In one of the most stunning reversals in the history of marketing, the

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended core meaning of this sentence is that the Coca-Cola company yielded to thousands of irate consumers who demanded that it bring back the original Coke formula.

Concepts tested here: Subjunctive Mood + Meaning + Idioms + Redundancy/Awkwardness

• The use of the verb “demanded” indicates that the subjunctive mood is preferable in this context.
• “bossy verb (“demanded”) + that + basic form of the verb” is a correct subjunctive mood usage.
• "demand + that" is the correct idiomatic construction for referring to the nature of the demand made and "demand + infinitive verb form" is the correct idiomatic construction for referring to the purpose of making a demand.

A: This answer choice fails to maintain a correct subjunctive mood usage, as it utilizes the verb phrase “should bring” rather than the base form verb “bring” to refer to an action that was demanded of “the Coca-Cola Company”; remember, the use of the verb “demanded” indicates that the subjunctive mood is preferable in this context and “bossy verb ("demanding") + that + the basic form of verb” is a correct, subjunctive usage. Further, Option A redundantly uses the word "should" alongside the bossy verb "demanding", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

B: This answer choice incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction "demanding + infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb" - "to + bring" in this sentence)" to refer to the nature of the demand; please remember, "demand + that" is the correct idiomatic construction for referring to the nature of the demand made and "demand + infinitive verb form" is the correct idiomatic construction for referring to the purpose of making a demand.

C: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "and their demand to"; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that the Coca-Cola company yielded to both thousands of irate consumers and the customers' demand bring back the original Coke formula; the intended meaning is that the Coca-Cola company yielded to thousands of irate consumers who demanded that it bring back the original Coke formula.

D: Correct. This answer choice uses the phrase "who demanded that", conveying the intended meaning - that the Coca-Cola company yielded to thousands of irate consumers who demanded that it bring back the original Coke formula. Further, Option D correctly uses the idiomatic construction "demanding + that" to refer to the nature of the demand made. Additionally, Option D maintains a correct subjunctive mood construction - “bossy verb ("demanding") + that + the basic form of verb ("bring" in this sentence)”. Besides, Option D is free of any awkwardness/redundancy.

E: This answer choice incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction "demanded + infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb" - "to + bring" in this sentence)" to refer to the nature of the demand; please remember, "demand + that" is the correct idiomatic construction for referring to the nature of the demand made and "demand + infinitive verb form" is the correct idiomatic construction for referring to the purpose of making a demand.

Hence, D is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of the "3 Key Subjunctive Mood Structures" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

the idiom "demand someone to do something" is wrong? i think i saw such idiom before...i pick E. what's the OA?

D and E are the same for me :s
Demand can be used in these two ways:
She demanded that I BUY her a diamond ring.
She demanded me TO BUY her a diamond ring.
(You must admit that these examples are funny, LOL).

IMO, D just sounds better.

Hi,

It might be a very stupid question but can anyone please tell me how the OA is D..cause if we rewrite the sentence it would be like this -"In one of the most stunning reversals in the history of marketing, the Coca-Cola company in July 1985 yielded to thousands of irate consumers 'who demanded that it' bring back the original Coke formula." now the thing is that if we are using 'It' here then it should be 'brings' not 'bring' or some other tense has to be used or am I missing something here?

hi,

Verbs such as can, could,should, will, would, may, might are modal auxiliary verbs. Most modals are followed by the simple form of the verb (without "to")

example: i can do this///he can do this///they can do this.
i may not go///he may not go////they may not go.
i will do this///he will do this///they will do this.
i should do this///he should do this///they should do this.

hope its clear.

hi blueseas,

well I am aware of Modal auxiliary verbs and I know that we don't need a "s" there..but the thing is that I don't find any modal verb in the correct sentence..if we put D in the place of the underlined words and then re-write the sentence then it would be "In one of the most stunning reversals in the history of marketing, the Coca-Cola company in July 1985 yielded to thousands of irate consumers 'who demanded that it' bring back the original Coke formula." I cant find any modal verb here..(the option D only states this 'who demanded that it' and the underline words were "demanding that it should")..

