Do you speak Russian?

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Do you speak Russian?

by DanaJ » Tue Nov 30, 2010 2:09 pm
Source: Veritas Prep

The Russian government, in response to the actions of an American adoptive mother who sent her adopted son back to Russia, may demand that an American adoptive parent provide his or her child with an environment that preserves the child's Russian language and culture; some argue that such actions could sacrifice children's lives to a phantom national interest.

(A) may demand that an American adoptive parent provide his or her child with an environment that preserves the child's Russian language and culture; some argue that such actions could sacrifice children's lives to a phantom national interest.

(B) may demand an American adoptive parent provide his or her child with an environment that preserves the child's Russian language and culture; some argue that such actions could sacrifice children's lives to a phantom national interest.

(C) may demand that an American adoptive parent provide his or her child with an environment that preserves the child's Russian language and culture, and actions could sacrifice children's lives to a phantom national interest.

(D) may demand that an American adoptive parent provide his or her child with an environment that preserves the child's Russian language and culture; actions that could sacrifice children's lives to a phantom national interest.

(E) may demand that an American adoptive parent provides his or her child with an environment that preserves the child's Russian language and culture; some argue that such actions could sacrifice children's lives to a phantom national interest.

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Last edited by DanaJ on Tue Nov 30, 2010 5:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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by sanabk » Tue Nov 30, 2010 3:24 pm

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by pawanagarwal » Tue Nov 30, 2010 5:03 pm
I believe answer should be A and not E.
Statement is in subjunctive mood. So is should be like X demand that Y provide something. Not X demand that Y provides something. Comments?
sanabk wrote:E

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by vamsi_567 » Tue Nov 30, 2010 5:22 pm
IMO E...

Wats the OA?

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by marina_v » Tue Nov 30, 2010 6:10 pm
DanaJ wrote:Source: Veritas Prep

The Russian government, in response to the actions of an American adoptive mother who sent her adopted son back to Russia, may demand that an American adoptive parent provide his or her child with an environment that preserves the child's Russian language and culture; some argue that such actions could sacrifice children's lives to a phantom national interest.

(A) may demand that an American adoptive parent provide his or her child with an environment that preserves the child's Russian language and culture; some argue that such actions could sacrifice children's lives to a phantom national interest.

I do speak Russian:) A is the answer here, right? Proper subjunctive and ";" separates an independent clause.

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by joshi.v123 » Tue Nov 30, 2010 9:12 pm
The Russian government, in response to the actions of an American adoptive mother who sent her adopted son back to Russia, may demand that an American adoptive parent provide his or her child with an environment that preserves the child’s Russian language and culture; some argue that such actions could sacrifice children's lives to a phantom national interest.

(A) may demand that an American adoptive parent provide his or her child with an environment that preserves the child’s Russian language and culture; some argue that such actions could sacrifice children's lives to a phantom national interest.

(E) may demand that an American adoptive parent provides his or her child with an environment that preserves the child’s Russian language and culture; some argue that such actions could sacrifice children's lives to a phantom national interest.

ans should be E, what is the OA?
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by EducationAisle » Tue Nov 30, 2010 11:33 pm
At the onset, you are very unlikely to find on GMAT, answer choices, all of which have the same first word (may in this case).

demand takes subjunctive. So, A is the right choice.

B -> misses that after demand unlike a subjunctive, but uses provide like a subjunctive.

C -> meaning issue with ..and actions...

D-> wrong use of semicolon when the latter phrase is an absolute phrase. Comma should have been used instead.

E -> First part starts using subjunctive (that) but latter part (provides) does not conform to subjunctive usage.
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by niksworth » Wed Dec 01, 2010 2:38 am
Well, the answer should be A. It is the only option that correctly uses the subjunctive and has a properly constructed independent clause after the semicolon.

A nitpick (and out of GMAT scope): Wouldn't might be a better word than may in this sentence? ( I know that may and might are often used interchangeably, but still one for the purists :) )
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by phoenixhazard » Wed Dec 01, 2010 10:11 am
DanaJ wrote: (A) may demand that an American adoptive parent provide his or her child with an environment that preserves the child's Russian language and culture; some argue that such actions could sacrifice children's lives to a phantom national interest.
IMO A is the correct answer. For me it came down to an American adoptive parent provide his or her child and not provides.

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by tomada » Wed Dec 01, 2010 11:46 am
I agree with the folks who chose 'A'. At my first glance, I thought "parent" (singular) should be paired with "provides", but I think "provide" is used differently here and, in this context, is correct.
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by ov25 » Wed Dec 01, 2010 12:02 pm
imo A

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by David@VeritasPrep » Fri Dec 03, 2010 5:16 am
OA is A.

The explanations above focusing on the subjunctive are correct.

Solution: The original sentence is grammatically and stylistically acceptable. The subjunctive verb "provide" is required because of the word "demand." Two independent clauses are correctly separated by a semicolon. Answer (B) is incorrect because the clause "an American adoptive parent...." must be introduced by the word "that." Answer (C) is incorrect because the "actions" referred to in this sentence are not as clearly defined as they are in the original sentence. Answer (D) is incorrect because the section after the semicolon is a phrase, not an independent clause. A semicolon cannot be followed by a sentence fragment. Answer (E) is incorrect because a subjunctive very is required after the word "demand." "an American adoptive parent provides" would be correct if it stood alone, but the correct subjunctive verb is "provide."
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by mithilesh.vnit85 » Thu Dec 16, 2010 12:26 am
The Russian government, in response to the actions of an American adoptive mother who sent her adopted son back to Russia, may demand that an American adoptive parent provide his or her child with an environment that preserves the child's Russian language and culture; some argue that such actions could sacrifice children's lives to a phantom national interest.

(A) may demand that an American adoptive parent provide his or her child with an environment that preserves the child's Russian language and culture; some argue that such actions could sacrifice children's lives to a phantom national interest.
Correct

(B) may demand an American adoptive parent provide his or her child with an environment that preserves the child's Russian language and culture; some argue that such actions could sacrifice children's lives to a phantom national interest.
Given sentence is in subjunctive mood, hence "that" must follow the verb demand.

(C) may demand that an American adoptive parent provide his or her child with an environment that preserves the child's Russian language and culture, and actions could sacrifice children's lives to a phantom national interest.
The Parallel marker And needs both sides to be Parallel. "Preserves the child" not parallel to "Actions could sacrifice..". Further, the meaning is not clear.

(D) may demand that an American adoptive parent provide his or her child with an environment that preserves the child's Russian language and culture; actions that could sacrifice children's lives to a phantom national interest.
Sentence after the semicolon is fragment as it lacks main verb.
(E) may demand that an American adoptive parent provides his or her child with an environment that preserves the child's Russian language and culture; some argue that such actions could sacrifice children's lives to a phantom national interest.
Incorrect use of "Provides". In subjunctive mood we need the infinitive form of the verb without "to". Wrong usage.


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by cuty » Tue Mar 29, 2011 11:52 pm
At the first glance picked E but Subjunctive point of view eventually i got A :)

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by imonline » Mon Apr 04, 2011 8:58 pm
IMO A
satisfied with the explanation