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The budget for education reflects the administration's deman

by RBBmba@2014 » Tue Apr 28, 2015 3:39 am
The budget for education reflects the administration's demand that the money is controlled by local school districts, but it can only be spent on teachers, not on books, computers, or other materials or activities.

A. the money is controlled by local school districts, but it can only be spent
B. the money be controlled by local school districts, but it allows them to spend the money only
C. the money is to be controlled by local school districts, but allowing it only to be spent
D. local school districts are in control of the money, but it allows them to spend the money only
E. local school districts are to be in control of the money, but it can only spend it

OA: B

P.S: It's an official question. Although I got this one correct but would require some solid reasoning to understand why OA is the right choice.
Request experts to share their detail analysis.Much thanks in advance.
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by GMATGuruNY » Tue Apr 28, 2015 7:55 am
RBBmba@2014 wrote:The budget for education reflects the administration's demand that the money is controlled by local school districts, but it can only be spent on teachers, not on books, computers, or other materials or activities.

A. the money is controlled by local school districts, but it can only be spent
B. the money be controlled by local school districts, but it allows them to spend the money only
C. the money is to be controlled by local school districts, but allowing it only to be spent
D. local school districts are in control of the money, but it allows them to spend the money only
E. local school districts are to be in control of the money, but it can only spend it
One purpose of the subjunctive mood is to express an action that is HYPOTHETICAL: an action that might not actually happen.
When we demand an action, we cannot be certain that our demand will be met.
Because the demanded action might not actually happen, we use the COMMAND SUBJUNCTIVE.
The structure of the command subjunctive is as follows:
BOSSY WORD + that + NOUN + BARE INFINITIVE.
Examples of bossy words: demand, dictate, mandate, etc.
The bare infinitive is the infinitive form of a verb with the to omitted.

Example:
The attorneys demanded that the new contract be implemented.
In the sentence above:
Bossy word = demanded.
that + NOUN = that the new contract.
Bare infinitive = be implemented (to be implemented with the to omitted).

In the SC above, the bossy word demand requires the subjunctive mood:
The budget reflects the administration's demand that the money BE CONTROLLED.
Here:
Bossy word = demand.
that + NOUN = that the money.
Bare infinitive = be controlled (to be controlled with the to omitted).

Only B offers the required subjunctive mood.

The correct answer is B.

For a similar SC, check here:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/financial-of ... tml#742217
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by RBBmba@2014 » Wed Apr 29, 2015 2:55 am
Thanks Mitch for your detailed explanation.

Couple of quick clarifications -
1. How do we relate this explanation to this one - while-many-politicians-have-been-able-to-abuse-recent-change ? Which word here serves as the BOSSY WORD ? Is it 'spirit' - if so how it can be a BOSSY WORD?

Kindly explain.

2. As for the SC at hand, in the correct choice B, isn't the use of the pronoun 'it ' a bit ambiguous ? Because,I guess, 'it ' here can refer to two antecedents (a)budget and (b)administration.

Please correct me if wrong!
Last edited by RBBmba@2014 on Thu Apr 30, 2015 6:31 am, edited 3 times in total.
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by kutlee » Wed Apr 29, 2015 8:00 am
Hi,
your question is valid. But the answer here mentions - "but IT allows them to spend the MONEY only"
IT can only refer to BUDGET. IT cannot refer to ADMINISTRATION'S (note the 'S here)
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by Aman verma » Wed Apr 29, 2015 9:05 am
Hello RBBmba@2014
1. How do we relate this explanation to this one - while-many-politicians-have-been-able-to-abuse-recent-change ? Which word here serves as the BOSSY WORD ? Is it 'spirit' - if so how it can be a BOSSY WORD
The Bossy word is 'spirit'. The command subjunctive can also be used with nouns derived from bossy verbs, such as 'a demand', 'a request' or 'the spirit'. The alternative infinitive construction in this problem will be unidiomatic.
2. As for the SC at hand, in the correct choice B, isn't the use of the pronoun 'it ' a bit ambiguous ? Because,I guess, 'it ' here can refer to two antecedents (a)budget and (b)administration.
The first thing to note for pronoun reference is its Case and position compared to its antecedent.
The administration's is in the possessive case and hence 'it' cannot refer to administration, since 'it' is in the Nominative case. Even if administration was not in possessive case 'it' could not have referred to administration, which is in the Accusative case. For example, say, the sentence was curtailed to this: 'The budget for education reflects the administration'(i.e without the 'demand'). You can see that administration is in the accusative case and 'it' cannot possibly refer to administration. But 'the budget' is in Nominative case and position parallel to 'it', hence, 'it' can only refer to 'the budget'. The reference is Anaphoric !
Last edited by Aman verma on Thu Apr 30, 2015 6:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by GMATGuruNY » Thu Apr 30, 2015 6:08 am
RBBmba@2014 wrote:As for the SC at hand, in the correct choice B, isn't the use of the pronoun 'it ' a bit ambiguous ? Because,I guess, 'it ' here can refer to two antecedents (a)budget and (b)administration.
In the OA, administration's serves not as a NOUN but as an ADJECTIVE modifying demand.
What KIND of demand?
THE ADMINISTRATION'S demand.
Since the referent for a pronoun must be a noun, it cannot serve to refer to administration's.

