is used to present two things that contrast in some way, but are essentially unrelated to each other.
e.g.,
Whereas Dartmouth is in a remote area with harsh winters, Stanford is in a large metropolitan area whose climate is mild year-round.
--> it would make no sense to write this sentence with "although", because neither observation would yield any expectation about the other.

[750plus]

Dear Team,

Is the usage of 'being' incorrect in options A and C.

Regards

[RonPurewal]

the word 'being' itself is not problematic.

on the other hand, because the subject in those two choices is 'high speeds' (as opposed to 'ramjet'), those modifiers end up having a nonsense meaning—they suggest that high speeds receive 'assistance'.

[RonPurewal]

analogy:

You can reactivate your account by paying a fee.
(correct)

*Your account can be reactivated by paying a fee.
(nonsense—implies that YOUR ACCOUNT pays a fee!)

[750plus]

analogy:

You can reactivate your account by paying a fee.
(correct)

*Your account can be reactivated by paying a fee.
(nonsense—implies that YOUR ACCOUNT pays a fee!)

Thanks. It helps.

Regards

[RonPurewal]

no problem.

just make sure to invent your own (SIMPLE) examples for any new point of learning. then you can reason by analogy from those examples—since that's how the human brain learns best.

[aflaamM589]

analogy:

You can reactivate your account by paying a fee.
(correct)

*Your account can be reactivated by paying a fee.
(nonsense—implies that YOUR ACCOUNT pays a fee!)

// Whereas high speeds generally cannot be achieved by ramjets without their initially being assisted by// a rocket, a scramjet, or supersonic combustion ramjet, can attain high speeds by reducing airflow compression at the entrance of the engine and letting air pass through at supersonic speeds.

(A) Whereas high speeds generally cannot be achieved by ramjets without their initially being assisted by

(C) With ramjets, high speeds generally are not able to be achieved without initially being assisted by

For A-->doesn't without correctly going back to ramjets ( adjectivial)
For C--> I assimilated your reasoning perfectly.
What am i missing in A?

[RonPurewal]

"without assistance" is describing how ramjets can or can't achieve high speeds.

it's not directly describing the noun "ramjets" (it's clearly not an inherent quality of the ramjets themselves).