Sentence Correction

Not one of the potential investors is expected to make an offer to buy Frist Interstate Bank until a merger agreement is signed that includes a provision for penalties if the deal were not to be concluded.

A. the same

B. is expected to make an offer for buying Frist Interstate Bank until they sign a merger agreement including a provision for penalties if the deal was

C. is expected to make an offer to buy Frist Interstate Bank until a merger agreement be signed by them with a provision for penalties if the deal were

D. are expected to make an offer for buying Frist Interstate Bank until it signs a merger agreement with a provision for penalties if the deal was

E. are expected to be making an offer to buy Frist Interstate Bank until they sign a merger agreement including a provision for penalties if the deal were

I go for A. But OA is C. so confused!

i think antecedent of that is the key here, it vaguely refer to signed in option A?

yangliu0401 wrote:Not one of the potential investors is expected to make an offer to buy Frist Interstate Bank until a merger agreement is signed that includes a provision for penalties if the deal were not to be concluded.

A. the same

B. is expected to make an offer for buying Frist Interstate Bank until they sign a merger agreement including a provision for penalties if the deal was

C. is expected to make an offer to buy Frist Interstate Bank until a merger agreement be signed by them with a provision for penalties if the deal were

D. are expected to make an offer for buying Frist Interstate Bank until it signs a merger agreement with a provision for penalties if the deal was

E. are expected to be making an offer to buy Frist Interstate Bank until they sign a merger agreement including a provision for penalties if the deal were

I go for A. But OA is C. so confused!

I picked "A" myself. Concerning the OA "C", can someone explain why "be" is used instead of "is" in "....until a merger agreement be signed by them..."?

Ya, also with such confusion"be". Can anyone help explain it?

yangliu0401 wrote:Not one of the potential investors is expected to make an offer to buy Frist Interstate Bank until a merger agreement is signed that includes a provision for penalties if the deal were not to be concluded.

C. is expected to make an offer to buy Frist Interstate Bank until a merger agreement be signed by them with a provision for penalties if the deal were

I go for A. But OA is C. so confused!

yangliu0401, where is the question from? In my opinion, all answers are grammatically wrong.

"If" is used incorrectly. It should only be used in "If [condition], then [consequence]" constructs. In this case, there is no such construct.
"if the deal were not to be concluded, then what??"

The then clause (consequence clause) cannot logically precede the if clause (I'm talking about chronological order, not placement in the sentence).

In this case, the OA states "No one is expected to make an offer until an agreement be signed with a provision for penalties if the deal were not to be concluded". If you try to put this in an If [condition], then [consequence]" construct, you will find that the consequence actually comes before the condition. This is not logical.

A better sentence would say "with a provision for penalties in case the deal were not to be concluded" or "with a provision for penalties should the deal not be concluded"
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As for your question about why the correct answer has be in " until a merger agreement be signed".... sorry I don't know why or how that is correct.

(I recommend OG, MGMAT SC and GMATFix for verbal prep)

This question is from OG11/GMATPrep (not sure which one).

Option C is correct because "is expected to" is an expression of requirement, which takes the subjunctive. Hence the verbs "be" and "were" are used.

Just my $.02

Agree with Ted and sledge.
However, if these are the choices you were given on the GMAT, then you should go for C on gorunds of subjunctive.

sledge_hammer wrote:This question is from OG11/GMATPrep (not sure which one).

Option C is correct because "is expected to" is an expression of requirement, which takes the subjunctive. Hence the verbs "be" and "were" are used.

Just my $.02

Thanks Sledge. Maybe you're right. I would still like the poster to confirm where he got the qeustion.

to complete that of the people that gave excellent feedback, here is my analysis:

"Not one of the potential investors" is singular, so "is" must be used rather than "are". So D & E are out.

When using "if" in this case, were must be used always (for example "if I were....", "If you were...", "If he were... , "If it were"). So B is out.

Finally, in "is expected" is subjunctive, so it hould use the verb infinitive. In this case should be "is expected to make .... until .... be ....". (make and be parallel). So C is the choice. (A uses "make" and "is").

Regards.

Thanks for all ur excellent explanation!

would go for A.

not one of the potential investors implies a singular subject, so it should take singular "is". D and E out.

B. the "they" here is ambiguous. we do not know if it refers to the Bank or "one of the investors" which is singular. either way there is pronoun mismatch- singular noun with plural pronoun

C. "them" seems to refer to the subject "not one of the investors" which is singular. -pronoun mismatch. singular noun with plural pronoun

besides, in C the use of "be signed" seems improper. there is no subjunctive here. the subjunctive " be" form is used with the structure: order that, demanded that, propose that, request that etc etc..


that leaves us with A

I also selected A.

"one of the potential investors" is singular, so should be followed by "is". Ruled out D and E. In option B, "They" doesn't have any plural noun to the refer-back. In addition, 'offer to buy' is better than 'offer for buying', so ruled B too. Ruled out C also, as in C 'them' doesn't have any plural noun to refer-back.

I am still skeptic about C being the OA.

yes karmayogi, i guess the source is the sets. one cant trust the OAs

Just wanted to make the issue clear:
the OA is A, NOT C
I just took the PrepTest and stumbled upon this question.

The correct answers is A... (not C) in the gmatprep

Hi, can anyone explain this? Which one is right?


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