The use of " ; "

[amysky_0205]

OG13-SC#26

[problem deleted by moderator]

I narrowed down the answer to BD.

I want to ask how to use the ";"
is D wrong because of the "they", we don't know what it exactly refers to?

thank u!

[Willy]

Tropical bats play important roles in the rain forest ecosystem, aiding in the dispersal of cashew, date, and fig seeds; pollinating banana, breadfruit, and mango trees; and indirectly help produce tequila by pollinating agave plants.

Here parallelism is at work. See the bold parts, all three parts should be in ING form. 3rd part is not parallel and that is what is corrected in option B.

In option D, parallelism is broken with the usage of 'they' and then same mistake (help) as it appears in option A is retained.

Here semicolon is used to separate lists within lists. I am not sure what would be the grammatical term for that but when we are given lists within lists we can use semicolon for that. Experts please?

[jlucero]

Here parallelism is at work. See the bold parts, all three parts should be in ING form. 3rd part is not parallel and that is what is corrected in option B.

In option D, parallelism is broken with the usage of 'they' and then same mistake (help) as it appears in option A is retained.

Here semicolon is used to separate lists within lists. I am not sure what would be the grammatical term for that but when we are given lists within lists we can use semicolon for that. Experts please?

amysky- can't replicate problems from the OG; instead, reference the problem # and an excerpt to ask questions.

willy- Correct. This is one of the lesser-known uses of semicolons, one that I've never before seen tested on the GMAT. Here's my favorite name for it- a super-comma:

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon

This link is more informative and much more entertaining than I can ever be with plain ol' text.

[Willy]

Sir, thank you for the link. It is really informative! :)

[tim]

The Oatmeal is my favorite source for grammar comics. i also like the comic by someone else about the "Oxford comma", or "Harvard comma", or as i like to tease Joe about, "Notre Dame comma". If you haven't seen it, do a Google search for "Stalin JFK" and thank me later.. :)

[Willy]

The Oatmeal is my favorite source for grammar comics. i also like the comic by someone else about the "Oxford comma", or "Harvard comma", or as i like to tease Joe about, "Notre Dame comma". If you haven't seen it, do a Google search for "Stalin JFK" and thank me later.. :)

Thank you! :) I just searched for "Stalin JFK" and found http://www.verbicidemagazine.com/2011/0 ... ial-comma/

I never thought English/Grammar people can be so much interesting. You guys rock! :-)

[tim]

:)

[JbhB682]

Hi - in option B, isnt there an issue regarding using a semi-colon followed by and ?

I thought FANBOYs could connect two clauses with a comma, not a semi colon...

[RonPurewal]

this thread should have been locked earlier. per GMAC's express request, we can't host or discuss OG problems on this forum.