Can I omit "be" verb in parallelism?

[gbyhats]

Hi Dear Manhattan Instructors,

Can I omit "be" verb in a parallel structure?

e.g.

Because this smart phone uses the Samsung's technology, "Chrome" can be run faster, "videos sharing" (can be) easier, touch screen (can be) more responsive.

[RonPurewal]

have you seen this issue actually tested in a problem produced by GMAC?

this sort of thing does exist in the english language, but i doubt GMAC would ever test it.
if they ever do test it, they'll make the other choices very obviously non-parallel, so that the choice remains simple.
so, either way, not worth worrying about.

[RonPurewal]

also, you seem to be missing the word "and", which is crucial in a structure like that one. (i'm also not quite sure what you're trying to do with the quotation marks.)

[gbyhats]

Hi Dear Ron :)

Thank you very much for your reply!!!

The reason why I ask is that I just want to know if this type of sentence works, considering you once said:

https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/forums/rock-samples-t7051.html?sid=3920b55a8b9a13838c78a63047390202

if the parallelism works WITHOUT the verb, then you don't need the verb.

example:

lola is 34 years old and thus is too young to compete in the Masters division.
lola is 34 years old and thus too young to compete in the Masters division.

these are actually BOTH correct. here are the parallel structures:
lola is 34 years old and thus is too young to compete in the Masters division.
lola is 34 years old and thus too young to compete in the Masters division.

Now I get you ideas, thank you! :)

And it's my bad to forget to add "and", thank you for pointing this out!!!

[gbyhats]

Regarding the quotation marks: I was told that (it seems wrong now) when I mention a specific noun into my essay for the first time, I need to put it inside a pair of quotation marks

Specific noun (a concept that I made up :) ) are nouns that people use specifically for that thing. Examples can be Microsoft, Lamborghini, or Seattle

[RonPurewal]

oh, ok. no, that's not a thing; if that were a thing, then absolutely every piece of english writing would be littered with quotation marks.

---------- NOTHING IN THIS POST HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE GMAT ----------

here's how this works: quotation marks are used to introduce a new term only when both of the following are true:
1/ the audience is (or can be expected to be) generally unfamiliar with the term, and
2/ the term is defined in the sentence.

e.g.,
When I'm parking my car, I get frustrated by "splicks", parking spaces that appear empty but turn out to contain small cars.
1/ well, i made up this word, so... unfamiliar? yep.
2/ i gave you a definition of "splick".

[RonPurewal]

---- NOTHING IN THIS POST HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE GMAT, EITHER ----

... so, the following sentence is NOT correct:
Mike's car is a "Lamborghini", one of the most expensive cars in production.

this doesn't work--even if the audience knows nothing about cars--because "lamborghini" is not a word that means "one of the most expensive cars in production". instead, a lamborghini is one of the most expensive cars.

if that's over your head, this will make it more clear:
• ron is a person.
• "ron" is NOT a word that means "a person".

in any case, this discussion should end here, because, as remarked above, it has absolutely nothing to do with the gmat. but i've never explicitly thought about these things before, so... cool.

[gbyhats]

Hi Dear Ron!!! :)

Thank you for your reply!!!

The moment I was responding your post, I didn't expect you to reply.

Honestly, I'm so happy to see your post! I remembered that in one post you said that "you are concerned that you seems to make things complicated by delving too much into every question students". But truth to be told, I LOVE to read your long post.

That's why we love you Ron!

--

A little bit off topic, just want to show my tons of thanks to you


As a non-native English speaker, I sometimes feel helpless about people's answers such as "this is wrong", "this is awkward", "Americans won't say that in this way". Even my college writing class teachers said those several times.

I know they want to help me. But, I'm really sorry, I know I'm wrong, but I don't know how to improve.

--

But you teach us in a very different way! Not only what we are wrong but also why we are wrong!

[RonPurewal]

As a non-native English speaker, I sometimes feel helpless about people's answers such as "this is wrong", "this is awkward", "Americans won't say that in this way". Even my college writing class teachers said those several times.

it takes a tremendous amount of careful thinking, analysis, and introspection to be able to give concrete answers to these sorts of things.

think about your own first language, whatever that might be: your understanding is going to be almost entirely intuitive. if you hear a foreign speaker making mistakes, you'll know that they are mistakes ... but you'll often struggle to put your finger on exactly why they are mistakes.

in order to answer the questions here, i usually have to make up several examples of the construction(s) in question, and then think carefully (for the first time!) about how, and why, those examples work.
this is why just about every one of my posts here contains concrete examples--those are the examples through which i've just reasoned out the answer myself.

in any case, thank you for the kind words.

[gbyhats]

Hi Dear Ron :)

I keep learning new things every time when I read your post!!!

in order to answer the questions here, i usually have to make up several examples of the construction(s) in question, and then think carefully (for the first time!) about how, and why, those examples work.
this is why just about every one of my posts here contains concrete examples--those are the examples through which i've just reasoned out the answer myself.

I LOVE this! Using while learning is the best way to learn. That's why my vocabulary size, writing skill, reading speed tripled after three years in the US.

[RonPurewal]

yep.

the human brain HATES "rules". it loves examples and analogies.

in fact, we have a word for having a large set of examples to which one can draw analogies.
we call that ...

(think about it, then scroll down)

[RonPurewal]

in fact, we have a word for having a large set of examples to which one can draw analogies.
we call that ...

... experience.


that's basically all "experience" is: a large set of remembered examples ("remembered" = either consciously or subconsciously, mostly the latter) that are available for analogies to the present situation.

note that experience is by far the most valuable form of human capital in the world.
think of how much we revere experienced individuals, in every field. that alone speaks a great deal to how much our brains love analogies.

(if our brains operated primarily on "rules", then experience would be essentially worthless. computers are entirely rules-based, and, obviously, it makes no difference at all whether a computer chip has lots of experience running programs.)

[gbyhats]

Hi Dear Ron!

note that experience is by far the most valuable form of human capital in the world.
think of how much we revere experienced individuals, in every field. that alone speaks a great deal to how much our brains love analogies.

Your look at things in a very different way! :)

Your words remind me of a passage I read in RC section in OG 13th:

The reason why we standardize the process of business decision making is to ease such process

(standardized processes give manager guidelines, thus, instead of starting from scratch, they can follow the guideline when making decision)

However,

It turns out that managers' experience let them make decision even faster.

That's the magic of "experience" !

--

Thank you Ron! You are a great great guru, not just a great instructor!!!

[RonPurewal]

Thank you Ron! You are a great great guru, not just a great instructor!!!

thanks, but, nah. i'm just pointing out things that people in "academic" situations tend to forget, but that are perfectly obvious in just about every other area of life.