Question

read each sentence and decide whether the underlined portion contains a mistake. if it does, identify the best way to correct or improve the sentence by choosing the appropriate alternative from the answer choices. if the underlined portion requires no correction or improvement, choose no improvement or correction is required. to prepare for a difficult task, it is a good idea to get good sleep, drink lots of water, and ate healthy snacks. lots of water, and did eat healthy snacks. lots of water, and eat healthy snacks. lots of water, and eating healthy snacks. lots of water, and will be eating healthy snacks. no improvement or correction is required.

Explanation:

The original sentence has a parallelism error. The first two verbs "get" and "drink" are in the base form (to get, drink), but "ate" is in the past - tense. In a list of verbs after "to" (in the infinitive phrase "to get..."), all verbs should be in the base form for parallelism.

• "lots of water, and did eat healthy snacks" has an incorrect verb form ("did eat" is not parallel).
• "lots of water, and eat healthy snacks" corrects the parallelism as "eat" is in the base form like "get" and "drink".
• "lots of water, and eating healthy snacks" uses the - ing form which is not parallel.
• "lots of water, and will be eating healthy snacks" uses a future - continuous form which is not parallel.

Answer:

lots of water, and eat healthy snacks