The chairman of the board of directors have decided that : Sentence Correction (EA only)

mun23

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The chairman of the board of directors have decided that [#permalink]

Updated on: 23 Apr 2013, 23:34

The chairman of the board of directors have decided that this year`s profits will be used for research and development,rather than for a shareholder dividend.

(A)have decided that this year`s profits will be used

(B)has decided that this year`s profits will be used

(C)have decided on using this year`s profits

(D)has decided on using this year`s profits

(E)decided this year`s profits will have been used

I picked D but OA is B.Need explanation why d is wrong and b is correct.

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Originally posted by mun23 on 23 Apr 2013, 13:19.
Last edited by mun23 on 23 Apr 2013, 23:34, edited 1 time in total.

DoItRight

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Re: The chairman of the board of directors have decided [#permalink]

23 Apr 2013, 16:32

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The chairman is singular so "has" is correct.
That leaves us with B and D.
D does not flow. (D)...has decided on using this year`s profits research and development...
It is missing a "for" so B is the correct answer.

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Re: The chairman of the board of directors have decided that [#permalink]

18 Sep 2013, 02:53

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The chairman of the board of directors have decided that this year's profits will be used for research and development, rather than for a shareholder dividend.

"the board of directors" is singular so A and C are discarded

(A) ~~have decided that this year's profits will be used~~
(B) has decided that this year's profits will be used
(C) ~~have decided on using this year's profits~~
(D) has decided on using this year's profits- has decided on + "noun/noun phrase" would need to be "the use of"
(E) decided this year's profits will have been used - the tenses do not make sense

govindsowrirajan

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Re: The chairman of the board of directors have decided that [#permalink]

19 Mar 2014, 02:30

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Gears46 wrote:

The chairman of the board of directors have decided that this year's profits will be used for research and development, rather than for a shareholder dividend.

(A) have decided that this year's profits will be used
(B) has decided that this year's profits will be used
(C) have decided on using this year's profits
(D) has decided on using this year's profits
(E) decided this year's profits will have been used

A and C are out because chairman is singular.

E is out because it is weird.(Can't Explain)

Between B and D,
In D, use of -ing form is unnecessary. Why add an -ing form unnecessarily and complicate it when a straightforward and simple option is there in B?

Cheers
Govind

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Re: The chairman of the board of directors have decided that [#permalink]

23 Nov 2015, 11:18

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Gears46 wrote:

The chairman of the board of directors have decided that this year's profits will be used for research and development, rather than for a shareholder dividend.

(A) have decided that this year's profits will be used
(B) has decided that this year's profits will be used
(C) have decided on using this year's profits
(D) has decided on using this year's profits
(E) decided this year's profits will have been used

Explanation from Brian on BeatThe GMAT -

Hey guys,

Good thread - and just because "unidiomatic" is such a vague way to explain an error (curse the OG solutions for using that word so often!), let me weigh in on that difference.

When you're connecting two verbs, like "deciding" and "use", you need to either set up an independent clause with a new subject:

decided THAT the profits will be used for... ("the profits" become the subject of that new clause)

OR

Keep the same subject and make the second verb an infinitive:

Decided TO USE the profits for... (the chairman is the one who, at least indirectly, will use the profits for that purpose so he/she is the subject)

You'll see this come up a fair amount in GMAT questions, so be aware of these two tools for connecting verbs. "Decided on" is fine if the next word is a noun (We've decided on the case) but not a verb ("We've decided on convicting" is wrong; "We've decided to convict" is correct).

_________________
Brian Galvin
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Director of Academic Programs
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gmantri18

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Re: The chairman of the board of directors have decided that [#permalink]

02 Mar 2016, 03:34

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DoItRight wrote:

The chairman is singular so "has" is correct.
That leaves us with B and D.
D does not flow. (D)...has decided on using this year`s profits research and development...
It is missing a "for" so B is the correct answer.

'for' is not underlined in the question. So, your explanation about option 'D' is incorrect

G

sayantanc2k

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Re: The chairman of the board of directors have decided that [#permalink]

02 Mar 2016, 08:41

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gmantri18 wrote:

DoItRight wrote:

The chairman is singular so "has" is correct.
That leaves us with B and D.
D does not flow. (D)...has decided on using this year`s profits research and development...
It is missing a "for" so B is the correct answer.

'for' is not underlined in the question. So, your explanation about option 'D' is incorrect

Yes, your observation is correct. Option D is wrong for another reason:

The idiom to decide on is used to mean to choose one option among others - We decided on watching movie. This sentence implies that we had other options (e.g., going to a restaurant, playing tennis etc.), but we chose watching movie..

Option D implies that the chairman chose using this year's profit among other options (e.g. not using this year's profit). This is not the intended meaning.

However the sentence could be as follows: The chairman decided on R & D as...... this would imply that the chairman chose R&D among all the departments.

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Re: The chairman of the board of directors have decided that [#permalink]

15 Mar 2016, 22:22

Expert Reply

The chairman of the board of directors

Quote:

have decided that this year's profits will be used

for research and development, rather than for a shareholder dividend.

