Multiple choice

Directions: This question presents a sentence, all or part of which is underlined. Beneath the sentence you will find five ways of phrasing the underlined part. The first of these repeats the original; the other four are different. If you think the original is best, choose the first answer; otherwise choose one of the others.

The great conflict generated by the debate in urban middle-class homes over love versus marriages is precisely because ninety percent men forget to buy vegetables, cook dinner on weekends, vet the dog, wrap the presents, and church fare, contrary to the expectations of their wives

  1. ninety percent men forget to buy vegetables, cook dinner on weekends, vet the dog, wrap the presents, and church fare

  2. ninety percent men forget to buy vegetables, cook dinner on weekends, take the dog to the vet, wrap the presents, and fare the church

  3. ninety percent men forget to buy vegetables, to cook dinner on weekends, to take dog to the vet, to wrap the presents, and to go to the church

  4. ninety percent men forget buying vegetables, cooking dinner on weekends, vetting the dog, wrapping the presents, and planning church fare

  5. ninety percent men forget to buy vegetables, cook dinner on weekends, take dog to the vet, wrap presents, and plan church fare

Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
E Correct answer
Explanation

The given option corrects the error of parallel structure. Each of the phrases starts with an action word. All the comparable sentence parts are structurally similar, thereby making the sentence correct.