Standard police procedure requires that an officer interview witnesses

ya very right its A
Command subjunctive for bossy verbs(require,propose etc)
...hence bare form of the verb(interview) without "s" will be used

Example: We Propose that the school band DISBAND

for subjunctive mood the verb should be in base form without the to

Yes, I also think they both are grammatically correct but A is more concise.

both 'Require that' and 'Require to' are correct

Require takes either command subjunctive or the infinitive

Require + that + subject + Base Verb (Infinitive without To)
Require + (to + Base Verb)

Thanks everyone

Standard police procedure requires that an officer interview witnesses separately rather than together.
(a) Standard police procedure requires that an officer interview witnesses separately rather than together-->IMO correct

(b) A requirement, according to standard police procedure, is that an officer interview witness separately rather than interviewing them together-->not //

(c) Standard police procedure requires an officer to interview witnesses separately rather than to interview them together--> i can think of the grammar wrong here, i can see only that A is more concise

(d) It is required in standard police procedure that an officer interviews witnesses separately, not together
(e) Standard police procedure requires that an officer interviews witnesses separately rather than together
"Require" is subjunctive V. Therefore, the verb after "require to" or "require that" has to be bare form verb (no -s, no -ed)--> eliminate E,D

Can anyone explain why in A, even though the subject " officer" is singular, we can still use a singular verb " interview" rather than " interviews" ?? Thats why i was leaning towards C and E.

if you eliminate some details in this sentence, you will see the structure "require + that + S + Verb" . When you see the structure "require + that + S-V" you should immediately think of subjunctive mood which the Verb will be used in bare infinitive verb.
Ex:
A requires that B interview witnesses separately rather than together. correct
A requires that B interviews witnesses separately rather than together incorrect

Got the same problem to choose between A and C.
Chose A because it was more concise.

Subjonctive required when using the following verbs:
Propose
Require
Request
Recommend
Insist
Suggest
Mandate
Ask
Demand

I know that i'm replying after ages but couldn't find the explanation i had in mind so putting forth my reason for choosing A between A and C

Standard police procedure requires that an officer interview witnesses separately rather than together.

(A) Standard police procedure requires that an officer interview witnesses separately rather than together
(C) Standard police procedure requires an officer to interview witnesses separately rather than to interview them together

C changes the meaning of the original sentence .. it says the procedure requires an officer to interview which makes it sound more like a vacancy to be filled .. i choose A as its the subjunctive mood and lays out the authority of the procedure clearly ...

Require can be used in two ways-

Require that X + subjunctive verb

Require X + infinitive form of verb

A is correct;.
C is correct as far as the idiomatic usage of require is concerned but goes wrong in the latter half with false parallelsim-separately rather than to interview them together

The OA is correct and explanations provided in the thread appear sufficient. If there are any specific questions, please post them here and then click again on the "Request Expert Reply" button – closing this request.

My understanding is that "rather than " is used for comparing clauses or verb,however here noun "together " is used.Please clarify

"Together" is an adverb, not a noun.

Nonetheless "rather than" can be used to join even nouns. "Rather than" is more general than "instead of" and can be used to join phrases, clauses, nouns, verbs or adverbs, whereas "instead of" can only join nouns or noun phrases.

Hello sayantanc2k,

Could you please explain why option C is incorrect ?

Thanks

C is not wrong gramatically, but it could be more concise. Repeating "to interview them" makes this option wordy.

mikemcgarry GMATNinjaTwo GMATNinja

Hi, I was wondering could you please explain the difference between option A and C? I was able to get down to these two options but ended up picking the wrong option even though I knew option A was more concise and beautiful. I was wondering if there are any specific grammatical errors in option C? Also, if you could please explain the difference between "require that" and "require to", I would immensely appreciate it as well!

Thank You!

Dear csaluja,

I'm happy to respond.

Choice (C) is 100% grammatically correct, but it's clunky and awkward. By repeating words in the second branch of the parallelism, it creates a repetitive redundant effect that the GMAT abhors. See:
Dropping Common Words in Parallel on the GMAT

In general, many students labor under the misconception that the GMAT SC is primarily a test of grammar, that grammar is the most important element tested. This is patently false. On a well-written sentence on the GMAT SC, grammar and logic and rhetoric all work together to support meaning. The students who pay attention to grammar are missing more than half the story, and the GMAT specifically designs incorrect answer choices that are grammatically correct, such as (C), to ensnare such students.

Both "requires that A do X" and "requires A to do X" are idiomatically correct. For more on idioms, see:
GMAT Idiom Flashcards

Does all this make sense?
Mike

KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

You're given interview and interviews as options here. Interview is correct because requires that earlier in the sentence is one of those "verb -I- that" formulas that need to be completed by a verb in the subjunctive (here, interview). Eliminate (D) and (E). Next, you need to decide whether interview witnesses separately rather than together uses ellipsis correctly. It does because interview works as an implied verb and together properly parallels the other adverb separately. Think of it this way: Standard police procedure requires that an officer interview witnesses separately rather than that an officer interview witnesses together. You'll notice that everything that the sentence needs to imply has already been stated. That, plus the fact that the structure of the remaining pieces is parallel, means that ellipsis is used correctly. (A) is your most succinct choice.