Sentence Correction

Example 1: Senator Lasker has proposed legislation requiring that employers should retain all older workers.

(A) that employers should retain all older workers
(B) that all older workers be retained by employers
(C) the retaining by employers of all older workers
(D) employers' retention of all older workers
(E) employers to retain all older workers

OA: E
Basically the confusion is between choice B and E. "B" uses the subjunctive mood triggered by require whereas "E" uses the idiom require X to Y. What would be the correct usage of require in the above case ?

Example 2: Legislation in the Canadian province of Ontario requires of both public and private employers that pay be the same for jobs historically held by women as for jobs requiring comparable skill that are usually held by men.

(A) that pay be the same for jobs historically held by women as for jobs requiring comparable skill that are
(B) to pay the same for jobs historically held by women as for jobs of comparable skill that are

OA: A
Similarly here option A is correct which is in subjunctive mood whereas B uses the idiom require X to Y.

My question is do we prefer idiom to subjunctive mood or depends on case-to-case. Thanks

As far as subjunctives go, 2 constructions are acceptable:

1. The judge ordered that the prisoner be released.
2. The judge ordered the police to release the prisoner.

In the first example, the object that is to perform the action (the police) is missing. Hence the construction "that X be done" is preferred.

In the 2nd example, the object performing the action is available, hence the construction "ordered X to do Y" is correct.

(more to follow)

Keeping the above mentioned rules in mind, in Question 1, you should be able to narrow the choice down to E (even though B is an extremely tempting choice) - and also remember that the correct idiom with "requiring" is "requiring X to do Y"

However, in example 2, the use of "requires of employers" makes it a slightly different ball-game. Here the correct idiom is "requires of X that Y be done".

There's a very thin line between both questions, and that's what makes them so darn frustrating.

One useful rule in subjunctives though is that you should construct the sentence using a "should", and when the sentence sounds perfect, REMOVE the "should".

For example:
The judge ordered that the prisoner should be released (sounds OK for real life)
Now REMOVE the "should" and change nothing else - The judge ordered that the prisoner be released (OK for GMAT)

Thanks for the reply Salman. For the second example I do agree that the construction: requires of X to Y is awkward compared to requires of X that Y.

But my questions still remains in doubt as to which one do we prefer in situations where both subjunctives and idioms are correct and conflicting choices ?

You see, in question 1, "requiring" introduces a modifier, hence the idiom would be important. The subjunctive would be used if the statement said:

Senator Lasker has ordered (or suggested etc) that employers retain all older workers.

B also is passive construction, which is generally frowned upon.