Source: MGMAT Exam(CAT)

Hello everyone!

I have a doubt in the below question:

According to anthropologists, the use of human language covers a wide spectrum from practical communication between people engaged in the same task to establishing hierarchy within a social group.
practical communication between people engaged in the same task to establishing hierarchy
communicating practically between people engaging in the same task to the establishment of hierarchy
practical communication between people engaged in the same task to the establishing of hierarchy
communicating practically between people engaging in the same task to hierarchy established
practical communication between people engaged in the same task to the establishment of hierarchy

The original sentence contains the construction "from X to Y," which requires parallelism between X and Y. In this case, X is the regular noun phrase "practical communication," but Y is the gerund "establishing". (A gerund is an "-ing" form of a verb acting as a noun, such as in the sentence "Swimming is fun.") We need to find a choice that puts both X and Y in the same grammatical form.

I couldnot understand as per the explanation mentioned with the choices,as why A violated
parallelism and how E corrects it?

Acoording to me establishing heres is a gerund(noun) and communication too is a noun.

Can someone please explain me as I am losing marks due to such minute things.

Thank you

OK. Let me give it a try with your example.

Swimming is fun.

How about : I like to swimming (How does it sounds ??)

How about : I like to swim (No problems)

Here is another example (focus on bold part):

Establishing business is definitely an arduous task, but to establishing business you need a huge capital investment. (How does bold part sounds???)

Establishing business is definitely an arduous task, but to establish business needs a huge capital investment. TO ESTABLISH is a noun

Establishing business is definitely an arduous task, but it takes huge capital risks for establishment of business. For establishment (prepositional phrase) of business (prepositional phrase)

Be sure not to confuse an infinitive--a verbal consisting of to plus a verb--with a prepositional phrase beginning with to, which consists of to plus a noun or pronoun and any modifiers.
Infinitives: to fly, to draw, to become, to enter, to stand, to catch, to belong
Prepositional Phrases: to him, to the committee, to my house, to the mountains, to us, to this address

Now, let’s look at the question:

From practical communication (Prepositional Phrase) between the people (Prepositional phrase) engaged in the same task to establishment of hierarchy (prepositional phrase) within a social group (prepositional phrase).


In part A, establishing is incorrectly used as gerund. After the word to, you need a base form of verb ( come, swim, take etc..) if you would like to make an infinitive) or pure noun (not verbal such as gerund) if you would like prepositional phrase.

Hope that helps!

I am not a grammar guru. MGMAT instructors can comments on this issue further.

Verbals retain some qualities of a verb. And “communicating”, “establishing” are verbals.
The sentence require parallelism between nouns. So the answer is E

Hi Mridul,

Thanks a lot! for detailing me about infinitives...infact,I could have ignored what you said
in another question.

But,in this question we have the idiom "From X to Y".So, "to" solves an idiomatic purpose here.

In "practical communication" and "establishing hierarchy".AS per the
explanation "establishing" is a gerund,but it looks like a Verb to me
Am I right? that establishing is a verb here?.I think instead of "establishment of hierarchy"
"hierarichal establishment" makes this sentence parallel.

Most importantly,Am I right,thinking that "establishing" in this sentence is a verb and not a Gerund....thanks

Aside to Amar: Amar Can you please explain a bit more,It can help me learn a new rule perhaps..thanks

Aside to MGMAT Team: Please throw some light on this issue,as we always earnestly wait for your expert advice...thanks to all

First off: Amar is absolutely right. A gerund may be a rather close approximation of a noun in many situations, but it isn't a true noun. Therefore, choice E, which actually contains two true nouns in parallel, is the best choice.

There's also a subtle difference in meaning between 'establishing' and 'the establishment of.' The former implies that the use of human language itself establishes hierarchy within a social group; the latter, on the other hand, implies (much more reasonably) that human language is only one tool used in the establishment of hierarchy, and is by no means the only such tool.

The first point, however, is MUCH more important, and, fortunately, much more clear-cut: noun-noun parallelism is preferable to noun-gerund parallelism (for the same reason that a straight flush is 'better' than a straight with different suits, I suppose).

A,B and D were an easy kill. I was debating between C and E and finally chose E.

Even though in C we have complex gerund phrase which can be parallel to nouns, we have a true noun ( often better) in E.

Is that a reasonable approach ?

Yes, that seems like a good approach. Again, noting Ron's post above, it sounds as though you've used parallelism properly.

Hi,
I had rejected E because of the 'the' in it but now I know i was wrong. My query: when I look for parallelism, i try to match articles like 'the' also ( the communication devices...and the establishment...). Was the question below a unique case or should I change my strategy?

Ron --

Is between used correctly here ?

Should it not be among people ?

”Between” is okay because there is nothing to indicate that the communication HAS to be among three or more people. Sree, change your strategy. You need to look for the same type of words (i.e. parts of speech), not identical words or other superficial similarity..

_________________
Tim Sanders
Manhattan GMAT Instructor