This April, three out of seven people will file tax returns

In a is placed before Accounting text. A is wrong article for accounting. But makes it clear placing an before accounting.
Hope it helps.

my question still is .. why not B , where a and an are not used at all

Guys, where are you getting the OA from ? From whatever i've searched, "B" seems to be correct . Please do not state something as "OA" unless you are absolutely sure as it confuses everyone. An explanation i came across (not sure if its correct):

"There is an error in meaning in this sentence that comes from the fact that 'tax returns' is plural and 'a disk is singular'. It makes is sound like all of the people used the same disk. A is out. Choices C, D and E are all wrong because they do not correct the error in meaning and because they change the meaning of the original sentence and violates the directions. By substituting 'AN accounting text' for 'accounting texts' changes meaning. Now it is one singular text that is being used and not a variety as the original sentence states"


Some links that have tried to explain it:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/sc-tax-returns-19876.html
https://gmatclub.com/forum/sc-tax-returns-42949.html

the OA is from this very forum itself . and it is definitely given as E

Could you please provide the link for that ? Thanks

I would say that "B" is wrong because "found in software stores and accounting texts" implies that you can find it in every software store and accounting text. "found in a software store and an accounting text" as it is in "E" corrects this generalization error.

clueless. i would never get this right if comes in real exam.

As a third attempt let me try!!

Step 1:
Three out of seven people will file - one tax return each for them selves. they wont file everybody's tax returns - so we need "a tax return"

So A, C, D all are out!

Step 2: Evaluate between B & E
to file tax return people will need a disk (for now forget where it may be found) and accounting text - there is no way to judge if we need "many texts" OR "just one text" - could be that there are many provisions of tax law that need to be studied and many books/texts are required; thus "accounting texts" could be right OR could it be that "there is clear text law" and it can come in standard one page text i.e. only one text is required; in which case "an accounting text" may be ok. but how to find this answer??? so decision point is not "accounting texts" v/s "an account text"

Moving on, now we have "a disk" in both the options - but in B its available at "storeS" and in E it is available at " a store" . . one can conclude its some kind of a national statistics of survey and its been found that 3 out of 7 will file return by using disk and text. but its not possible that they have to buy it from "a software store (some specific store)" . people should be able to buy a disk from any "storeS".

Thus B makes sense.!!

i could never ever get this right in real exam!

for me is fairly clear:

B vs E

B. a tax return with a disk found in software stores and accounting texts

E. a tax return with a disk found in a software store and an accounting text

E has all in the right place, each part agrees........

This April, three out of seven people will file tax returns with a disk found in software stores and accounting texts.

A. tax returns with a disk found in software stores and accounting texts
B. a tax return with a disk found in software stores and accounting texts
C. tax returns with disks found in a software store and an accounting text
D. tax returns with a disk found in a software store and an accounting text
E. a tax return with a disk found in a software store and an accounting text

Le us read B -
This April, three out of seven people will file a tax return (with a disk found in (software stores and accounting texts ))
(with a disk (found in software stores and accounting texts )) modifies the 1st part
(found in software stores and accounting texts ) modifies a disk
You are modifying a singular - desk by plural modifier - software stores / accounting texts
Does it make sense ?

To make things easy - Let us put an example

This November, three out of seven people will subscribe a finance book with a DVD found in libraries and bookstores.
OR
This November, three out of seven people will subscribe a finance book with a DVD found in a library and a bookstore.

Hope this makes sense to you Garima.

^^ Good explanation..makes sense

Tough question!!!
Got it totally wrong! What is the source of this question???

IMO C. all other options use "a disk"(singular), this means that everyone will be using just one disk(wrong).

Different people will use different disks(plural), therefore "disks"should be used.

Hi Garima,

What is the source of this question?

Tough question.. even after going through explanations I am still not convinced.
From what I know we have "Tax Returns" not "Tax return"...
And a single individual can file tax returns....