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Subjunctive vs infinitive - verb require

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by agarwalva » Wed May 16, 2012 2:33 pm
Standard police procedure requires that an officer interview witnesses separately rather than together.
(a) Standard police procedure requires that an officer interview witnesses separately rather than together
(b) A requirement, according to standard police procedure, is that an officer interview witness separately rather than interviewing them together
(c) Standard police procedure requires an officer to interview witnesses separately rather than to interview them together
(d) It is required in standard police procedure that an officer interviews witnesses separately, not together
(e) Standard police procedure requires that an officer interviews witnesses separately rather than together
OA: A
I thought A has some problem in ellipse and comparision .
I felt C better. whats wrong with C

verb "require" can take subjunctive as well as infinitive
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by Mike@Magoosh » Wed May 16, 2012 3:23 pm
Hi, there. I'm happy to help with this. :)

First of all, FWIW, a blog on the subjunctive.
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-gramm ... ive-tense/

Next, the idiom for the word "require" --- the verb require can either take (a) an infinite, or (b) a "that" clause in the subjunctive. Both are correct, as you say.

Now, to your sentence. I'll only look at (A) and (C)
(A) Standard police procedure requires that an officer interview witnesses separately rather than together.

Correct grammatical construction of "require" + "that" + subjunctive.

Also, it's a standard construction to contrast two adjectives or two adverbs directly with "rather than" (or any comparative term) ---
(1) The professor was pompous rather than informative.
(2) It's healthier to eat slowly rather than voraciously.
(3) I view a car more as a means of conveyance than as a symbol of status.
(4) "A custom more honor'd in the breach than in the observance."
(I wrote the first three, but can't take credit for the fourth!)

Here, answer (A) follows this pattern ---

"that an officer interview witnesses separately rather than together."

Both "separately" and "together" are adverbs that are properly contrasted by the comparative term. (A) is perfectly correct.

(C) Standard police procedure requires an officer to interview witnesses separately rather than to interview them together

Yuck. This is too wordy and repetitive. Since "separately rather than together" is perfectly acceptable, choosing instead to include all those extra words is, on the GMAT, absolutely unforgivable Concision is pure gold on GMAT SC. That's what's wrong with (C).

Does this make sense? Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Mike :)
Magoosh GMAT Instructor
https://gmat.magoosh.com/
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by quriousaddict » Mon May 21, 2012 10:00 am
[quote="Mike@Magoosh"]Hi, there. I'm happy to help with this. :)

First of all, FWIW, a blog on the subjunctive.
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-gramm ... ive-tense/

Next, the idiom for the word "require" --- the verb require can either take (a) an infinite, or (b) a "that" clause in the subjunctive. Both are correct, as you say.

Now, to your sentence. I'll only look at (A) and (C)
(A) [color=blue]Standard police procedure requires that an officer interview witnesses separately rather than together.[/color]

Correct grammatical construction of "require" + "that" + subjunctive.

Also, it's a standard construction to contrast two adjectives or two adverbs directly with "rather than" (or any comparative term) ---
(1) The professor was pompous rather than informative.
(2) It's healthier to eat slowly rather than voraciously.
(3) I view a car more as a means of conveyance than as a symbol of status.
(4) "A custom more honor'd in the breach than in the observance."
(I wrote the first three, but can't take credit for the fourth!)

Here, answer (A) follows this pattern ---

"that an officer interview witnesses separately rather than together."

Both "separately" and "together" are adverbs that are properly contrasted by the comparative term. (A) is perfectly correct.

(C) [color=blue]Standard police procedure requires an officer to interview witnesses separately rather than to interview them together [/color]

Yuck. This is too wordy and repetitive. Since "separately rather than together" is perfectly acceptable, choosing instead to include all those extra words is, on the GMAT, absolutely unforgivable Concision is pure gold on GMAT SC. That's what's wrong with (C).

Does this make sense? Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Mike :)[/quote]

Why not C?
"an officer interviews" vs "an officer interview"
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by thestartupguy » Mon May 21, 2012 11:20 am
Mike@Magoosh wrote:Hi, there. I'm happy to help with this. :)

First of all, FWIW, a blog on the subjunctive.
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-gramm ... ive-tense/

Next, the idiom for the word "require" --- the verb require can either take (a) an infinite, or (b) a "that" clause in the subjunctive. Both are correct, as you say.

Now, to your sentence. I'll only look at (A) and (C)
(A) Standard police procedure requires that an officer interview witnesses separately rather than together.

Correct grammatical construction of "require" + "that" + subjunctive.

Also, it's a standard construction to contrast two adjectives or two adverbs directly with "rather than" (or any comparative term) ---
(1) The professor was pompous rather than informative.
(2) It's healthier to eat slowly rather than voraciously.
(3) I view a car more as a means of conveyance than as a symbol of status.
(4) "A custom more honor'd in the breach than in the observance."
(I wrote the first three, but can't take credit for the fourth!)

Here, answer (A) follows this pattern ---

"that an officer interview witnesses separately rather than together."

Both "separately" and "together" are adverbs that are properly contrasted by the comparative term. (A) is perfectly correct.

(C) Standard police procedure requires an officer to interview witnesses separately rather than to interview them together

Yuck. This is too wordy and repetitive. Since "separately rather than together" is perfectly acceptable, choosing instead to include all those extra words is, on the GMAT, absolutely unforgivable Concision is pure gold on GMAT SC. That's what's wrong with (C).

Does this make sense? Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Mike :)
Nice explanation Mike! :)
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by Mike@Magoosh » Mon May 21, 2012 11:55 am
quriousaddict wrote:Why not C?
"an officer interviews" vs "an officer interview"
Dear quriousaddict,

I'm happy to answer your question. :)

Once again, the "that" clause following the verb "to require" takes the subjunctive.
"an officer interviews" = present tense, indicative mood (i.e. ordinary everyday speech)
"an officer interview" = present tense, subjunctive mood
The subjunctive is used for hypothetical situations, situations contrary to fact, wishes, desires, requirements, etc. etc. If you are unfamiliar with the subjunctive, I would suggest the blog article to which I linked in my previous post. Here's the link again:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-gramm ... ive-tense/

Let me know if you have any questions.

Mike :-)
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https://gmat.magoosh.com/
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