Question

choose the sentence that uses parallel structure correctly.

many democratic countries have achieved high rates of voter participation because voting is not only compulsory, but also you can vote on weekends.

many democratic countries have achieved high rates of voter participation because they require people to vote and by holding elections on weekends.

many democratic countries have achieved high rates of voter participation because voting is compulsory, voting is held on weekends, and people eighteen or older can vote.

many democratic countries have achieved high rates of voter participation by taking steps such as making voting compulsory, holding elections on weekends, and lowering the voting age.

Explanation:

Parallel structure requires matching grammatical forms for related items.

1. First option: "compulsory" (adjective) and "you can vote on weekends" (clause) are mismatched.
2. Second option: "to vote" (infinitive) and "by holding" (prepositional phrase) are mismatched.
3. Third option: The three clauses are inconsistent in focus (first two about voting rules, third about eligibility, and phrasing lacks tight parallelism).
4. Fourth option: "making voting compulsory", "holding elections on weekends", and "lowering the voting age" are all gerund phrases, creating consistent parallel structure.

Answer:

D. Many democratic countries have achieved high rates of voter participation by taking steps such as making voting compulsory, holding elections on weekends, and lowering the voting age.