Question

Now even directors of off- Broadway productions, desperate for actors who are talented, charismatic, and aspiring more to a solid career in the theater than to the lucrative rewards and stardom proffered by movie moguls and studios, are turning to independent casting directors for guidance in assembling their casts.

• A. are talented, charismatic, and aspiring
• B. are talented, who have charisma, and who are aspiring
• C. have talent and are charismatic and aspire
• D. are talented and have charisma, and whose aspirations are
• E. are talented and charismatic, and who aspire

Hint:

When a list contains a mix of simple adjectives and more complex descriptions, it's often best to separate them into parallel clauses to maintain clarity and proper grammatical structure.

Answer 1

Answer: (E)

Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
This question tests parallelism and clause structure. The sentence describes the desired qualities of actors in a list. Items in a list should be grammatically parallel.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
The original sentence lists three qualities for the actors: 1. who are talented 2. (who are) charismatic 3. (who are) aspiring more to a solid career... The adjectives "talented" and "charismatic" are parallel. However, the third item is a verb phrase ("aspiring more..."), which breaks the parallel structure. It's not an adjective describing the actors in the same way "talented" and "charismatic" do. The desire for a theater career is a more complex idea that requires its own clause.
Let's analyze the options:

(A) Not parallel. "talented" (adjective), "charismatic" (adjective), and "aspiring" (participle acting as a verb) are not in the same form.
(B) Awkwardly structured and not parallel.
(C) Not parallel. Mixes nouns ("talent"), adjectives ("charismatic"), and verbs ("aspire").
(D) "whose aspirations are" is a dependent clause. It is not parallel with the initial adjectives "talented" and the noun "charisma".
(E) This is the best option. It creates a clear, parallel structure: "actors who [are talented and charismatic], and who [aspire more to a solid career...]." This structure uses two parallel relative clauses beginning with "who" to describe the actors.
Step 3: Final Answer:
The original list is not parallel. Option (E) corrects this by restructuring the description into two parallel clauses: "who are talented and charismatic" and "who aspire..." This creates a grammatically correct and logical sentence.