"Plan to" Vs "Plan on"

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mbamike: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 13; Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 6:47 am

by mbamike » Thu Sep 11, 2008 6:14 am

In their most recent press release, the new management stated that they plan to expand into the global software market via a series of acquisitions in Asia and Latin America.

A) their most recent press release, the new management stated that they plan to expand
B) its most recent press release, the new management stated that they plan to expand
C) its most recent press release, the new management stated that it plans on expanding
D) its most recent press release, the new management stated an intention to expand
E) its most recent press release, the new management stated their intention to expand

Could somebody tell me what is the correct idiom "plan to" or "plan on".
:roll:

This appeared on one of the MGMAT CATs. I selected 'C' but 'D' the correct answer is 'D'.
Thanks in advance.

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Thu Sep 11, 2008 6:14 am

hengirl03: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 86; Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2008 10:50 am; Thanked: 7 times

by hengirl03 » Thu Sep 11, 2008 6:30 pm

Is D right because it is more concise than C? Because, in all honesty, C looks grammatically correct to me.

What explanation did Manhattan give for this problem?

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mbamike: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 13; Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 6:47 am

by mbamike » Thu Sep 11, 2008 6:54 pm

MGMAT's explaination is pasted below. But I am confused to know that "Plan on" is idiomatically incorrect, with the correct idiom being "plan on".

GMAT instructors, please throw some light on this!!!! Thanks.

====================================

The original sentence uses the incorrect plural pronoun “their” to refer to the singular noun “management.” Similarly, the second plural pronoun “they” is also inconsistent with its singular antecedent “management.”

(A) This answer choice is incorrect as it repeats the original sentence.

(B) This answer choice corrects one of the original pronoun errors by changing the plural pronoun "their" to the singular pronoun "its," but fails to correct the second pronoun problem, retaining the plural pronoun “they,” which is inconsistent with the singular noun “management.”

(C) This answer choice uses the unidiomatic construction “to plan on” rather than the correct idiom “to plan to.”

(D) CORRECT. This answer choice correctly uses the singular pronoun "its" to refer to the singular noun "management," and eliminates the use of the incorrect plural pronoun "they."

(E) In this answer choice, the plural pronoun “their" does not agree with the singular noun “management.”

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mbamike: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 13; Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 6:47 am

by mbamike » Thu Sep 11, 2008 6:59 pm

sorry for the typo ...MGMAT's explaination.....meant to write "explanation"
Still wondering though for the answer: :roll:

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LSB: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 229; Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2007 3:47 pm; Thanked: 14 times; GMAT Score:750

by LSB » Thu Sep 11, 2008 7:39 pm

The correct idiom is plan to. As stated in the MGMAT answer... with idioms there are not really any rules. It's just the way it is

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java_ka_jalwa: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 44; Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2008 11:27 am; Thanked: 2 times; GMAT Score:740

by java_ka_jalwa » Thu Sep 11, 2008 9:25 pm

I might be wrong , but to plan on is more of an American usage and an accepted form in colloquial lingo. However on GMAT formal idiom is always preferred which "to plan to" is.

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anju: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 258; Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2007 3:15 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 7 times

by anju » Fri Sep 12, 2008 6:54 pm

also "to expand" is correct IDIOM
"plan to" is correct IDIOM
IMO: D

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mmslf75: Legendary Member; Posts: 503; Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2009 9:53 pmFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 31 times

by mmslf75 » Wed Jan 13, 2010 7:32 am

[/quote] In their most recent press release, the new management stated that they plan to expand into the global software market via a series of acquisitions in Asia and Latin America.

A) their most recent press release, the new management stated that they plan to expand
B) its most recent press release, the new management stated that they plan to expand
C) its most recent press release, the new management stated that it plans on expanding
D) its most recent press release, the new management stated an intention to expand
E) its most recent press release, the new management stated their intention to expand

Could somebody tell me what is the correct idiom "plan to" or "plan on".
Rolling Eyes

This appeared on one of the MGMAT CATs. I selected 'C' but 'D' the correct answer is 'D'.
Thanks in advance.[/quote]

are
both :

STATED THAT / STATED === >> Both acceptable!!?

Are both :
I plan on doing this job
I plan to do this job

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Stacey Koprince: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2228; Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pmFollowed by: 694 members; Location: Montreal, Canada; Thanked: 639 times; GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Thu Jan 14, 2010 12:50 pm

Received a PM asking me to respond.

People say "plan on" all the time. We also use all kinds of other grammatically incorrect stuff every day, but the GMAT doesn't let us get away with it.

Here's my rule for studying idioms: if I haven't seen it in an official question, it's not high on my priority list. Why? Because there are thousands and thousands of idioms in the language, and I can't study them all. I'm most interested in studying the ones that have actually been tested on the exam.

This one (although it is one of ours, yes) does not follow my rule. So it's not high on my list of things to worry about.

(By the way, how do we know what the test has actually tested? The idioms chapter in the 3rd and 4th editions of our SC strategy guide was developed from official question sources only. That doesn't mean it covers every idiom ever tested on the GMAT - but every idiom on the list was officially tested at some point. You can add to the list yourself as you do questions from official sources and see other idioms you didn't know.)

Please note: I do not use the Private Messaging system! I will not see any PMs that you send to me!!

Stacey Koprince
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Director of Online Community
Manhattan GMAT

Contributor to Beat The GMAT!

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mmslf75: Legendary Member; Posts: 503; Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2009 9:53 pmFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 31 times

by mmslf75 » Thu Jan 14, 2010 8:16 pm

@Stacey Koprince

Thanks !

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lunarpower: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3380; Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:20 amFollowed by: 1535 members; Thanked: 2256 times; GMAT Score:800

by lunarpower » Tue Jan 26, 2010 4:54 am

UPDATE:

we're going to have to edit this question, as "plan on VERBing" is actually accepted by GMAC as a valid idiom.

see here:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/acc ... t5501.html

that's an official GMATPREP problem, in which "to plan on VERBing" is used in a correct answer.

in that problem, the impetus for using "plan on practicing" (rather than "plan to practice") is to avoid the ugliness of the repeated to" ("...to plan to practice..."). the gmat actually has a long, long history of using secondary, less commonly accepted constructions in order to avoid things like "X to Y to Z", "X of Y of Z", "X that Y that Z", etc.

Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

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Stacey Koprince: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2228; Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pmFollowed by: 694 members; Location: Montreal, Canada; Thanked: 639 times; GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Tue Jan 26, 2010 8:49 am

Great catch, Ron! I'm about to temporarily remove this question from our database so that we can re-write wrong answer C (to make sure that it doesn't hinge on this idiom issue alone).

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