Examkin

Question

Difficulty: EasyParallel Structure

To prepare for the deep-sea expedition, the marine biologists needed to calibrate their sonar equipment, test the water pressure chambers, and gathering core sediment samples. Which of the following alternatives to the underlined portion is correct?

  1. A
    gathering
  2. gatherAnswer
  3. C
    gathered
  4. D
    they gathered

Answer

gather
The correct option 'gather' maintains parallel structure in the sentence's infinitive list. The sentence establishes a series of actions that the biologists needed to perform: 'to calibrate...', '[to] test...', and '[to] gather...'. Using the base verb form matches the preceding verbs in the series.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the grammatical structure of the items in the list.
The list follows the infinitive marker 'to' and includes the base verbs 'calibrate' and 'test'.
Parallel structure requires that all items in a list share the same grammatical form.
2
Evaluate the underlined verb 'gathering' against the other items.
The verb 'gathering' is a gerund, which does not match the base verb forms 'calibrate' and 'test'.
A gerund cannot be parallel with base verbs in a simple infinitive series.
3
Select the option that matches the base verb form of the first two list items.
The option 'gather' is a base verb and perfectly completes the parallel sequence: to calibrate, [to] test, and [to] gather.
Using the base verb form restores grammatical parallelism to the sentence.

Key Concept

Parallel Structure in Lists
Estimated Time:45s
Rate this question

Topics

Parallel Structure

More questions from this topic