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Because of wireless service costs plummeting in the last year, and as mobile phones are increasingly common, many people now using their mobile phones to make calls across a wide region at night and on weekends, when numerous wireless companies provide unlimited airtime for a relatively small monthly fee.

A. Because of wireless service costs plummeting in the last year, and as mobile phones are increasingly common, many people

B. As the cost of wireless service plummeted in the last year and as mobile phones became increasingly common, many people

C. In the last year, with the cost of wireless service plummeting, and mobile phones have become increasingly common, there are many people

D. With the cost of wireless service plummeting in the last year and mobile phones becoming increasingly common, many people are

E. While the cost of wireless service has plummeted in the last year and mobile phones are increasingly common, many people are

What does this question test?

This question tests your understanding of parallelism.  It also tests your skill in identifying all SV pairs in the sentence.  Additionally, it tests your ability to select the choice that communicates the intended meaning without any change or distortion.

What does this sentence mean?

This sentence presents a cause and effect sequence.  The stated effect is – many people are now using their mobile phones to make calls across a wide region at night and on weekends.  During nights and weekends, the wireless companies provide unlimited airtime at a low price.  This effect has happened because of the following two reasons:

1. Wireless service costs have plummeted in the last year
2. Mobile phones have become very common

What are the errors in the original sentence?

The sentence has following structure:

• Clause 1:  Because of wireless service costs plummeting in the last year, and as mobile phones are increasingly common,
• Clause 2:  many people now using their mobile phones to make calls across a wide region at night and on weekends,
• Clause 3:  when numerous wireless companies provide unlimited airtime for a relatively small monthly fee.

This sentence has 2 errors:

Fragment Error:  Clause 1 has no verb for the subject – people.  Note that verb-ing not used with is/are/was/were/am does not act as the verb of the sentence.

Parallelism Error:  As discussed in meaning analysis, the two causes for the stated effect should be parallel.  In this case, first cause is a phrase while second cause is a clause.  Thus, this list is not parallel.

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Answer Choice Analysis:

Choice A:  Because of wireless service costs plummeting in the last year, and as mobile phones are increasingly common, many people now using their mobile phones to make calls across a wide region at night and on weekends, when numerous wireless companies provide unlimited airtime for a relatively small monthly fee.

This choice has fragment and parallelism errors.

Choice B:  As the cost of wireless service plummeted in the last year and as mobile phones became increasingly common, many people now using their mobile phones to make calls across a wide region at night and on weekends, when numerous wireless companies provide unlimited airtime for a relatively small monthly fee.

This choice has fragment error similar to Choice A.  Note that the parallelism error of choice A has been corrected in this choice.  The two elements in the list are now clauses beginning with “as”.

Choice C:  In the last year, with the cost of wireless service plummeting, and mobile phones have become increasingly common, there are many people now using their mobile phones to make calls across a wide region at night and on weekends, when numerous wireless companies provide unlimited airtime for a relatively small monthly fee.

This choice distorts the meaning of the sentence.  In this sentence, it is no longer clear what happened “in the last year”.  Did both causes happen in the last year or did the effect take place in the last year.  Per the original sentence, it is clear that one of the causes – decrease in the wireless service costs – took place in the last year.  This choice also has parallelism error similar to Choice A. It is also wordy – there are many people – is wordier than – many people are.

Choice D. With the cost of wireless service plummeting in the last year and mobile phones becoming increasingly common, many people are now using their mobile phones to make calls across a wide region at night and on weekends, when numerous wireless companies provide unlimited airtime for a relatively small monthly fee.

No errors.  The two causes are now parallel phrases.

Choice E. While the cost of wireless service has plummeted in the last year and mobile phones are increasingly common, many people are now using their mobile phones to make calls across a wide region at night and on weekends, when numerous wireless companies provide unlimited airtime for a relatively small monthly fee.

This choice has parallelism error.  Even though the two causes are expressed using clauses, different verb tenses have been used without a definite reason.  Different verb tenses can be used but there should be a good reason for the same.  Furthermore, the use of “while” is incorrect.  In the context of this sentence, “while” is used to present a contrast.  But the intended meaning does not express a contrast.

Thus, Choice D is the correct answer.

What are the key take-away messages?

1. Phrases cannot be parallel to clauses and vice versa.
2. The correct sentence must communicate the intended meaning of the sentence without any distortion.
3. Each clause must have a subject-verb pair.
4. Word choice should be appropriate to communicate the intended meaning.  If the sentence does not express contrast, then “contrast indicator” words should not be used.

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