Parallelism with "and"

[GayathriS834]

Hi,

I was reading the discussion here https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... t4285.html and realized I routinely run into an issue when dealing with parallelism questions that use and as the parallelism marker. Namely, I routinely fail to identify WHERE the first parallel element starts when and or any open marker is used. Restating the example from the above link

Minnesota is the only one of the contiguous forty-eight states that still has a sizable wolf population. and
where this predator remains the archenemy of cattle and sheep.
(A) that still has a sizable wolf population, and where
(B) that still has a sizable wolf population, where
(C) that still has a sizable population of wolves, and where
(D) where the population of wolves is still sizable;
(E) where there is still a sizable population of wolves and where

In this sentence, one of the reasons given for E being a better sentence than A is that E 's parallel construct is superior. When I read the two sentences over and over again, I see why where ... where sounds better than where ..... that... . But I think I got this question wrong and picked A because I thought that the first phrase in A ends at states. In my mind, the two sentences then read "Minnesota is the only one of the contiguous forty-eight states that still has a sizable wolf population" "Minnesota is the only one of the contiguous forty-eight states where this predator remains the archenemy of cattle and sheep" And both of these statements seem correct to me. So is E simply superior because of the repeated use of "where" ? Where does the first parallel element start? Is there an easy sure shot way to identify where the first element starts? Thanks a lot for your help!

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

The ambiguity of where parallel elements begin and end around the word 'and' is certainly a challenge. It makes sentences with 'and' sometimes harder to analyze that those with something like 'either... or...'. There's a well-known problem about Joan of Arc that you can find on other websites that contains this.

As for the problem you mention, check out this thread and see if your question is answered there: https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... t4285.html