Researchers have discovered a new species of sparrow that lives only in cypress groves, almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees and whose coloring is completely different from all other sparrows.

a that lives only in cypress groves, almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows in cypress trees and whose coloring is completely different from

b that lives only in cypress groves, is almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees, and has coloring completely different from that of

c living only in cypress groves, is almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees, and whose coloring is completely different from

d that lives only in cypress groves, almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees, and whose coloring is completely different from that of

e living only in cypress groves, depending almost wholly on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees, and having coloring completely different than

The correct answer is B.

The original sentence intends to identify a sparrow by the fact that it lives in cypress groves, eats certain berries, and has certain coloring. All these facts about the sparrow must be presented in parallel form. However, in the original sentence, these facts are presented in different forms. We need to find a choice that presents them all in parallel fashion. Moreover, "whose coloring is different from all other sparrows" is incorrect. The sparrow's coloring is different from the coloring of other sparrows, not from the sparrows themselves. We need to find a choice that makes this clear.

I'm having trouble understanding why B is parallel. I understand noun, adjective, verb, adverbial, etc. parallel structures, but more complex parallel structures are confusing me. Please let me know if you have any helpful hints. Thanks

aaa, I agree this is a tricky parallel construction problem. The key is to look for comparable sentence structures and make sure they are presented in a congruent manner.

In this sentence we are provided three pieces of information about the sparrow: it lives only in cypress groves, it is almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees, and it has coloring completely different from that of all other sparrows.

A. Lack second verb, causing both modifier and parallel construction errors
B. CORRECT. Presents list of verbs in congruent manner
C. Lacks parallel construction as living is not parallel to is
D. Lack second verb, causing both modifier and parallel construction errors
E. Verbs are parallel but awkward; simple past is preferable to -ing verbals.

Since your question was about parallel construction, these explanations focus solely on parallelism. Several additional grammatical errors are also contained with choices A, C, D, and E.

-dan