Responsiblity for/to.

This topic has expert replies
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 107
Joined: Tue Oct 07, 2008 10:09 pm
GMAT Score:710

Responsiblity for/to.

by sumitkhurana » Mon Dec 15, 2008 11:26 am
With its plan to create a wildlife sanctuary out of previously used landfill, Sweden is but one of a number of industrial nations that is accepting its responsibilty to protect endangered species and promote conversation.
A. is accepting its responsibilty to protect endangered species and promote
B. is accepting its responsibilty for protecting endangered species and promoting
C. are accepting its responsibilty to protect endangered species and promoting.
D. are accepting of their responsibilty to protect endangered species and to promote
E. are accepting their responsibilty to protect endangered species and promote
Source: — Sentence Correction |

Legendary Member
Posts: 708
Joined: Sun Jun 01, 2008 4:59 am
Location: USA
Thanked: 13 times
Followed by:1 members

by niraj_a » Mon Dec 15, 2008 12:10 pm
E

one of x that so we need 'are'. in D, accepting of looks like faulty usage. in E, i would ideally like to have another 'to' to maintain the parallelism.

User avatar
Community Manager
Posts: 1049
Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2008 5:15 pm
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Thanked: 113 times
Followed by:27 members
GMAT Score:710

by dmateer25 » Mon Dec 15, 2008 12:10 pm
I choose E.

With its plan to create a wildlife sanctuary out of previously used landfill, Sweden is but one of a number of industrial nations that is accepting its responsibility to protect endangered species and promote conversation.

The rule is "a number of" is plural and "the number of" is singular.

Therefore, we need the verb "are."


We can eliminate C because it uses the incorrect pronoun "its."


D sounds awkward and I believe the "to" before promote is unnecessary.

E is my choice.

Legendary Member
Posts: 1153
Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2007 6:21 am
Thanked: 146 times
Followed by:2 members

Re: Responsiblity for/to.

by parallel_chase » Mon Dec 15, 2008 12:40 pm
sumitkhurana wrote:With its plan to create a wildlife sanctuary out of previously used landfill, Sweden is but one of a number of industrial nations that is accepting its responsibilty to protect endangered species and promote conversation.
A. is accepting its responsibilty to protect endangered species and promote
B. is accepting its responsibilty for protecting endangered species and promoting
C. are accepting its responsibilty to protect endangered species and promoting.
D. are accepting of their responsibilty to protect endangered species and to promote
E. are accepting their responsibilty to protect endangered species and promote
IMO E

nations that are

the noun before "that" always decides whether it should be singular or plural

Hence "are" usage is correct

Like Dmateer said "a number of " - plural , "the number of: - singular

therefore - "their" should be used

this leaves us with options D & E

Option D

accepting of their - wordy awkward

+

to protect and to promote - wordy

when infinitive is used and two verbs are separated by "and"

we use "to" only with the starting verb
e.g.

to propose and to promote = wordy construction
to propose and promote = clear & concise.


Hope this helps.
No rest for the Wicked....

Legendary Member
Posts: 940
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2008 3:22 am
Thanked: 55 times
Followed by:1 members

by iamcste » Mon Dec 15, 2008 12:41 pm
niraj_a wrote:E

in E, i would ideally like to have another 'to' to maintain the parallelism.
second "to" is implicit and avoided in parallelism of infinitives

Infact having second "to" is a problem

Legendary Member
Posts: 940
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2008 3:22 am
Thanked: 55 times
Followed by:1 members

by iamcste » Mon Dec 15, 2008 12:43 pm
In addition


Responsible for

Responsibility To

are idiomatic constructions on GMAT

• Page 1 of 1