Question 26·Medium·Form, Structure, and Sense
Architect Julia Morgan not only designed more than 700 buildings throughout her career but also ______, ensuring that each project reflected both structural soundness and aesthetic harmony.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For SAT Standard English "complete the sentence" questions, first spot any signal structures like "not only ... but also ..." or "both ... and ..." that require parallelism. Underline the key verb or phrase before the blank, then make sure the option you choose after the blank matches that form (same tense and structure). Quickly eliminate choices with unnecessary commas, tense shifts, or "-ing" forms that do not line up with the first part. When in doubt, read the full sentence with each remaining option and choose the one that sounds both smooth and structurally balanced.
Hints
Notice the correlative conjunction
Look at the words "not only" and "but also." These usually connect two parts of a sentence that should have the same grammatical form.
Match the verb form
Underline the verb that comes right after "not only" ("designed"). The phrase that fills the blank after "but also" should use the same verb tense and type of phrase.
Check for extra commas and wordiness
Ask yourself: does the answer choice put a comma between the verb and its object, or change to a more complicated tense? Both of those can create errors in this structure.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify the sentence structure
Focus on the phrase "not only ... but also ...". This is a correlative conjunction that connects two parallel parts of the sentence. Whatever comes after "but also" should match the grammar of what comes after "not only."
Find what must be matched
Look at the first half of the pair: "not only designed more than 700 buildings." The key word here is the main verb designed, which is in the simple past tense. The correct completion must be another simple past verb phrase that can pair naturally with "designed" (not a different verb form).
Eliminate options that break parallel structure or punctuation
Check each choice:
- Any choice that uses a different verb form (like an "-ing" form or a helping verb plus "-ing") does not match simple past and breaks parallelism.
- Any choice that inserts a comma between the verb and its object (between the action word and what receives the action) is ungrammatical. Eliminate all choices that have these problems.
Confirm the remaining, fully parallel choice
The only option that is a clean simple past verb phrase and does not insert an incorrect comma is "oversaw their construction personally". This creates a clear, parallel structure: "not only designed ... but also oversaw their construction personally," so D) oversaw their construction personally is correct.