I find C needlessly wordy, perhaps to avoid the possessive pronoun used
in A and B.  I'd prefer option

 

D)  college, changes that increased both educational quality and
effectiveness.

 

Herb

 

________________________________

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Steve Berk
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 12:35 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Grammar Question

 

Of the three variants of the underlined portion of the sentence below,
which is the best and why?  I'm trying to help my high school junior
improve her grammar skills, but I'm stumped by the problem below.  The
correct answer is given as "C."  While "C" seems fine to me, I don't
understand why "B" is deficient.  My daughter's workbook notes that "B"
is not parallel; however, I thought that in seeking to determine whether
parallel structure exists in a sentence, one need not pay attention to
items that modify the elements that are equal in placement, importance
and/or function.  Thus, regarding choice "B," I don't think that it
matters that "its educational" modifies "quality," but that
"effectiveness" has no modifier.  Thank you for your help.

Many changes occurred while she was president of the college, and they
increased its educational quality as well as effectiveness.

A)  college, and they increased its educational quality as well as
effectiveness
B)  college; these changes increased its educational quality and
effectiveness
C)  college; these changes increased both the educational quality and
effectiveness of the college 

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