Examkin

Question

Difficulty: MediumParallel Structure

During the dry season, the nomadic herders survived by migrating to higher elevations, digging shallow wells in dry riverbeds, and traded handwoven textiles for grain in local markets.

Which choice most effectively maintains the parallel structure of the sentence?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. tradingAnswer
  3. C
    they traded
  4. D
    to trade

Answer

The correct answer is the gerund 'trading' because it matches the '-ing' verb forms in the parallel list.
The correct option is 'trading' because it uses a gerund ('-ing' form) to match the grammatical structure of the preceding items in the series, 'migrating' and 'digging'. This maintains a consistent and parallel flow in the sentence.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the structure containing the underlined portion.
The sentence lists three parallel methods of survival: 'migrating...', 'digging...', and '[underlined word]...'.
Elements in a series must share the same grammatical form to maintain parallel structure.
2
Determine the grammatical form of the existing correct elements in the series.
The first two elements, 'migrating' and 'digging', are gerunds (verb forms ending in '-ing' functioning as nouns following the preposition 'by').
The final element in the list must also be a gerund to match the structure.
3
Select the option that matches this grammatical form.
The word 'trading' is a gerund and matches the pattern.
Choosing this option ensures that all three items in the list follow the same syntactic structure.

Key Concept

Parallel structure in a list or series requires all items to share the same grammatical category (e.g., all gerunds, all infinitives, or all nouns).
Rate this question

Topics

Parallel Structure

More questions from this topic