<p>I know that the syntax “he had to choose between playing X and playing Y” is correct. What about “he had to choose between playing X and Y”? Is that correct or incorrect? I can’t decide whether the verb ‘playing’ carries over to Y.</p>
<p>It doesn’t. In the latter sentence, “X and Y” can be one thing, like “Chutes and Ladders”, in which case the sentence is incomplete. But the reader, if unfamiliar with the game, wouldn’t know if X is one game and Y another, or if it’s really only one game with the alternative missing.</p>
<p>Uh… that’s really not what I mean.</p>
<p>Okay, replace X with soccer and Y with football. Is “he had to choose between playing soccer and football” correct? or is ONLY “he had to choose between playing soccer and playing football” correct?</p>
<p>i believe that even though playing x and y would be normally correct, college board demands as much parallelism as possible therefore playing x and playing y would bhe correct in this case. but i may be wrong</p>
<p>I just ran into a similar problem…</p>
<p>which of the following is (are) acceptable?
He felt like he was swimming in a pool, rather than the sea.
He felt like he was swimming in a pool, rather than in the sea.
He felt like he was swimming in a pool, rather than swimming in the sea.</p>
<p>I would choose</p>
<p>“He felt like he was swimming in a pool, rather than in the sea.”</p>
<p>
Actually, with grammar, this is where you’re getting into trouble. To determine if the parallel structure is correct, you do in fact use the X and Y factor, and consider if any combination of X and Y makes the sentence incorrect. Since the example I gave makes the sentence incorrect or confusing, even if your sentence isn’t confusing, the construct is wrong.</p>
<p>Dude, I’m just not talking about Chutes and Ladders. Of course if X and Y is one object then we have an incomplete phrase… that’s really not the issue!</p>