The hognose snake puts on an impressive bluff, hissing

[divineacclivity]

It should be C. This choice has better parallelism than does choice E, and is phrased in a way that makes MUCH more sense. Choice E, while not strictly ungrammatical, is a 'garden path sentence' - one that reads incorrectly the first couple of times your eyes run over it, and that only makes sense if you go back and read it several more times. The specifics:

C:
The hognose snake puts on an impressive bluff,
hissing and rearing back, broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigning repeated strikes, --> note the parallelism between these two parts: both are in the form '(verb)ING and (verb)ING'

but it has no dangerous fangs and no venom, and eventually, if its pursuer is not cowered by the performance, will fall over and play dead. --> contains a key transition ('but'), and the start of a new clause (new subject & new verb), in just the right place - to mark the sudden transition/contrast between the stuff in the first half (all this intimidating behavior) and the stuff in the second half (it's all a big fake - snake oil, if you don't mind the pun).

E:
The hognose snake puts on an impressive bluff,
hissing and rearing back, broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does, feigning repeated strikes, but with no dangerous fangs and no venom,
These two items are falsely made to look like two more items in a series begun with 'hissing...' and 'broadening...'. In addition, there is NO emphasis on the transition 'but', because no new clause is begun at this point. That's bad, because there's a sudden huge shift in what the sentence is talking about at this point.
and eventually, if its pursuer is not cowered by the performance, will fall over and play dead.

Ron,

I may be asking a very very basic question here:

What I understand is that this sort of construction is normally considered wrong:
Gary walks to his school daily, and he buys a candy on his way back.
whereas the following is considered correct:
Gary walks to his school daily, and buys a candy on his way back.

So, based on the logic above, I rejected choice C because it had 'it' after 'but'. I'm not questioning the correctness of the right answer choice but I want to understand if that's always expected in case of a sentence with 'but'.
also, if such a construction always wrong for a sentence having 'and' (the example given above)

would the following be right or wrong:
Gary takes vitamin pills regularly, but stops taking those pills on purpose for a week after every three weeks so as to not let his body get habitual of the artificial supply of vitamins.

Gary takes vitamin pills regularly, but he stops taking those pills on purpose for a week after every three weeks so as to not let his body get habitual of the artificial supply of vitamins.

choice C:
broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigning repeated strikes, but it has no dangerous fangs and no venom, and

thank you for helping out.

[RonPurewal]

Nothing is wrong with either version.

The repeated subject isn't necessary, but "not necessary" is not the same as "wrong".

If it does appear, it will normally appear in sentences that are so long that they're extremely difficult to read without it.
(Try it yourself as an experiment: Write out the full sentence. Then take out the extra "it", and see whether the sentence is easy to understand in a single read-through.)

[divineacclivity]

Nothing is wrong with either version.

The repeated subject isn't necessary, but "not necessary" is not the same as "wrong".

If it does appear, it will normally appear in sentences that are so long that they're extremely difficult to read without it.
(Try it yourself as an experiment: Write out the full sentence. Then take out the extra "it", and see whether the sentence is easy to understand in a single read-through.)

Got your point. That's no wrong but just unnecessary & most likely such a thing would appear on a wrong answer choice unless it adds to the clarity of a sentence.

Thank you very much, Ron.

[thanghnvn]

this question test new words on sc. non native persons, not knowing of new words, can choose B. only by knowing the new words we know which elements should be parallel to which elements. and because this questions test new words , it is discriminate against the non natives.

[divineacclivity]

this question test new words on sc. non native persons, not knowing of new words, can choose B. only by knowing the new words we know which elements should be parallel to which elements. and because this questions test new words , it is discriminate against the non natives.

thanghnvn,
Practice makes a man perfect. Just give it your best and stay positive and you shall reach there.
Secondly, please don't think that it's just the score that matters. Your score is not plainly compared against the score of another applicant. If, in an ideal world, every aspect of your application weighs as good as a native person's, the evaluation committee would always bear in mind that you're a non-native applicant and hence verbal stuff does NOT come naturally to you. So, you never know when your lesser score weighs higher against another person's because maybe the bar for a score in verbal is higher for a native applicant.

[RonPurewal]

this question test new words on sc. non native persons, not knowing of new words, can choose B. only by knowing the new words we know which elements should be parallel to which elements. and because this questions test new words , it is discriminate against the non natives.

There's enough context here to deduce the meaning of the unfamiliar word(s).

E.g., if "bluff" is the problem, you can just look at what the sentence describes: The snake acts like a tough guy, but it's all fake. It's an act. That's what a "bluff" is.

[RonPurewal]

this question test new words on sc. non native persons, not knowing of new words, can choose B. only by knowing the new words we know which elements should be parallel to which elements. and because this questions test new words , it is discriminate against the non natives.

thanghnvn,
Practice makes a man perfect. Just give it your best and stay positive and you shall reach there.
Secondly, please don't think that it's just the score that matters. Your score is not plainly compared against the score of another applicant. If, in an ideal world, every aspect of your application weighs as good as a native person's, the evaluation committee would always bear in mind that you're a non-native applicant and hence verbal stuff does NOT come naturally to you. So, you never know when your lesser score weighs higher against another person's because maybe the bar for a score in verbal is higher for a native applicant.

