Sentence Correction

"That" is optional in reported speech (the verb, e.g. say or tell, is irrelevant). However, if you've already used it once to mark reported speech, using it a second time clearly marks a second item of reported speech.

Pranav says, "I am tired. I want to go home and sleep."

could be reported:

Pranav said he was tired and he wanted to go home and sleep.
Pranav said that he was tired and that he wanted to go home and sleep.

Note that Pranav said that he was tired and wanted to go home and sleep is true, but makes it sound as though he said it all as one sentence. It is correct English, but less exact reporting.

Hello Jim and everyone here. Thanks for participating in this discussion i really appreciate your suggestions.

i understand what you are saying but mgmat clearly tells you to not use "that" after say.
For some reason i understand what they mean.
although i don't even remember if Mrs Annie (our Grammar teacher) used to avoid using "that" after say or said. here are a few examples

for eg: "say a prayer"
Fred said that he wanted to eat. (not incorrect)
Fred said he wanted to eat. (better)
people say he will resign.

The icing on the cake is that the OA for the question is A, which is feel is absolutely irrelevant.

I can see why they would say don't use "that", since it's optional and therefore is an extra word (which the GMAT hates), but it is grammatically correct.

right Jim. I feel the same too. none the less i still feel the answer to this SC should have been D. its much better than the others. please suggest

Can an expert please review this question. The answer should be D but the OA seems to be A.

force5 wrote:Can an expert please review this question. The answer should be D but the OA seems to be A.

When more than one thing is being reported, omitting that can create confusion. Here's D:

The Federal Reserve announced that growth had accelerated...and the policy makers remain concerned.

A reader might construe that there were two distinct actions: the Federal Reserve ANNOUNCED, and the policy makers REMAIN CONCERNED.

The intended meaning is that the Federal Reserve announced TWO THINGS: THAT growth had accelerated and THAT the policy makers remain concerned.

The repetition of that in A makes the meaning crystal clear.

When more than one thing is being reported, I would be wary of an answer choice that does not include that before each item being reported.

First off - thanks a lot Mitch for replying to this post. i really appreciate it.

The Federal Reserve announcement said that growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and that the policy makers remain concerned about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few signs of higher energy prices driving up the cost of other goods so far.
A. that growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and that the policy makers remain concerned about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few
B. growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and that the policy makers remain concerned about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few
C. that growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and the policy makers remain concerned about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few
D. growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and the policy makers remain concerned about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few
E. that growth accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and that the policy makers remain concerned about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few

Secondly, if i make both things parallel. then it would be something like this...
Federal Reserve announcement said .... that growth had accelerated
....and that the policy makers remain concerned.....

both doesnt seem to be parallel.
(I) Policy makers concerned behavior is a fall out of the financial swing (slowing and accelerating)
*** I want to ask you a question- do you mean to say that unless both actions are parallel we couldn't have used a "had" before accelerated???

(II) the growth had accelerated....and policy makers remain concerned... (isn't a good construction whether they are parallelly said or said as a fallout to a statement)

why?? because the growth had accelerated after slowing down... isn't this a good news?? ..... the policy makers are still concerned....so there has to be a contradiction.

consider this sentence.
" it was raining and i was unhappy.... i wont call it a good construction.
i'd rather write.
"it was raining but i was unhappy" or although it was raining, i was unhappy because.....
i want to show some contradiction.

Hence i feel "that" should be omitted and the sentence doesn't seem correct to me.

finally, according to MGMAT "that" after say/said should be avoided. hence D should be a better option.
consider this--
consider this sentences.
Fred said that he wanted to eat.
Fred said he wanted to eat.

The second sentence is correct and crisp. why would i use "that" then?

Since we are at it, one more query from my side.
Regarding the use of "had". The sentence says "...growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter...". As per my understanding "had" is used to denote an earlier event, when two events have happened in the past. However in this case, Slowing would have happened first and then growth, so it should be reported as "...growth had slowed down in the second quarter before it accelerated...".

force5 wrote:First off - thanks a lot Mitch for replying to this post. i really appreciate it.

The Federal Reserve announcement said that growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and that the policy makers remain concerned about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few signs of higher energy prices driving up the cost of other goods so far.
A. that growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and that the policy makers remain concerned about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few
B. growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and that the policy makers remain concerned about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few
C. that growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and the policy makers remain concerned about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few
D. growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and the policy makers remain concerned about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few
E. that growth accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and that the policy makers remain concerned about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few

Secondly, if i make both things parallel. then it would be something like this...
Federal Reserve announcement said .... that growth had accelerated
....and that the policy makers remain concerned.....

both doesnt seem to be parallel.
(I) Policy makers concerned behavior is a fall out of the financial swing (slowing and accelerating)
*** I want to ask you a question- do you mean to say that unless both actions are parallel we couldn't have used a "had" before accelerated???

(II) the growth had accelerated....and policy makers remain concerned... (isn't a good construction whether they are parallelly said or said as a fallout to a statement)

why?? because the growth had accelerated after slowing down... isn't this a good news?? ..... the policy makers are still concerned....so there has to be a contradiction.

consider this sentence.
" it was raining and i was unhappy.... i wont call it a good construction.
i'd rather write.
"it was raining but i was unhappy" or although it was raining, i was unhappy because.....
i want to show some contradiction.

Hence i feel "that" should be omitted and the sentence doesn't seem correct to me.

finally, according to MGMAT "that" after say/said should be avoided. hence D should be a better option.
consider this--
consider this sentences.
Fred said that he wanted to eat.
Fred said he wanted to eat.

The second sentence is correct and crisp. why would i use "that" then?

You are WAY overthinking this. Bottom line:

When ONE THING is being reported, the use of that is optional:

Correct: The Federal Reserve said X.
Correct: The Federal Reserve said that X.

When MORE THAN ONE THING is being reported -- as in the SC above -- that should be included before every item being reported so that the meaning of the sentence is clear.

Incorrect: The Federal Reserve announced that X...and Y.
Incorrect: The Federal Reserve announced X...and Y.
Correct: The Federal Reserve announced that X....and that Y.

Because D does not employ the parallel construction that X and that Y, its meaning could be misconstrued.
There is no such danger in answer choice A: its meaning is crystal clear.
For this reason, eliminate D and choose A.

Clarity is much more important than concision.

Thanks Mitch for the response above.

I am confused with the usage of past participle had in option A and thus chose E as I felt that since after is used we don't need had.

Please share your thoughts.

bubbliiiiiiii wrote:Thanks Mitch for the response above.

I am confused with the usage of past participle had in option A and thus chose E as I felt that since after is used we don't need had.

Please share your thoughts.

To report (in the past) an action completed even further in the past, we use the past perfect:

John TOLD Mary that he HAD EATEN all the cookies.

In the SC above, the sequence of events is:

The announcement SAID (in the past) that growth HAD ACCELERATED (even further in the past) after SLOWING (even FURTHER in the past, before growth had accelerated).

Friends i just want to add one point regarding the relative pronoun that....We should not use THAT after SAY and SAID........Please check MGMAT SC