(A) have decided that this year's profits will be used
(B) has decided that this year's profits will be used
(C) have decided on using this year's profits
(D) has decided on using this year's profits
(E) decided this year's profits will have been used

Fairly simple question. In one stroke, we can do away with choices A and C.
Then ‘decided’ is inappropriate in E since the effect of the decision is still pervading. Between B and D, D is out because of the unidomatic ‘on using’. B remains.

Of course, the best choice would be :' has decided to use this year's profits'

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Re: The chairman of the board of directors have decided that [#permalink]

21 Apr 2016, 23:33

sayantanc2k wrote:

gmantri18 wrote:

DoItRight wrote:

The chairman is singular so "has" is correct.
That leaves us with B and D.
D does not flow. (D)...has decided on using this year`s profits research and development...
It is missing a "for" so B is the correct answer.

'for' is not underlined in the question. So, your explanation about option 'D' is incorrect

Yes, your observation is correct. Option D is wrong for another reason:

The idiom to decide on is used to mean to choose one option among others - We decided on watching movie. This sentence implies that we had other options (e.g., going to a restaurant, playing tennis etc.), but we chose watching movie..

Option D implies that the chairman chose using this year's profit among other options (e.g. not using this year's profit). This is not the intended meaning.

However the sentence could be as follows: The chairman decided on R & D as...... this would imply that the chairman chose R&D among all the departments.

Hey Sanyantan, I believe Decided on is used only for nouns : As in decided on the case
but any clause requires a decided that (as in this case)

G

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Re: The chairman of the board of directors have decided that [#permalink]

22 Apr 2016, 09:05

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arirux92 wrote:

Hey Sanyantan, I believe Decided on is used only for nouns : As in decided on the case
but any clause requires a decided that (as in this case)

Decide / Decide on:

The difference between decide and decide on is not based on whether the object is a noun or a clause.
"Decide on" is used when the intended meaning is to choose one among many.

We decided on playing. (sense: We considered other choices - e.g. going to movie, staying home etc... but we decided on playing)
We decided to play. (sense: Whether we considered other choices or not is not specifically conveyed)

We decided on the colour. (sense: We considered many colours and then selected one of them.)
We decided the colour. ( Sense: Whether we considered other colors is not specifically conveyed.)

Thus if a clause conveys a sense of choosing one among many choices, then we may use "decide on":

We decided on which way we should take. (clause)
OR
We decided on the way we should take. (noun)

In both cases the conveyed meaning is the same: we considered many ways and then decided on a particular way.

G

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Re: The chairman of the board of directors have decided that [#permalink]

20 Jun 2017, 09:45

The chairman of the board of directors have decided that this year's profits will be used for research and development, rather than for a shareholder dividend.

Meaning analysis:
The chairman has decided something about this year's profits i.e. this year's profits will be used for R&D rather than for a shareholder dividend.

Error:
1) Subject verb: Chairman is the singular subject of the plural verb have decided and thus is wrong.
Correct verb here is has decided
2) Idiom: The correct idiom in this case is "decide that".

(A) have decided that this year's profits will be used
(B) has decided that this year's profits will be used
(C) have decided on using this year's profits
(D) has decided on using this year's profits
(E) decided this year's profits will have been used

S

lary301254M7

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Re: The chairman of the board of directors have decided that [#permalink]

12 Feb 2018, 23:10

Pretty sure if option (E) says:

"decided that this year's profit will be used"

it would also be correct

D

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Re: The chairman of the board of directors have decided that [#permalink]

15 Feb 2018, 16:51

Expert Reply

Hi lary301254M7,

Yes, you are correct - if the verb was different, that would have been an acceptable answer! The problem with saying "will have been used" suggests the funds were already used, but the chairman is just now deciding why they were used - which doesn't make sense, unless the chairman's intending to lie to cover up what the funds were really used for.

Great question!

L

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Re: The chairman of the board of directors have decided that [#permalink]

13 May 2018, 02:36

Expert Reply

Decide on Someone/Something (Noun):

to choose something or someone after careful thought:

I've decided on blue for the bathroom.
I am having trouble deciding on a gift for them.

Source:dictionary.cambridge.org

saurabhmalpani wrote:

Ya can somebody please explain me why is D wrong?
I am kind of confused.

Thanks
Saurabh Malpani

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Re: The chairman of the board of directors have decided that [#permalink]

29 Oct 2018, 05:14

Expert Reply

Gears46 wrote:

The chairman of the board of directors have decided that this year's profits will be used for research and development, rather than for a shareholder dividend.

(A) have decided that this year's profits will be used
(B) has decided that this year's profits will be used
(C) have decided on using this year's profits
(D) has decided on using this year's profits
(E) decided this year's profits will have been used

KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

B

GMAT likes to introduce errors by separating the subject and verb. Practice with sentence corrections, so you anticipate and ignore distracting phrases like “of the board of directors.”“Have” has to agree with the singular subject “chairman,”rather than with the plural “directors.” (B) is right because the correct idiom is “decided that,”not “decided on.”

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Re: The chairman of the board of directors have decided that [#permalink]

23 May 2021, 03:15

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Re: The chairman of the board of directors have decided that [#permalink]

23 May 2021, 03:15

GMAT Sentence Correction (EA only) Questions

The chairman of the board of directors have decided that