Sentence Correction

Hi abhasjha,

While this SC involves some rarer style issues, it does involve a common grammar rule:

1) Subject-verb agreement: The sentences states "...their COMPLIANCE with laws....."; the subject is "compliance." Looking at the verbs at the end of the 5 answer choices, we have the following options: "protect", "is protecting" and "are protecting." "Compliance....is protecting..." is grammatically correct. Eliminate A, C and D.

2) More Subject-verb agreement: The sentence also states "....laws...." Here were have a choice between "requiring" and "to require." Since a law is essentially "timeless" - it existed in the past, it exists now and it will probably exist tomorrow, we need to use an "-ing" verb. Eliminate E.

Final Answer: B

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Hi Abhasjha,

This is an an interesting question. I will present my reasoning from an alternate angle - the meaning approach

Please consider the following portion of the sentence that choice B forms:

...laws requiring turtle-excluder devices on shrimp nets is protecting adult sea turtles.

If you notice the correct choice B rightly conveys the intended meaning of the author by using the verb -ing modifier (requiring) to describe the mentioned laws. Here, the author wants to tell us what these laws are all about. These laws are regarding the use of certain devices and they require that such devices be on the shrimp-nets. The verb -ing modifier when used next to a noun without a comma gives us information about the preceding noun. Accordingly the verb -ing modifier requiring modifies the noun laws in the above portion.

This meaning is not conveyed when we use the "to require construction". The purpose of the "to + verb"
construction is to show the intention of something; for example-

"¢ In our college, we have rules to ensure that the students turn up on time for their classes.

In the above sentence, the "to ensure" bit tells us about purpose of the rules and does not describe the rules per se. Now if we were to describe what these rules are actually about, we could say:

"¢ The rules requiring that students be in class within 5 minutes of the commencement of the session help in ensuring that the students turn up on time for their classes.

As you can see, in the above sentence we use the verb -ing modifier requiring to describe what the rules are actually about.

When we apply the above understanding to the question at hand, we can see that choices D and E fail to describe the laws. (Choices A and C on the other hand have subject-verb must agree in number issue.)

Hence, choice B is a clear winner in this question. It rightly conveys the intended meaning of the author. It tells us about a conference that was organized by the shrimpers of a particular area. Their purpose behind holding the conference was to let people know how they had contributed to the revival of a rare species of turtle, known as Kemp's ridley turtle. We also get to know the basis for the claim made by the shrimpers. As per them, their abiding by certain laws protects adult sea-turtles. Finally, we are also told what these laws are all about.

To solidify your understanding of the various usages of the verb -ing modifiers, please visit our in depth article.

Also, please refer to this article to understand how GMAT uses "to + verb" construction:

Hope the above discussion helps!

Regards,
Neeti