Parallelism Question || MGMAT SC Guide || Gerunds Type

[FA]

Hi,

I have gone through the parallelism part of MGMAT SC Guide (5th Edition) in detail (both Chapter 4 and Chapter 11). But, I am not 100% sure about how In can say with certainty if a gerund is simple or complex.

The guide says that simple gerund phrases cannot be parallel with complex gerund phrases. But, I do not understand that how we can be certain if a gerund, presented in a sentence WITHOUT an article or a modifier, is SIMPLE or COMPLEX. I have two questions and I am asking these questions on basis of two simple sentences that I have created myself.

Question-1: Are sentences 1 and 2 below correct?

Question-2: How do we know the type of gerund "running" is?

Sentence-1: I like running and brisk walking.
"brisk walking" = complex gerund phrase
But I AM NOT SURE ABOUT "running". Is it simple gerund or complex gerund?

Sentence-2: I like running and walking briskly.
Here:
"walking briskly" = simple gerund phrase
But I AM NOT SURE ABOUT "running". Is it simple gerund or complex gerund?

Regards
Farukh

[RonPurewal]

You should just ignore those terms; they won't help. (I don't even know what they mean.)

Parallelism isn't a complex idea. Just look at the two parts, and see how well they match up.
Remember, you're preparing for a multiple-choice test"”so there's no need to form "ideal" examples of parallelism. Just look at the different versions, decide which one matches up best, and keep it.

Both of your sentences are fine in terms of parallelism, but the first one ("running and walking briskly") is ambiguous: we don't know whether "briskly" is meant to apply to both activities or just to walking.
The second sentence is better because it has only one possible meaning.

[FA]

Thanks for the answer Ron!

Does that mean that instead of trying to focus on the following rules from the MGMAT SC guide:

1 - Complex Gerunds can only be parallel with Complex Gerunds or Action Nouns

2 - Simple Gerunds can only be parallel with Simple Gerunds

- we should instead focus on making the elements (1) logically (parallel ideas) and (2) mechanically parallel and focus on keeping the answer choice.

[RonPurewal]

Yes. Basically, don't make simple things complicated.

(I have no idea what those terms mean, and, worse, google doesn't seem to know either.)