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Senator Lasker

by vikram4689 » Mon Apr 30, 2012 3:38 am
Senator Lasker has proposed legislation requiring that employers should retain all older workers indefinitely or show just cause for dismissal.

(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

Please see DOUBT in spoiler before giving answers
[spoiler]Both B(passive) and E(active) are grammatically correct BUT shouldn't B(subjunctive) be used as meaning of sentence shows command[/spoiler]
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by vk_vinayak » Mon Apr 30, 2012 3:52 am
IMO E.

Here there are two command words:propose and require.

I had read that 'propose' always takes the subjunctive form. But one of the important structures of subjunctive form is that the command word is followed by 'that'. But here that is not the case.

'Require' can be used in either subjunctive form or non-subjunctive form. Here non-subjunctive one is used.
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by vikram4689 » Mon Apr 30, 2012 4:15 am
'Require' can be used in either subjunctive form or non-subjunctive form. BUT the meaning conveyed shows ORDER so shouldn't we used SUBJUNCTIVE
e.g.
a) my team requires me to complete the project ... no command, so no subjunctive
b) legislation require that citizens switch off lights during blackout in war ... ORDER, so subjunctive ONLY

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by killer1387 » Mon Apr 30, 2012 4:16 am
Senator Lasker has proposed legislation requiring that employers should retain all older workers indefinitely or show just cause for dismissal.

(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

E is active and is correct subjunctive use. In B the use of words "by employers" renders it wrong. The emphasis is on Employers and hence E is correct.
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by GMATGuruNY » Mon Apr 30, 2012 5:11 am
vikram4689 wrote:Senator Lasker has proposed legislation requiring that employers should retain all older workers indefinitely or show just cause for dismissal.

(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

Please see DOUBT in spoiler before giving answers
[spoiler]Both B(passive) and E(active) are grammatically correct BUT shouldn't B(subjunctive) be used as meaning of sentence shows command[/spoiler]
B) ...legislation requiring that all older workers...show just cause for dismissal.
The implication here is that OLDER WORKERS are responsible for the dismissals and that they should be required to SHOW JUST CAUSE.
The intended meaning is that the EMPLOYERS are responsible for the dismissals.
Since B does not convey the intended meaning, eliminate B.
Last edited by GMATGuruNY on Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by vikram4689 » Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:33 am
B) ...legislation requiring that all older workers be...
This wording implies that ALL OLDER WORKERS are required to BE something. Not so: the legislation is directed not at older workers but at EMPLOYERS.

Does this mean that B is grammatically incorrect ?, in my view B is not wrong but uses passive voice

Please see similar ques where Stuart mentions that "When someone or thing is actually doing the requiring, we use the subjunctive tense "
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by GMATGuruNY » Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:51 am
vikram4689 wrote:
Does this mean that B is grammatically incorrect ?, in my view B is not wrong but uses passive voice

Please see similar ques where Stuart mentions that "When someone or thing is actually doing the requiring, we use the subjunctive tense "
The primary issue here is MEANING.
Please see my amended response above, in which I've fleshed out the reasoning.
Since this SC is from the OG11, the idiom requiring X to Y is an acceptable idiom on the GMAT.

Also:
Whereas the verbs in E -- to retain and [to] show -- are both active and thus parallel, the verbs in B -- be retained (passive) and show (active) -- are not.
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