Question

which list item in this sentence is least parallel with the others? select the word group that applies.

javon yearns to lift weights, earn a doctorate, and repairing submarines.

Explanation:

🆕 New Concept Discovered: Parallel Structure
Matching grammatical forms in a list

Step 1: Identify the items in the list

The sentence contains a list of three things that Javon yearns to do:

1. "to lift weights"
2. "earn a doctorate"
3. "repairing submarines"

Step 2: Analyze the grammatical structure of each item

To have parallel structure, all items in a list must share the same grammatical form:

• "to lift weights" uses an infinitive verb phrase (\text{to} + \text{verb}).
• "earn a doctorate" uses a bare infinitive verb phrase (the "to" is understood from the first item: "to [lift weights], [to] earn a doctorate").
• "repairing submarines" uses a gerund (\text{verb} + \text{-ing}).

Step 3: Determine the non-parallel item

The first two items use infinitive verb forms ("lift", "earn"), while the third item switches to an "-ing" verb form ("repairing").

To make the sentence parallel, the third item should also be an infinitive: "Javon yearns to lift weights, earn a doctorate, and repair submarines."

Therefore, the item that is least parallel is "repairing submarines".

Answer:

repairing submarines