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555-605 Level|   Meaning/Logical Predication|   Parallelism|   Pronouns|   Subjunctive|                           
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Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor propos 27 Jun 2018, 11:55
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Hero8888
Shouldn't "proposed" require subjunctive mood here: proposed + that + be?
In what cases can we ommit this rule? Thanks
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You're thinking of one particular trigger for the subjunctive mood: "bossy verb" + "that." Examples might include "recommended that" or "required that" or "demanded that." All of these would require the use of subjunctive.

But if we don't have the word "that," there's no need for the subjunctive. It's perfectly acceptable to have "proposed" + "noun," as we do in the OA here. These, for example, are totally fine:

  • Tim proposed an equitable solution to the problem.
  • Governor Hickenlooper proposed groundbreaking legislation that would offer free carne asada burritos to GMAT tutors in Colorado.

I hope that helps!
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Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor propos 27 Jun 2018, 13:23
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GMATNinja

But if we don't have the word "that," there's no need for the subjunctive. It's perfectly acceptable to have "proposed" + "noun," as we do in the OA here. These, for example, are totally fine:

  • Tim proposed an equitable solution to the problem.
  • Governor Hickenlooper proposed groundbreaking legislation that would offer free carne asada burritos to GMAT tutors in Colorado.

I hope that helps!
Show more

Hi GMATNinja,
Thanks for your response. It became clearer now. Yet I have 2 questions:

1. Does "bossy verb" + "noun" formula work with any verb from the list: demand, suggest, request, recommend, stipulate, mandate, insist, and dictate?

2. In some cases, such as "report suggests that the Earth was..." or " we don't use subjunctive. How to recognize the pattern in which "that" exists, but subjunctive is not required? Any other verbs from the list above can follow the pattern?

Regards
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Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor propos 30 Jun 2018, 15:14
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GMATNinja

But if we don't have the word "that," there's no need for the subjunctive. It's perfectly acceptable to have "proposed" + "noun," as we do in the OA here. These, for example, are totally fine:

  • Tim proposed an equitable solution to the problem.
  • Governor Hickenlooper proposed groundbreaking legislation that would offer free carne asada burritos to GMAT tutors in Colorado.

I hope that helps!

Hi GMATNinja,
Thanks for your response. It became clearer now. Yet I have 2 questions:

1. Does "bossy verb" + "noun" formula work with any verb from the list: demand, suggest, request, recommend, stipulate, mandate, insist, and dictate?

2. In some cases, such as "report suggests that the Earth was..." or " we don't use subjunctive. How to recognize the pattern in which "that" exists, but subjunctive is not required? Any other verbs from the list above can follow the pattern?

Regards
Show more

1. For the most part, yes: you can use most of those verbs with just a noun. Here, have some more examples:

    "The teacher demanded silence."
    "I recommend the avocado tuna roll with just a hint of wasabi." (Mmm... avocado tuna rolls.)

I suppose there are also some situations in which you'd need a preposition before the noun:

    "Tim insisted on the purple drapes."

The broader point is that English is incredibly flexible and complicated - all of the verbs in that list can be used in ways other than to introduce the subjunctive mood.

2. "Suggest" has multiple meanings. It could be used to mean "recommend," or "propose", and in those situations, "suggest" may introduce the subjunctive the same way another "bossy verb" might. But it could also be used to mean "express" or "implies," in which case, it wouldn't be so bossy anymore, and the subjunctive wouldn't be called for.

But there's no reason to devote much brain space to absorbing this idea. Consider a similar example to the one you offered: "The report suggests that the Earth was unusually hot last year." Surely it doesn't make any sense to write, "The report suggests that the Earth be unusually hot..." The report isn't telling the Earth what to do!

Put another way, we can't just go on autopilot, scan the sentence, and look for words that necessitate the use of the subjunctive. We have to understand the meaning of the sentence and use context clues to determine what construction is best. That may not be a terribly satisfying answer, but it's true.

Here's the bigger takeaway: I insist that you be careful about relying too much on rote memorization! (See what I did there?) The subjunctive shows up occasionally on the GMAT, but it's relatively rare. If you were to try to memorize a list of bossy verbs, then attempt to internalize all the exceptions for when the subjunctive shouldn't be used, and repeat this process for every issue you could possibly encounter on an SC question, your head is going to explode. (At least mine would.) The better approach is to use logic and context, coupled with a limited collection of truly essential grammar concepts, to determine what construction works best.

