CAT -2 SC - To prevent businesses from moving,

[RAHULS852]

Hi Sage/ Manhattan Expert,

In C apart from 2 errors ( idiom & redundancy) 3rd error was mentioned as wrong parallelism.

Finally, the two groups' opinions of the tax breaks ("supporters describe those breaks…" and "they are denounced by critics…" are not written in parallel form.

I am not able to understand parallelism error. Is error about Active construction vs passive construction ?
But Ron stated in a post that these two type constructions can be parallel.

Jon stole the money but later caught by police.

Regards,
Rahul Singh

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

The word 'but' is usually a marker word for contrast. For example, 'Tim likes baseball, but I prefer soccer.'

In answer choice C, there is the following structure:
... supporters describe those breaks as vital tools to encourage economic development,
but
they are denounced by critics as "corporate welfare" for weakening the national economy.
Here it looks like we've got a contrast between 'supporters' and 'they [tax breaks]'. The sentence is clearer if we contrast 'supporters' with 'critics' as the subjects of the two clauses.

In my opinion it's too simplistic to say "one clause is active, and the other is passive, so that makes it not parallel and therefore wrong". I encourage you to consider whether the words clearly present the intended meaning of the sentence. However, note that this is not the only way to eliminate C; personally I would check for simpler issues before dealing with this one.

[RAHULS852]

Got your point.
Instead of Active vs passive, Contrast b/w "Scholars & they" is wrong;Therefore that part is not parallel.

Since you mentioned that In my opinion it's too simplistic to say "one clause is active, and the other is passive, so that makes it not parallel and therefore wrong".I would like to ask one more thing: Whether I should eliminate a choice based on active construction and passive construction ?

Regards,
Rahul Singh

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Whether I should eliminate a choice based on active construction and passive construction?

I would be really careful about this and wouldn't every eliminate an answer simply based on whether it's active or passive. There's a common belief that active constructions are somehow clearer or better than passive constructions. This isn't true. Passive constructions are really important and can give a useful emphasis different from active constructions. The only example I can think of in which active / passive may be relevant is SC 765 from OG 2019.

[RAHULS852]

Thanks Sage.

In SC 765 OG question I got your point about active & passive but I am not clear between "by animal overcompensating" and "growing an extra one or two".
I am changing few words of choices to avoid copyright issue.
B. with creature sometimes overcompensating and growing an extra one or two.( here "with" modifier defines the action of replacement)
C. sometimes by creature overcompensating and growing an extra one or two. ( here "by" defines how replacement occurs)

Is the error related with "and" ?
I am not able to understand meaning difference between B & C .

Regards,
Rahul Singh

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Here, 'by' is illogical, as the creature doesn't replace an arm by overcompensating (i.e. it doesn't replace an arm because it overcompensates), but replaces an arm and then goes on to overcompensate.

[RAHULS852]

Oh yes "by" is not making sense here and "with...." defines later part after replacement.

One more question is "If X(active) then Y(passive)" error right in this question ?

Regards,
Rahul Singh

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

I've thought about this problem quite a lot. I think that it's one of the toughest problems in the OG, and I'm pretty sure that you can get an excellent score over 700 without worrying about this problem (or at least, just taking a guess between B and E). I would say that the construction If X(active) then Y(passive) is not always incorrect, but, in this problem the construction in answer B is a bit clearer and therefore better. However, we're really on the edge of Sentence Correction here...

[RAHULS852]

I've thought about this problem quite a lot. I think that it's one of the toughest problems in the OG, and I'm pretty sure that you can get an excellent score over 700 without worrying about this problem (or at least, just taking a guess between B and E). I would say that the construction If X(active) then Y(passive) is not always incorrect, but, in this problem the construction in answer B is a bit clearer and therefore better. However, we're really on the edge of Sentence Correction here...

Wow Golden words for me

Yeah it's better to focus on grammar & meaning. Thanks for pointing these things.

Regards,
Rahul Singh

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

You're welcome.