The Duke of Northumberland

[thoughtrunner]

Fom the SC Advanced HW Bank. "Correct" answer is A, but isn't d) "he persuaded" accurate as well?

Perhaps parallelism trumps comma usage here, but this original sentence would seem more appropriate if the comma after monarchy was removed. To my knowledge the comma/conjunction combo is only appropriate/necessary when you have two independent clauses. Answer choice D would create such a sentence by introducing the subject "he", which seems to have a clear antecedent (duke of north). I would think that the more GMAT-esque "parallel" sentence would read: "the duke arranged a marriage and persuaded Edward".

Thoughts?

"The Duke of Northumberland, who feared the loss of his power and wealth if Mary Tudor were to succeed Edward VI, arranged a marriage between his own son and Lady Jane Grey by plotting with her parents to seize control of the monarchy, and persuaded the deathbed-bound Edward VI to write a will that named Jane, Edward VI’s cousin, successor to the throne.

*persuaded the deathbed-bound Edward VI to write a will that named
*persuaded the deathbed-bound Edward VI in writing a will that named
*persuading that a will be written by the deathbed-bound Edward VI to name


*he persuaded the deathbed-bound Edward VI to write a will that named


*persuading that the deathbed-bound Edward VI should write a will that named"

[supratims]

In fact A is the correct answer. As it follows parallelism.

The Duke of Northumberland, ....., arranged a ...., and persuaded ....

There is no place for 'he' here.

Consider a smaller statement, "The duke arranged and persuaded ... " -> this sounds good right. hence A

[thoughtrunner]

"The Duke arranged and persuaded" is parallel and correct. But this is not A's form.

"The Duke arranged, and persuaded" (A) has a redundant comma. Perhaps it's parallel but I don't think we'd see something like this on the actual GMAT.

"The Duke arranged, and he persuaded" (D) is also correct; the comma separates two independent clauses.

Thoughts Stacey?

Thanks!

[RonPurewal]

thoughtrunner, i agree with everything you've written. i'll submit this problem for revision.