Also, the DEFAULT REFERENT for a subject pronoun is the MAIN SUBJECT OF THE PRECEDING CLAUSE.
Thus in B, the default referent for it (subject pronoun) is the budget (the main subject of the preceding clause).
Last edited by GMATGuruNY on Thu Apr 30, 2015 10:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by GMATGuruNY » Thu Apr 30, 2015 6:25 am
BOSSY WORDS include verbs that convey the act of recommending or suggesting:
recommend, suggest, propose, etc.
Example:
Lawyers suggested that the trial be delayed.
In this sentence:
Bossy word = suggested.
that + NOUN = that the trial.
Bare infinitive = be delayed (to be delayed with the to omitted).
RBBmba@2014 wrote: 1. How do we relate this explanation to this one - while-many-politicians-have-been-able-to-abuse-recent-change ? Which word here serves as the BOSSY WORD ? Is it 'spirit' - if so how it can be a BOSSY WORD?

Kindly explain!
A bill is a PROPOSAL for a law.
In the OA, the original spirit of the bill implies the following meaning:
Lawmakers PROPOSED that the law BE APPLIED equally to all residents.
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by bonetlobo » Thu Apr 30, 2015 10:11 am
GMATGuruNY wrote: Since the referent for a pronoun must be a noun, it cannot serve to refer to administration's.
Hello Mitch, so can we take this as a rule that a subject noun cannot refer to possessive noun?
Also, the DEFAULT REFERENT for a subject pronoun is the SUBJECT OF THE PRECEDING CLAUSE.
Thus in B, the default referent for it (subject pronoun) is the budget (the subject of the preceding clause).
This is where I get very confused. Isn't the preceding clause this: the money be controlled by local school districts.

So, why is "it" in B not referring to "money"?

Thanks in advance.
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by GMATGuruNY » Thu Apr 30, 2015 11:14 am
bonetlobo wrote:
GMATGuruNY wrote: Since the referent for a pronoun must be a noun, it cannot serve to refer to administration's.
Hello Mitch, so can we take this as a rule that a subject noun cannot refer to possessive noun?
Generally, a possessive should not serve as the referent for a subject pronoun.
That said, it is possible for an OA to include a pronoun that some might consider ambiguous.
For this reason, an answer choice with a potentially ambiguous pronoun should be eliminated only if there is another answer choice that avoids the ambiguity and is free of errors.
bonetlobo wrote:
Also, the DEFAULT REFERENT for a subject pronoun is the SUBJECT OF THE PRECEDING CLAUSE.
Thus in B, the default referent for it (subject pronoun) is the budget (the subject of the preceding clause).
This is where I get very confused. Isn't the preceding clause this: the money be controlled by local school districts.

So, why is "it" in B not referring to "money"?

Thanks in advance.
To clarify, the default referent for a subject pronoun is not the nearest preceding subject but the MAIN SUBJECT of the preceding clause.
In the OA, the default referent for it (subject pronoun) is the budget (the MAIN subject of the preceding clause).
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