Practice GMAT Sentence Correction Question

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During the summer of 2008, an unemployed investment banker with over 25 years of experience named Joshua Persky made news by walking the streets of New York City's financial district in a suit with a sandwich board advertising his services. Many social commentators disagreed on the implications of this, either seeing Joshua's efforts as a desperate and unprofessional manner to seek a job or they viewed Joshua's strategy as a savvy means to attract attention to an overly qualified individual.

A)	either seeing Joshua's efforts as a desperate and unprofessional manner to seek a job or they viewed Joshua's strategy as a savvy means to attract attention to an overly qualified individual.
B)	either seeing Joshua's efforts as a desperate and unprofessional manner to seek a job or viewing Joshua's strategy as a savvy means to attract attention to an overly qualified individual.
C)	seeing either Joshua's efforts as a desperate and unprofessional manner to seek a job or viewing Joshua's strategy as a savvy means to attract attention to an overly qualified individual.
D)	either seeing Joshua's efforts as a desperate and as an unprofessional manner to seek a job or viewing Joshua's strategy as a savvy means to attract attention to an overly qualified individual.
E)	seeing either Joshua's efforts as a desperate and unprofessional manner to seek a job or they viewed Joshua's strategy as a savvy means to attract attention to an overly qualified individual.

Correct Answer: B

This question tests the idiom: either X or Y where both X and Y are parallel.

In the original sentence, the construction is not idiomatic: either seeing...or they viewed should be replaced by: either seeing...or viewing

the phrase either seeing...or they viewed does not following the proper idiom the author attempts to use: either X or Y where both X and Y are parallel
the phrase either seeing Joshua's efforts as...or viewing Joshua's strategy... is parallel
the phrase seeing either ... or viewing does not follow the idiom the author attempts to use: either X or Y where both X and Y are parallel
the second as an in the phrase seeing Joshua’s efforts as a desperate and as an unprofessional manner is unnecessary, wordy, and disruptive to the flow of the sentence
the phrase seeing either ... or they viewed does not follow the idiom the author attempts to use: either X or Y where both X and Y are parallel

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