The Schlieffen Plan

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pradeepspanchal: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 28; Joined: Sun Aug 08, 2010 10:47 am

by pradeepspanchal » Sun Oct 24, 2010 8:40 am

The Schlieffen Plan, which the German army used to invade France in 1914, required that the last man on the right of the German line literally brush the english channel with his sleeve.

A. literally brush
B. was supposed to literally brush
C. would have literally brushed
D. will literally be brushing
E. was to literally brush

I am not able to perform POE in A & E. The sentence is talking about the past and 'was' pinpoints past .
Please Help

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Sun Oct 24, 2010 8:40 am

karanrulz4ever: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 358; Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2010 9:47 amFollowed by: 4 members; Location: Mumbai; Thanked: 34 times; GMAT Score:740

by karanrulz4ever » Sun Oct 24, 2010 8:47 am

According to me the idiom goes like this : require that X Y.

Hence IMO A

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pradeepspanchal: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 28; Joined: Sun Aug 08, 2010 10:47 am

by pradeepspanchal » Sun Oct 24, 2010 8:50 am

@karanrulz4ever,

Could you please suggest what is X and Y here , I am not able to figure out.

Thanks in advance

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niksworth: Legendary Member; Posts: 520; Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 10:44 amFollowed by: 6 members; Thanked: 70 times

by niksworth » Sun Oct 24, 2010 9:14 am

Require asks for a subjunctive verb form.

E.g.
1) The teacher requires that you do your homework today.
2) The test required that he study for an hour every day.

A is right.

scio me nihil scire

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str1der: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 21; Joined: Sun Nov 23, 2008 11:29 pmFollowed by: 6 members; GMAT Score:730

by str1der » Sun Oct 24, 2010 10:15 am

Would definitely go with A

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kushal.adhia: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 80; Joined: Thu Aug 12, 2010 11:47 pm; Location: chennai, india; Thanked: 2 times

by kushal.adhia » Sun Oct 24, 2010 11:22 am

I think that the answer is A..

the idiom is : require that X Y

Here, "required that the last man on the right of the German line" is X
and "literally brush the english channel with his sleeve" is Y

u combine the 2 and u get the correct idiom..

Hope this helps

Kushal

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Jim@Grockit: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 641; Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2009 3:07 pmFollowed by: 45 members; Location: Madison, WI; Thanked: 162 times; GMAT Score:760

by Jim@Grockit » Sun Oct 24, 2010 5:16 pm

niksworth wrote:Require asks for a subjunctive verb form.

E.g.
1) The teacher requires that you do your homework today.
2) The test required that he study for an hour every day.

A is right.

Also note that many verbs can take either the subjunctive mood or the infinitive form:

The teacher asked that he study for an hour every day OR
The teacher asked him to study for an every day.

Choice E also splits the infinitive ("to literally brush", like "to boldly go"), still considered less desirable by some and incorrect by others.

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pradeepspanchal: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 28; Joined: Sun Aug 08, 2010 10:47 am

by pradeepspanchal » Sun Oct 24, 2010 9:11 pm

Thanks Everyone

I still have doubt on X and Y .The X, Y suggested above seems to be part of an one going clause rather than two disctinct entity. We take X and Y as compareable entity such as in parallelism.

Jim's approach of subjunctive sound's more correct here. So, I see it as a Subjunctive check rather than idiom.

Kindly correct If I am wrong.

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