Is this true?

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
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<p>I'm reading this grammar thing and while reading gerunds, I had a question.</p>

<p>Let's say your SAT question was this: </p>

<p>[In my family], Thanksgiving dinner usually causes two or more family members [to engage in] a screaming match, [thus preventing] the meal [to be completed].</p>

<p>The error is "TO BE COMPLETED" because: This phrase should read thus preventing the meal from being completed, changing the infinitive to be to the conjugated form, being. That change preserves the parallel structure with the gerund preventing in the last clause.</p>

<p>Does sparknotes mean that in ANY phrase, every verb(i guess?) must match the entire sentence. </p>

<p>Like: if you had a gerund in the clause, then every verb must be a gerund? And vice versa for the infinitive?</p>

<p>sorry if that confused/didn't make sense at all. I just don't get it :(</p>

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<p>Actually, I think the answer to this question is that one writes either “prevent” as in “prevent a catastrophe” or “prevent from” as in “prevent from entering.” That is, the word “prevent” takes either a noun or a prepositional phrase. “Prevent” is not normally followed by the infinitive form, e.g. “to be” or “to [active verb].” </p>

<p>To answer your question, no, every verb does not have to match in the entire sentence! The forms that should match are those that are required to be parallel. Normally these are verbs that are joined by “and,” “but,” or “or,” although “nor” also takes parallel forms, and there might be a few others.</p>