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Is there a “would” in the implied “then” phrase? Yes! (I would live...).
Is the subjunctive in the infinitive without the “to” form? Yes! “To live.”
Here’s how the subjunctive works when expressing a wish:
I wish she were able to sing better NOT I wish she was able to sing better.
Rule #3: Parallelism ................................................................................
How to Find: A comma series (Andy hates to shop, clean, and cook) or linking words.
How to Fix: Put the verb or noun into the correct form so that the phrases (or words) of the sentence are
parallel (the same).
Let’s see how it works with a comma series:
Carol is well aware that if she wants to be a veterinarian she will need to go to college, study hard, and being
thick-skinned.
Identify your comma series and underline the verb forms as written:
Carol is well aware that if she wants to be a veterinarian she will need to go to college, study hard, and being
thick-skinned.
- “being” is NOT PARALLEL to “go” and “study.” Change to “be.”
Revised sentence: Carol is well aware that if she wants to be a veterinarian she will need to go to college, study
hard, and be thick-skinned.
The parallelism issue could also be fixed by applying the “to” to EACH of the verbs –
“...to go to college, to study hard, and to be thick-skinned.”
Let’s take a little detour from parallelism to talk about the word BEING.
Repeat after me: BEING is BAD. You should probably NOT pick an answer choice that contains the word
being unless the sentence reads “human being” or it needs to match another phrase in the sentence.
For instance: The student was being mature while the professor was being childish.
- In this case you need the second being to match the first and vice versa.
Other than that - eliminate answer choices with being in them!