Sentence Correction

Bankers require that the financial information presented to them by mortgage applicants be complete and follow a prescribed format.
(A) be complete and follow a prescribed format
(B) is complete and it follows a prescribed format
(C) be complete and a prescribed format is followed
(D) to be complete and a prescribed format be followed
(E) be completed, and it followed a prescribed format

OA A , whats wrong with C

vipulgoyal wrote:Bankers require that the financial information presented to them by mortgage applicants be complete and follow a prescribed format.
(A) be complete and follow a prescribed format
(B) is complete and it follows a prescribed format
(C) be complete and a prescribed format is followed
(D) to be complete and a prescribed format be followed
(E) be completed, and it followed a prescribed format

OA A , whats wrong with C

There are two issues with C.

One of them is the lack of parallelism. There are two requirements listed, one before and one after the conjunction and. In choice C the two requirements are not described in parallel formats.

be complete is not parallel to a prescribed format is followed

The other issue is the illogical construction that is created using choice C.

If we were to leave out the first half of choice C, we could get this.

Bankers require that the financial information presented to them by mortgage applicants a prescribed format is followed.

That second half of choice C should work on its own with the rest of the sentence, but clearly it does not.

Marty Murray wrote: If we were to leave out the first half of choice C, we could get this.

Bankers require that the financial information presented to them by mortgage applicants a prescribed format is followed.

That second half of choice C should work on its own with the rest of the sentence, but clearly it does not.

Sorry am just starting my prep, but why can't the second part, with C, be interpreted as:

Bankers require that a prescribed format is followed.

Thanks,
Bonet.

bonetlobo wrote:

Marty Murray wrote: If we were to leave out the first half of choice C, we could get this.

Bankers require that the financial information presented to them by mortgage applicants a prescribed format is followed.

That second half of choice C should work on its own with the rest of the sentence, but clearly it does not.

Sorry am just starting my prep, but why can't the second part, with C, be interpreted as:

Bankers require that a prescribed format is followed.

Thanks,
Bonet.

You can't ignore part of the sentence you needed to cut out in order to create that interpretation. In other words, the sentence already says "Bankers require that the financial information be presented". That conflicts structurally with "Bankers require that a prescribed format is followed," and you can't fix the sentence by cutting out half to resolve the conflict.

On another level, be careful about getting rule or trick driven to the point where you do things that you would not do in the real world. This sentence is a mess.Bankers require that the financial information presented to them by mortgage applicants a prescribed format is followed. So don't do some bizarre thing to make it ok just because it's on the GMAT. That won't get you to the right answer.

Thanks Marty. Obviously I have a long way to go:(.

bonetlobo wrote:Thanks Marty. Obviously I have a long way to go:(.

Use logic. Practice. Be determined. Soon you too will be a GMAT rocking animal.

Rock on.

bonetlobo wrote:[why can't the second part, with C, be interpreted as:

Bankers require that a prescribed format is followed.

In the sentence above, the verb (is followed) is in the wrong tense.
What is needed here is the COMMAND SUBJUNCTIVE.
The structure of the command subjunctive is BOSSY WORD + THAT + NOUN + BARE INFINITIVE.
A bossy word is a verb that serves to express a command or recommendation: requires, suggests, recommends, insists, etc.
The bare infinitive is the infinitive form of a verb with the to omitted.
The sentence above should read as follows:
Bankers require that a prescribed format BE FOLLOWED.
Here, be followed is the bare infinitive form of TO be followed.

I got you point Mitch but how in correct option, the second part after "and" following subjunctive mode "bare infinitive", is not it violating //sm

vipulgoyal wrote:I got you point Mitch but how in correct option, the second part after "and" following subjunctive mode "bare infinitive", is not it violating //sm

OA: Bankers require that the financial information be complete and follow a prescribed format.
Here, and correctly serves to connect parallel forms:
be is bare infinitive form of to be.
follow is the bare infinitive form of to follow.

Hello Mitch,

In Answer A, is there not a Subject-Verb agreement error?

The subject is "financial information" (singular), so I would expect the verb to be "follows" and not follow,

Tmoni26 wrote:Hello Mitch,

In Answer A, is there not a Subject-Verb agreement error?

The subject is "financial information" (singular), so I would expect the verb to be "follows" and not follow,

Your confusion is understandable.

Doctors follow strict guidelines.
Here, follow = simple present tense plural.

A: Bankers require that the financial information follow a prescribed format.
Here, follow ≠ simple present tense plural.
Rather, follow = the BARE INFINITIVE form of to follow.
The bare infinitive form is the infinitive (to + verb) with the to omitted.

In my posts above, I explain why the bare infinitive is required here.

Thanks Mitch as always you explained it beautifully, many concepts tested in single stem