As another poster has pointed out, this uses, what is called, the "subjunctive". You can search on the net and find a lot of relevant info on this. Few official examples test you on this. Example, # 54 in OG-13 (there are others as well; can dig it up):

The report recommended that the hospital eliminate unneeded beds, consolidate expensive services, and use space in other hospitals

...that hospital eliminate.... is a subjunctive structure.

D

A is an incorrect idiom
B - The way that the sentence is organized makes it seem like Coca Cola demanded the customers to bring back the original formula
C - Coca Cola yielded to a subset of customers, the customers who demanded. Coca Cola did not yield to both customers and the customer's demand.
D - Correct
E is an incorrect idiom

Demand is subjunctive and must be followed by THAT.

there is no need to use SHOULD after demand.

D is correct.

Hello Souvik,

Here is how I approached this one:

The first rule that came to my mind in the first read - to use "demanded THAT" remove usage of " Should.

Second - I cut out the extra words and went with D option as it makes most sense:

In one of the most stunning reversals in the history of marketing,the Coca-Cola companyin July 1985 yielded tothousands of irate consumers demanding that it should bring back the original Coke formula.

In one of the most stunning reversals in the history of marketing,the Coca-Cola companyin July 1985 yielded tothousands of irate consumers who demanded that it bring back the original Coke formula.

Took about a minute to arrive at the correct solution.

(A) demanding that it should
in subjunctive mood we cannot use "should"

(B) demanding it to
after demanding we need "that"

(C) and their demand to
yielded to their demand?

(D) who demanded that it
correct

(E) who demanded it to
need that after demanded

Demanded that is in subjunctive mood, hence we have to drop the 's' for a singular verb
We should understand who is actually demanding (yielded kin do means to complete a demand) hence it does not make sense if the company is doing the demanding.
Hence A,B,C are out.
Subjunctive verb must be followed by "That" hence I went for 'D'

Experts please check if my line of reasoning is correct

Yes, you have nicely pointed out both the issues (the subjunctive issue and the modifier issue). For command subjunctive, we use the raw form of the verb (the infinitive form without to) irrespective of whether the verb is singular or plural.

If you know your grammar then this question can be solved in 10 seconds.
This question has nothing to do with idioms and parallel structure and all that blah blah blah that many people get lost in.
This is a question about MOOD.

"Demading" is a verb that indicates Subjunctive mood The other 3 moods in grammar are Indicative, Infinitive and Imperative )
Subjunctive mood never takes SHOULD, TO in its construction .
Subjunctive mood always takes "THAT" in its construction

A. demanding that it should
B. demanding it to
C. and their demand to
D. who demanded that it
E. who demanded it to

Forget looking for idioms and parallelism in every question. There are many other things that GMAT test.
Learn :- Tenses, Mood, Voice, SV agreement . You will be superbly rewarded.

I narrow these down to the ones that had *who* in them, but if you aren't certain that you need who after consumers, you can look at which ones are in past tense ie match the non underlined part *yielded* Demanded that is the correct idiom.

Farrell Dyan Hehn, MBA
Admissions Consultant & Verbal Strategist MBAPrepCoach.com

In one of the most stunning reversals in the history of marketing, the Coca-Cola company in July 1985 yielded to thousands of irate consumers demanding that it should bring back the original Coke formula.

(A) demanding that it should
(B) demanding it to
(C) and their demand to
(D) who demanded that it --> If we use this option, will the sv agreement still hold? says,"who demand that it bring. Shouldn't it be brings?
(E) who demanded it to

How can D be right? It sounds super awkward

In one of the most stunning reversals in the history of marketing, the Coca-Cola company in July 1985 yielded to thousands of irate consumerswho demanded that it bring back the original Coke formula.


I MEAN HOW?

WHO DEMANDED TO= can be a good choice but its not here


explain? I favored E