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Difficulty: MediumParallel Structure

To successfully cultivate vanilla orchids, growers must carefully regulate greenhouse humidity, consistently monitor soil nutrient levels, and they must hand-pollinate each flower.

Which choice best maintains parallel structure in the sentence?

  1. A
    they must hand-pollinate each flower
  2. B
    hand-pollinating each flower
  3. hand-pollinate each flowerAnswer
  4. D
    hand-pollinated each flower

Answer

hand-pollinate each flower
The correct answer 'hand-pollinate each flower' maintains parallel structure by using a base verb form that matches 'regulate' and 'monitor'. All three verbs in this list function as bare infinitives completing the helping verb phrase 'must [verb]'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the items in the list and the grammatical pattern they establish.
The sentence contains a list of three actions governed by the helping verb 'must': 'regulate' (base verb) and 'monitor' (base verb).
Parallel structure requires all items in a list or series to share the same grammatical form.
2
Analyze the underlined portion to determine if it matches the established pattern.
The phrase 'they must hand-pollinate each flower' repeats the subject 'they' and the helping verb 'must', which breaks the pattern of simple base verbs.
Unnecessary repetition of subjects and helping verbs in a list violates parallel structure.
3
Evaluate the choices to find the one that completes the list with a base verb.
The phrase 'hand-pollinate each flower' uses the base verb 'hand-pollinate', matching the parallel structure of 'regulate' and 'monitor'.
Matching the grammatical category ensures syntactic consistency and flow.

Key Concept

Parallelism in a series of verbs requires all items to share the same grammatical form, especially when sharing a single helping verb like 'must'.
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Topics

Parallel Structure

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