More generally, you will be competing with other applicants like you.

This is basically common sense. It's like trying out for a sports team: Everyone tries out for a particular position on the team.
It makes no difference if there are lots and lots of exceptionally good players trying out for the other positions. They are not your competition.

B-schools likewise have "positions", as can be seen from just a momentary glance at their class profiles. All of them have strikingly similar distributions of sexes, races, professional backgrounds, nationalities, etc. (... and these distributions don't match the distributions among all applicants).
This is clearly not a coincidence; it's the result of choosing from these sub-pools of similar applicants, in exactly the same way a sports team would choose from different pools of players for each position.

[supratim7]

The hognose snake puts on an impressive bluff, hissing and rearing back, broadens the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does, feigning repeated strikes, but, having no dangerous fangs and no venom, eventually, if its pursuer is not cowed by the performance, will fall over and play dead.

(A) broadens the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does, feigning repeated strikes, but, having no dangerous fangs and no venom,
(B) broadens the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigns repeated strikes, but with no dangerous fangs and no venom,
(C) broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigning repeated strikes, but it has no dangerous fangs and no venom, and
(D) broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigns repeated strikes, but with no dangerous fangs and no venom, and
(E) broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does, feigning repeated strikes, but with no dangerous fangs and no venom, and

I ruled out A, B, D, E because I couldn't spot a logical referent for the highlighted modifiers. The referent can't be "its pursuer" and there is nothing such as "the snake will fall over".

Is my error analysis correct?

Many thanks.

[RonPurewal]

Basically, yes, you're right.

In A, which doesn't contain a parallel signal ("but"), that's the primary issue.

For B/D/E the concern is primarily the lack of parallelism ("...but with xxxx" isn't parallel to anything that precedes it), but your point is still valid.

[supratim7]

Thank you so much Ron :)

[RonPurewal]

You're welcome.

[soulwangh]

It should be C. This choice has better parallelism than does choice E, and is phrased in a way that makes MUCH more sense. Choice E, while not strictly ungrammatical, is a 'garden path sentence' - one that reads incorrectly the first couple of times your eyes run over it, and that only makes sense if you go back and read it several more times. The specifics:

C:
The hognose snake puts on an impressive bluff,
hissing and rearing back, broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigning repeated strikes, --> note the parallelism between these two parts: both are in the form '(verb)ING and (verb)ING'

but it has no dangerous fangs and no venom, and eventually, if its pursuer is not cowered by the performance, will fall over and play dead. --> contains a key transition ('but'), and the start of a new clause (new subject & new verb), in just the right place - to mark the sudden transition/contrast between the stuff in the first half (all this intimidating behavior) and the stuff in the second half (it's all a big fake - snake oil, if you don't mind the pun).

E:
The hognose snake puts on an impressive bluff,
hissing and rearing back, broadening the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does, feigning repeated strikes, but with no dangerous fangs and no venom,
These two items are falsely made to look like two more items in a series begun with 'hissing...' and 'broadening...'. In addition, there is NO emphasis on the transition 'but', because no new clause is begun at this point. That's bad, because there's a sudden huge shift in what the sentence is talking about at this point.
and eventually, if its pursuer is not cowered by the performance, will fall over and play dead.

Hi Ron,

some questions：

#1 can participle modifier parallel with prep phrase?
The cat ,eating fish and on the tree, stole the fish from my house.
Is this sentence right?
#2 can elements(at least three) be parallel to each other only by using "but",if one element is in a contrary meaning against the others? OR we must use "and" to group the similar elements in the first place, and then use "but" to combine the contrary element?
She got home, finished the house work, but didn't picked up the kids.
She got home and finished the house work but didn't picked up the kid.
Which one is the right one?

Thanks.

[tim]

You have asked two questions in #1. I can't understand the first question because there are too many grammar problems with it to figure out what you are trying to say. The answer to your second question is no.

You have asked three questions in #2. To address your first two, I haven't seen the GMAT use "but" to join a list of three or more things. Regarding your final question, neither of your sentences is "the right one".

[gmatkiller_24]

as to choice B：

The hognose snake puts on an impressive bluff, hissing and rearing back,broadens the flesh behind its head the way a cobra does and feigns repeated strikes, but with no dangerous fangs and no venom, eventually, if its pursuer is not cowed by the performance, will fall over and play dead.

can I construed the whole sentence as following:

the snake puts on an impressive bluff, but with XXX, (it) will fall over and play dead. (That is not a correct contrast)

the correct contrast is shown by the correct choice:
the snake puts on an impressive bluff, but it has no dangerous fangs and no venom

Please clarify, thanks!

[RonPurewal]

the correct contrast is shown by the correct choice:
the snake puts on an impressive bluff, but it has no dangerous fangs and no venom... and ... will fall over and play dead

Please clarify, thanks!

yes, although the complete core of the sentence includes both purple parts. (you can NEVER ignore half of an "x and y" construction.)