Choose the most suitable option to replace the highlighted part of the sentence:
The doctor advised him to avoid eating sweets and doing exercise regularly.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Explanation
The correct answer is option (3) i.e. to avoid eating sweets and to exercise regularly.
Error Concept: Related to parallelism and infinitive structure.
What is wrong: The given sentence — “The doctor advised him to avoid eating sweets and doing exercise regularly” — mixes two grammatical forms: one part uses an infinitive + gerund (to avoid eating), while the other uses a gerund (doing exercise). This creates an imbalance in sentence structure.
Grammar Concept: When two or more actions follow the same main verb (here “advised”), they must follow parallel structure — the same grammatical pattern. Since “to avoid” is an infinitive, the next verb should also be in the infinitive form (to + verb).
Incorrectness of the concept in context: The phrase “doing exercise” breaks the parallel pattern and sounds awkward because “to avoid” and “doing” are not in the same form.
Correction: Both verbs should follow the same infinitive form for consistency.
Corrected phrase: to avoid eating sweets and to exercise regularly.
Final sentence: The doctor advised him to avoid eating sweets and to exercise regularly.
Hence, the chosen option is correct.