gerunds parallel qustion

[Milkshake99]

While larger banks can afford to maintain their own data-processing operations, many smaller regional and community banks are finding that the cost associated with upgrading data-processing equipment and with the development and maintenance of new products and technical staff are prohibitive.
A. cost associated with
B. costs associated with
C. costs arising from
D. cost of
E. costs of



OA: B
in the SC book, simple gerunds can not be parallel to complex gerund phrases.

in answer B, with upgrading data-processing equipment is parallel to with the develpment..

is this correct because there is with before the gerunds
or upgrading is an adjective here ??

can someone help me?

thanks

[Moderator's Note: http://www.mba.com/the-gmat/test-struct ... stion.aspx]

[jlucero]

While larger banks can afford to maintain their own data-processing operations, many smaller regional and community banks are finding that the cost associated with upgrading data-processing equipment and with the development and maintenance of new products and technical staff are prohibitive.
A. cost associated with
B. costs associated with
C. costs arising from
D. cost of
E. costs of



OA: B
in the SC book, simple gerunds can not be parallel to complex gerund phrases.

in answer B, with upgrading data-processing equipment is parallel to with the develpment..

is this correct because there is with before the gerunds
or upgrading is an adjective here ??

can someone help me?

thanks

[Moderator's Note: http://www.mba.com/the-gmat/test-struct ... stion.aspx]

Correct. By repeating the "with" it clearly and unambiguously tells us the things that need to be parallel. You are now comparing two prepositional phrases that include different types of gerunds, rather than comparing two different types of gerunds.

[JbhB682]

While larger banks can afford to maintain their own data-processing operations, many smaller regional and community banks are finding that the cost associated with upgrading data-processing equipment and with the development and maintenance of new products and technical staff are prohibitive.
A. cost associated with
B. costs associated with
C. costs arising from
D. cost of
E. costs of



OA: B
in the SC book, simple gerunds can not be parallel to complex gerund phrases.

in answer B, with upgrading data-processing equipment is parallel to with the develpment..

is this correct because there is with before the gerunds
or upgrading is an adjective here ??

can someone help me?

thanks

[Moderator's Note: http://www.mba.com/the-gmat/test-struct ... stion.aspx]

Correct. By repeating the "with" it clearly and unambiguously tells us the things that need to be parallel. You are now comparing two prepositional phrases that include different types of gerunds, rather than comparing two different types of gerunds.

Hi Joe / Sage

X and Y markers have to be prepositional phrases

Hence why doesn't "FROM" or "OF" work in C and E respectively

"FROM" or "OF" are prepositional marker too (like "with")

My understanding is the prepositional markers could be different and still maintain parallelism (but perhaps i am mistaken ?)

Thank you

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Sure, the prepositions in parallel sentences don't have to be same for the elements to be parallel, but let's analyze answers C and E in more depth.

(C) ...many smaller regional and community banks are finding that the costs arising from upgrading data-processing equipment and with the development and maintenance of new products and technical staff are prohibitive.

If I understand you correctly, you're saying that 'from upgrading...' could be parallel with 'with the development...'. However, match the second of those elements to the root phrase: 'the costs arising with the development'. The idiom 'arising with' doesn't match the intended meaning here.

(E) ...many smaller regional and community banks are finding that the costs of upgrading data-processing equipment and with the development and maintenance of new products and technical staff are prohibitive.

Similarly, the root phrase '...finding that the costs' doesn't give a logical meaning with the second element: '...finding that the costs with the development...'.