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Sub 505 (Easy)|   Clauses|      
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dqtuan9627
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During his time as the foreign minister of Belgium Updated on: 08 May 2014, 13:34
Originally posted by dqtuan9627 on 07 May 2014, 19:48.
Last edited by mikemcgarry on 08 May 2014, 13:34, edited 2 times in total.
Original sentence not underlined
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D
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5% (low)

Question Stats:

86% (01:01) correct 14% (01:14) wrong based on 160 sessions

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During his time as the foreign minister of Belgium, Pierre Harmel, as he was a strong advocate of forward-looking diplomatic policy, pleased many of his most enthusiastic allies in his proposal that collective defense should be acknowledged as the foundation of world stability.

(A) as he was a strong proponent of forward-looking diplomatic policy, pleased many of his most enthusiastic allies in his proposal that collective defense should be

(B) as he was a strong proponent for forward-looking diplomatic policy, pleased many of his most enthusiastic allies by his proposal of collective defense being

(C) in being a strong proponent for forward-looking diplomatic policy, pleased many of his most enthusiastic allies with the proposal that collective defense being

(D) a strong proponent of forward-looking diplomatic policy, pleased many of his most enthusiastic allies by proposing that collective defense be

(E) a strong proponent of forward-looking diplomatic policy, he pleased many of his most enthusiastic allies in proposing that collective defense should be
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D
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aditya8062
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During his time as the foreign minister of Belgium 07 May 2014, 22:07
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D seems best here :a strong proponent of forward-looking diplomatic policy, pleased many of his most enthusiastic allies by proposing that collective defense be

though i can eliminate A for various other reason such as "that collective defense should be", i feel that usage of "as he was a strong proponent of forward-looking diplomatic policy, pleased many of his most enthusiastic allies.." is some how wrong. I believe that the construction is "as X ,Y ",where both X and Y are clauses. However in A in the construction of comma + Y the subject "Pierre Harmel" is left behind
I will appreciate if some expert can verify this point
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During his time as the foreign minister of Belgium 07 May 2014, 23:27
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dqtuan9627
During his time as the foreign minister of Belgium, Pierre Harmel, as he was a strong advocate of forward-looking diplomatic policy, pleased many of his most enthusiastic allies in his proposal that collective defense should be acknowledged as the foundation of world stability.

(A)as he was a strong proponent of forward-looking diplomatic policy, pleased many of his most enthusiastic allies in his proposal that collective defense should be

(B)as he was a strong proponent for forward-looking diplomatic policy, pleased many of his most enthusiastic allies by his proposal of collective defense being

(C)in being a strong proponent for forward-looking diplomatic policy, pleased many of his most enthusiastic allies with the proposal that collective defense being

(D)a strong proponent of forward-looking diplomatic policy, pleased many of his most enthusiastic allies by proposing that collective defense be

(E)a strong proponent of forward-looking diplomatic policy, he pleased many of his most enthusiastic allies in proposing that collective defense should be
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Note that in Original sentence the underlined portion "as he was a strong advocate of forward-looking diplomatic policy," is incorrect as the sentence needs a proper modifier modifying the preceding term "Pierre Harmel". This is taken care in option C,D and E

In the original sentence let's remove the modifier and see what we get

"Pierre Harmel, as he was a strong advocate of forward-looking diplomatic policy, pleased many of his most enthusiastic allies in his proposal that collective defense should be[/u] acknowledged as the foundation of world stability.

Now word proposal is subjunctive and hence the construction needs to have plural verb which is there only in Option D and Hence D is the answer

Trigger words: Demand/Dictate/Insist/Mandate/Propose/Recommend/Stipulate/Suggest (Any form) + That +Subject (Singlular or Plural) +plural verb
Use of should is to be avoided and using of Being in option C is also not correct
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During his time as the foreign minister of Belgium 08 May 2014, 14:03
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aditya8062
D seems best here :a strong proponent of forward-looking diplomatic policy, pleased many of his most enthusiastic allies by proposing that collective defense be

though i can eliminate A for various other reason such as "that collective defense should be", i feel that usage of "as he was a strong proponent of forward-looking diplomatic policy, pleased many of his most enthusiastic allies.." is some how wrong. I believe that the construction is "as X ,Y ",where both X and Y are clauses. However in A in the construction of comma + Y the subject "Pierre Harmel" is left behind
I will appreciate if some expert can verify this point
Show more
Dear aditya8062,
I'm happy to respond. :-)

In all honesty, I am not completely impressed with this question. I am not convinced that it adheres to the rigorous standards of the GMAT SC.

Clearly, (D) is the most concise and elegant answer. In (A), the first half is 100% grammatically correct: the phrase "as he was a strong proponent of forward-looking diplomatic policy" is a perfectly constructed clause. The SVA is fine --- "Pierre Harmel ... pleased" ... One problem with (A) lies in the subtle idiomatic issue. The construction:
"... Harmel .... pleased [people] by his proposal" or "by proposing"
is 100% grammatically and idiomatically correct, whereas the construction
"... Harmel .... pleased [people] in his proposal" or "in proposing"
is in a funny gray zone ---- not radiantly correct, but not clearly wrong either. This could conceivable be acceptable.

One could argue, I suppose, that "propose that X be ...." is sufficient, and that "propose that X should be ...." is a little redundant. Hmmm. I don't know. I could see that argument, but I am not sure this is something wrong enough to eliminate an answer.

The only real unambiguous complaint against (A) is that it is a bit wordy and indirect and passive --- first, the "as" clause instead of a simple appositive phrase, and then the noun "proposal" instead of the gerund "proposing." I think it's much harder to eliminate (E).

I don't know. The whole question leaves me with a wishy-washy feeling, not the unambiguous clarity of the GMAT SC.

Also, WoundedTiger, you wrong: "Now word proposal is subjunctive and hence the construction needs to have plural verb." I am going to quibble with you about terminology.
... proposal that a woman fly a fighter jet ....
... proposal that Andrea Bocelli sing the national anthem ...
... proposal that this book be banned ...
Those underlined verbs are NOT plural verbs. They are verbs in the subjunctive mood, which are also identical to the infinitive form of the verb. As it happens, for almost all verb, the infinitive form is also identical to the present tense plural form of the verb in the indicative mood, but it is incorrect to call the verbs that appear here "plural." See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-gramm ... ive-tense/

Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)
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During his time as the foreign minister of Belgium 10 Jan 2019, 19:53
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