The largest trade-book publisher in the US

[Guest]

The largest trade-book publisher in the US has announced the creation of a new digital imprint division, under which it will publish about 20 purely digital works to be sold online as either electronic books or downloadable copies that can be printed upon purchase.

A) works to be sold online as either electronic books or
B) works to sell them online, either as electronic books or
C) works and it will sell them online as either electronic books or as
D) works, and selling them online as either electronic books or as
E) works, and it will sell them online as either electronic books or

This is a GMAT Prep question

My question is :- A " works to be sold online as either electronic books " how "to be" connects works , that is how it modifies works . Frist look it is passive voice

and in E it is catchy as "it will publish about 20 purely digital works , and it will sell them online as either electronic books or" seems parallel connect by co-ordinating conjuction. Then why A is correct and E is wrong? May be under which be wrongly interpreted for " under which <a new digital imprint division> it will sell them online as either electronic books

[RonPurewal]

your last sentence is spot on: e is wrong because it changes the meaning of the sentence.
* the original - which, remember, you can't change unless it's total nonsense - says that the publisher is making things which will subsequently be sold online, but it doesn't say by whom.
* choice e, on the other hand, asserts that the publisher itself is going to sell the things. that's an immense change in meaning (and moreover, how many publishers sell their own books online?).

you are also correct that the construction 'to be sold' is passive voice. in fact, the passive voice is necessary here, because you don't know who is going to be selling the books. (compare the analogous sentence 'there is still plenty of food left to be eaten').

[pbathia]

Is there any issue with the or vs. or as at the end of the sentence? I used this as a split and marked out anything with "or as" because it there is no as before downloadable copies.

[RonPurewal]

Is there any issue with the or vs. or as at the end of the sentence? I used this as a split and marked out anything with "or as" because it there is no as before downloadable copies.

the issue is the parallelism required by the 'either ... or' construction. in particular, because that construction has a leading word ('either'), it involves two clearly defined parts: the words coming between 'either' and 'or', and the words coming after 'or'. those two parts must have exactly the same grammatical construction.

so, the following are acceptable:
either as electronic books or as downloadable copies
as either electronic books or downloadable copies

the following are not acceptable:
as either electronic books or as downloadable copies (one 'as' outside, one inside)
either as electronic books or downloadable copies (one 'as' present, one absent)

you get the idea.

[Guest660]

works, and it will sell them ..

if the activities were parallel ... we would not need the comma..suggesting a new clause...

is this interpretation correct ??

[Jimmy]

I'd also say D and E are wrong because of the comma. The comma makes them a non-essential clause, and these statements are essential to the statement. Is this accurate?

[pmal04]

Hi Ron,
Can you please explain what's wrong with option B?
Is it because original says that the publisher is making things which will subsequently be sold online, but it doesn't say by whom while B does?
Thanks

[RonPurewal]

Hi Ron,
Can you please explain what's wrong with option B?
Is it because original says that the publisher is making things which will subsequently be sold online, but it doesn't say by whom while B does?
Thanks

nope.

if you use this construction - "they VERB1 to VERB2" - then you're implying that verb2 is the PURPOSE of doing verb1.

for instance:

the band created ten albums in five years, making several million dollars during that time --> the adverbial modifier just describes a consequence that occurred during that time

the band created ten albums in five years to make several million dollars during that time --> this means that making money was WHY the band created all these albums.

this doesn't make sense here (and also contradicts the meaning of the original). the selling of the books online is not the reason WHY the publisher is publishing the books.

[divineacclivity]

your last sentence is spot on: e is wrong because it changes the meaning of the sentence.
* the original - which, remember, you can't change unless it's total nonsense - says that the publisher is making things which will subsequently be sold online, but it doesn't say by whom.
* choice e, on the other hand, asserts that the publisher itself is going to sell the things. that's an immense change in meaning (and moreover, how many publishers sell their own books online?).

you are also correct that the construction 'to be sold' is passive voice. in fact, the passive voice is necessary here, because you don't know who is going to be selling the books. (compare the analogous sentence 'there is still plenty of food left to be eaten').

Thanks for your answer Ron; your explanations are alws v impressive.
I have a doubt here and that is:
I somewhere (in a book or an online forum which I dont recall but I surely remember that I did think while reading that it was a reliable source such as OG and hence the rule/info was worth remembering) read that original doesn;t mean the choice A necessarily. All choices are as original as choice A. By "original", an author (may be in OG explanations) means "the intent of the sentence".
So, here in this particular sentence, how would I know if the intent was to convey that the same publisher would sell or it is talking about book being sold in general by anyone. Please help here. Thanks.

[RonPurewal]

So, here in this particular sentence, how would I know if the intent was to convey that the same publisher would sell or it is talking about book being sold in general by anyone. Please help here. Thanks.

two considerations:

1/
the sentence is concerned with the activities of a "digital imprint" division. the word "imprint" strongly implies that we are talking about creating, but not necessarily distributing/selling, stuff.

2/
if you insert choice (e), you get a weird non-parallelism overall.
the publisher has announced the creation of a new division ...
and
it will sell [books] online...
remember, when you have any kind of parallel structure, you should be able to represent the parallel things reasonably as "#1 and #2", or as "(a) and (b)", or etc. these two things don't really pass that test.

more examples:
i have decided to take a new job, and i will make $100 per hour.
--> these don't make sense as "#1 and #2".
i like my new job, and i make $100 per hour.
--> these do.

[divineacclivity]

more examples:
i have decided to take a new job, and i will make $100 per hour.
--> these don't make sense as "#1 and #2".
i like my new job, and i make $100 per hour.
--> these do.

Ok, Ron, this is a new thing to learn. First of all, thanks.

Second, the second sentence, in the example you quoted above, changes the meaning to "I already have a job and I already make $100/hr".
How should we frame the first sentence correctly if we also want to retain the same meaning i.e. 1) only decision is taken 2) i haven't yet joined and it'll fetch me $100 per hour in future after I join it.

thanks in advance

[RonPurewal]

First of all, thanks.

you're welcome

Second, the second sentence, in the example you quoted above, changes the meaning to "I already have a job and I already make $100/hr".

it's not a "change" of meaning. if you say "change", you're implying that the sentences were supposed to have the same meaning, but they weren't.
the whole point is that the second example must have a different meaning, because the whole issue with #1 is that the two things don't make sense in parallel with "and". to create a sentence that actually makes sense, you have to give it an entirely new meaning.

How should we frame the first sentence correctly if we also want to retain the same meaning i.e. 1) only decision is taken 2) i haven't yet joined and it'll fetch me $100 per hour in future after I join it.

well, there are a million zillion ways to write any particular sentence, but here's one:
i have decided to take a new job, at which i will make $100 per hour.

[divineacclivity]

well, there are a million zillion ways to write any particular sentence, but here's one:
i have decided to take a new job, at which i will make $100 per hour.

I meant in the same fashion using "and". Ist sentence is how we usually converse in day to day life :)

[tim]

i'm not sure there's a question here. if there is, you're going to have to make it much more explicit and relevant to the GMAT. please understand that SC is about finding four WRONG answers, so i'm skeptical that what you appear to be attempting will be of any use to you in preparing for the GMAT..

[divineacclivity]

Oh, ok. I meant to ask if we could frame a correct sentence (using "and") that conveys the meaning same as this one:
"I have decided to take a new job, and i will make $100 per hour."

The above sentence is supposed to be wrong because the two sub-sentences are not parallel though I think this is how we converse normally :)