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Question

Difficulty: HardParallel Structure

To become a certified archivist, a candidate must demonstrate proficiency not only in preserving fragile historical documents but also in the organization of digital databases.

Which choice best maintains the parallel structure of the underlined portion in the sentence?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. in organizing digital databasesAnswer
  3. C
    to organize digital databases
  4. D
    organizing digital databases

Answer

The choice 'in organizing digital databases' correctly maintains the parallel structure of the correlative conjunction pair.
The correct option uses the prepositional gerund phrase 'in organizing digital databases'. In the sentence, the correlative conjunction pair 'not only... but also' connects two elements. The first element, which follows 'not only', is a prepositional gerund phrase: 'in preserving fragile historical documents'. To maintain grammatical parallelism, the second element, which follows 'but also', must have the exact same grammatical structure. Thus, 'in organizing' parallelizes perfectly with 'in preserving'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the correlative conjunction pair in the sentence.
The correlative pair is 'not only... but also'.
This identifies the structure that requires parallel elements.
2
Analyze the grammatical structure of the element following the first part of the correlative conjunction ('not only').
The phrase is 'in preserving fragile historical documents', which is a prepositional gerund phrase.
This establishes the grammatical pattern that the second element must follow.
3
Evaluate the options to find the one that matches this prepositional gerund phrase structure ('in' + gerund verb + noun phrase).
The phrase 'in organizing digital databases' uses 'in' followed by the gerund 'organizing', which matches the first element.
This ensures grammatical parallelism across the correlative conjunction.

Key Concept

Parallel Structure with Correlative Conjunctions
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Parallel Structure

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