Jalen picked up his camera and began taking pictures of the majestic mountains and the magnificent sunset.
which elements of this sentence are parallel?
a.“mountains” and “magnificent”
b.“camera” and “taking pictures”
c.“picked up” and “taking”
d.“majestic mountains” and “magnificent sunset”

D.“majestic mountains” and “magnificent sunset”

The two parallel items are "majestic mountains" and "magnificent sunset". These items are parallel because they have the same grammatical structure: adjective - noun. They are joined by the word "and", making them part of a list. The words "mountains" and "magnificent" are not parallel because one is a noun and the other an adjective. This same reasoning is why B is also not an option; the parts of speech are not the same. In option C both are verbs. However, they are not the same type of verb and therefore, are not parallel.

one of the central themes of edward abbey's work has been his staunch opposition to the glen canyon dam on the colorado river that created lake powell, destroying stunning scenery and wildlife habitat, endangering many rare species of fish and animals, and also irreparably destroying many important archaeological sites which provided information about the early inhabitants of the united states.