Human activity on the continent of Antarctica (SC-MGMAT VER)

[K. Ali]

Hi Stacey!
Please read my question at the end of this post.

Source: MGMAT CAT 3 VERBAL SC

Human activity on the continent of Antarctica is regulated by the Antarctic Treaty, which was signed in 1959 by 12 countries and prohibits any military activity, supports scientific research, and is giving protection to the continent's ecozone.

A- which was signed in 1959 by 12 countries and prohibits any military activity, supports scientific research, and is giving protection to the continent's ecozone

B- which was signed in 1959 by 12 countries and prohibits any military activity, supports scientific research, and protects the continent's ecozone

C- which, had being signed in 1959 by 12 countries, prohibits any military activity, supports scientific research, and protects the continent's ecozone

D -which was signed in 1959 by 12 countries prohibiting any military action, and supporting scientific research and the continent’s resource protection

E- having been signed in 1959 by 12 countries and prohibits any military activity, supports scientific research, and protects the continent's ecozone
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The correct answer is (B)
I selected this option in the first place, but I eliminated (B) because I thought the sentence has word "WAS" at the beginning and then It have all PRESENT TENSE words prohibits, supports scientific research, and protects the continent's ecozone.

I was confused why D is not correct as it is grammatically correct. The whole sentence is in PAST. On the other hand, B is half in PAST and half in PRESENT tense.

Please explain.
Thanks

[tim]

D is NOT grammatically correct. It has terrible parallelism problems. As for B, I cannot stress strongly enough that the tenses do NOT have to be the same in order for two parts of a sentence to be parallel. As long as they are both conjugated verbs, that is good enough. In fact, sometimes circumstances REQUIRE a shift in tense in order to make any sense. See problem 42 in the OG12 for a good example of this..

One other thing to notice is that B is an example of parallelism within parallelism. This has nothing to do with the question that was asked, but it's interesting to note these when you see them and pay attention to their structure in case you see something like this again in the future..

[MeghaV725]

Hey Tim,

Can u please guide me on whats wrong with E ?

[tim]

Parallelism. Can you find it?

[NhungN522]

Hi Tim,

I think "prohibit..", "support..." & "protect..." help to clarify the clause that the treaty was signed...?

Why this is not correct here?

Please kindly help to explain.

[RonPurewal]

for which choice(s), and/or against which choice(s), are you trying to argue?

[AbhishekA968]

Hi Ron,

in options B: which was signed in 1959 by 12 countries and prohibits any military activity, supports scientific research, and protects the continent's ecozone

I have a doubt, the" and" (colored in red) is connected to which part of the sentence (or to which part it is parallel). Is it connected to the "was signed in" part or connected to "is regulated" ?

I read you answer that it is an example of parallelism within parallelism. But I am not able to figure it out, can you please help me.

[cgentry]

Hi Ron,

in options B: which was signed in 1959 by 12 countries and prohibits any military activity, supports scientific research, and protects the continent's ecozone

I have a doubt, the" and" (colored in red) is connected to which part of the sentence (or to which part it is parallel). Is it connected to the "was signed in" part or connected to "is regulated" ?

I read you answer that it is an example of parallelism within parallelism. But I am not able to figure it out, can you please help me.

I'm not Ron, but let's see if I can shed some light on this!

There are two sets of parallel verbs in the original sentence: two parallel verbs for the independent clause, and two parallel verbs for what I call the modifier clause.

The modifier clause is separated from the independent clause by commas: ", which was signed...and prohibits... ,".

The independent clause is "Human activity...is regulated...and is giving."

[znT396]

Hi cgentry,

In choice B, are you saying that “signed…and prohibits…“ and “supports….and protects…” are the two sets/ pairs of parallel verbs. Is that why the confusing “and” is there in “was signed in 1959 by 12 countries and prohibits any military activity”

Thank you!

[RonPurewal]

remember, the FIRST STEP of sentence correction is to establish WHAT THE SENTENCE IS SUPPOSED TO SAY.

this sentence mentions when this agreement was signed. this item is not part of a list, since the sentence does not mention anything else that's like it.

the sentence then goes on to mention THREE things that the agreement does (prohibits X, supports Y, and protects Z). these three are found in a list.

[yo4561]

I see the proper parallel structure "prohibits, supports, and protects." However, I was a bit thrown off by the "and" before prohibits. Does this not lead to a double "and" because this "and" is part of the root phrase, resulting in "and and protects the continent's ecozone."?  

[esledge]

I see the proper parallel structure "prohibits, supports, and protects." However, I was a bit thrown off by the "and" before prohibits. Does this not lead to a double "and" because this "and" is part of the root phrase, resulting in "and and protects the continent's ecozone."?  

I agree with Ron's earlier point that this is sort of parallelism within parallelism, but it's somewhat different than the typical example of this. The typical setup would be a list in which one of the items has its own list:

I enjoy ice cream with sprinkles, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream and apple pie.
--Top list: things I enjoy (ice cream and apple pie)
--2nd level list: things that are ice cream toppings
Sometimes, the GMAT will use "as well as" to differentiate one of those "and"s from the other:
I enjoy ice cream with sprinkles, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream, as well as apple pie.

The question in this thread is a little different, as all four of the verbs do indeed go with the Treaty, but there's just a meaning difference: passive "was signed" is something that was done to the Treaty, and the other three are active verbs that the Treaty does.

Personally, I might like (B) a little more if the "which" were repeated before the last three items (but B is not wrong without it):

...regulated by the Antarctic Treaty, which was signed in 1959 by 12 countries and which prohibits any military activity, supports scientific research, and protects the continent's ecozone.