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Researchers agreed that the study of new treatments for heart attack patients was extremely important but more research was needed to determine that balloon angioplasty preceded with ultrasound was or was not any better for heart attack patients than the balloon procedure by itself.
A. more research was needed to determine that balloon angioplasty preceded with ultrasound was or was not any better for heart attack patients than

B. more research was needed for determining whether or not balloon angioplasty preceded by ultrasound is any better for heart attack patients than is

C. that more research was needed to determine whether balloon angioplasty preceded by ultrasound is any better for heart attack patients than

D. that more research was needed to determine that balloon angioplasty preceded with ultrasound was any better for heart attack patients than

E. that more research was needed for determining that balloon angioplasty preceded by ultrasound is or is not any better for heart attack patients than is

What does this question test?

This question tests  your understanding of parallelism.  It expects you to identify the list in the sentence and word it appropriately to ensure parallelism.  It also tests your knowledge of usage of “to verb” vs. “for verb-ing”.  Lastly, it tests your ability to understand the meaning of the original sentence.

What does this sentence mean?

This sentence shows the 2 things that the researchers agreed upon.

1. The study of new treatments for heart attack patients was extremely important
2. But more research was needed to determine to efficacy of a the balloon angioplasty.

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What are the errors in the original sentence?

The sentence structure is as shown:

• Clause 1:  Researchers agreed
• Clause 2:  that the study of new treatments for heart attack patients was extremely important
• Clause 3:  but more research was needed to determine
• Clause 4:  that balloon angioplasty preceded with ultrasound was or was not any better for heart attack patients than the balloon procedure by itself.

This sentence has 2 errors.

Parallelism Error:  As discussed in the meaning analysis, the sentence shows things that the researchers agreed upon.  The first is shown in clause 2 beginning with “that”, the second in clause 3.  To maintain parallelism, clause 3 should be written as “but that more research…”.  This will make both clauses begin with “that”.  Note that in this case if “that” is not repeated, the sentence will become ambiguous in terms of the parallel list.  The following list may also be possible:

1. Researchers agreed that the study of new treatments…
2. But more research was needed…

This list is not the intended list because the contract expressed by the word “but” is no longer relevant since now these two are expressed as independent stand-alone facts.  Furthermore strictly from grammatical stand-point, this list results in two independent clauses and hence the punctuation is not appropriate.  Two independent clauses should be connected using ‘comma + but’ and not just ‘but’.

Wordy:  The use of expression “was or was not” is very wordy.  In this context, “whether” should be used.

Answer Choice Analysis:

Choice B:  This sentence has 3 errors:

Parallelism Error:  Similar to Choice A.

Idiom Error:  The expression “for determining” is incorrect.  The sentence intends to show the intention/purpose of the research and hence “to verb” should be used instead of “for verb-ing”.

Wordy:  The expression “whether or not” is wordy.  The correct expression is “whether”.

Choice C: No Errors

Choice D:  Meaning Error: The original sentence states that more research is needed to determine which procedure was better.  This sentence changes this intended meaning and implies that more research was needed to prove that procedure X was better than procedure Y.

Choice E:  This choice has 2 errors.

Idiom Error: ‘for determining’ – Similar to Choice B

Wordy:  ‘is or is not’ – Similar to Choice A

Thus, Choice C is the correct answer.

What are the key take-away messages?

1. Parallel clauses must begin with same word.
2. When the sentence explicitly stated “intention”, use ‘to verb’ instead of ‘for verb-ing’
3. Correct sentence should communicate the intended meaning and should be grammatically correct.

Where can you find more information?

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