I hope this helps!
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Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor propos 15 Aug 2018, 14:51
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GMATNinja: in choice C>> "proposed to reduce, by nearly 17 percent, the amount from the previous year that was allocated". Doesn't it mean>> "to reduce the amount from the previous year" and can be eliminated so do other choices as well based on the same reasoning. Please confirm if this is correct interpretation.
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Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor propos 17 Aug 2018, 06:54
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ravikumarmishra
GMATNinja: in choice C>> "proposed to reduce, by nearly 17 percent, the amount from the previous year that was allocated". Doesn't it mean>> "to reduce the amount from the previous year" and can be eliminated so do other choices as well based on the same reasoning. Please confirm if this is correct interpretation.
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Sadly, I'm not sure what you're asking, but I'll give it a shot. (C) is wrong because the parallel construction creates an illogical meaning.

Quote:
Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor proposed to reduce by nearly 17 percent, the amount from the previous year that was allocated for the maintenance of the city’s major cultural institutions and to subsidize hundreds of local arts groups.
Show more
According to this version of the sentence, the city's mayor is proposing to do two things:

    1) He's proposing to reduce the amount of money allocated for maintenance of cultural institutions.
    2) He's proposing to subsidize the local arts groups.

In what kind of fantasy world would the mayor respond to a budget gap by proposing to give money to arts groups? (A magical one, one where the children all have tap shoes and the streets are paved in sheet music from Gershwin musicals.) (C) is wrong because it makes no sense.

Contrast this with (A):

Quote:
Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor proposed a nearly 17 percent reduction in the amount allocated the previous year to maintain the city’s major cultural institutions and to subsidize hundreds of local arts groups.
Show more
Now the mayor is proposing two things:

    1) A reduction in the amount of money allocated to maintain cultural institutions
    2) A reduction in the amount of money allocated to subsidize local arts groups.

Reducing money to local arts groups is a far more coherent response to a budget gap, albeit a depressing one. (A) is correct because it's the more logical construction.

I hope that helps!
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Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor propos 17 Aug 2018, 07:22
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GMATNinja: in choice C>> "proposed to reduce, by nearly 17 percent, the amount from the previous year that was allocated". Doesn't it mean>> "to reduce the amount from the previous year" and can be eliminated so do other choices as well based on the same reasoning. Please confirm if this is correct interpretation.
Sadly, I'm not sure what you're asking, but I'll give it a shot. (C) is wrong because the parallel construction creates an illogical meaning.

Quote:
Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor proposed to reduce by nearly 17 percent, the amount from the previous year that was allocated for the maintenance of the city’s major cultural institutions and to subsidize hundreds of local arts groups.
According to this version of the sentence, the city's mayor is proposing to do two things:

    1) He's proposing to reduce the amount of money allocated for maintenance of cultural institutions.
    2) He's proposing to subsidize the local arts groups.

In what kind of fantasy world would the mayor respond to a budget gap by proposing to give money to arts groups? (A magical one, one where the children all have tap shoes and the streets are paved in sheet music from Gershwin musicals.) (C) is wrong because it makes no sense.

Contrast this with (A):

Quote:
Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor proposed a nearly 17 percent reduction in the amount allocated the previous year to maintain the city’s major cultural institutions and to subsidize hundreds of local arts groups.
Now the mayor is proposing two things:

    1) A reduction in the amount of money allocated to maintain cultural institutions
    2) A reduction in the amount of money allocated to subsidize local arts groups.

Reducing money to local arts groups is a far more coherent response to a budget gap, albeit a depressing one. (A) is correct because it's the more logical construction.

I hope that helps!
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Thanks a lot GMATNinja for your elaborate response and I apologize for not clearly asking what I intended. Let me try again, here is my interpretation of the answer choices:

(B) proposed a reduction from the previous year of nearly 17 percent in the amount it was allocating to maintain the city’s major cultural institutions and for subsidizing

The highlighted part does not make sense to me. To me, the highlighted means>> reduction of a certain percentage of Amount from an Year

(C) proposed to reduce, by nearly 17 percent, the amount from the previous yearthat was allocated for the maintenance of the city’s major cultural institutions and to subsidize.

The highlighted part does not make sense to me. To me, the highlighted means>> Reduce some percentage of Amount from an Year.

(D) has proposed a reduction from the previous year of nearly 17 percent of the amount it was allocating for maintaining the city’s major cultural institutions, and to subsidize

Same interpretation as for choice B above.

(E) was proposing that the amount they were allocating be reduced by nearly 17 percent from the previous year for maintaining the city’s major cultural institutions and for the subsidization.

Same interpretation as for choice C above.

(A) proposed a nearly 17 percent reduction in the amount allocated the previous year to maintain the city’s major cultural institutions and to subsidize.

The highlighted part here makes perfect sense as it clearly mentions>> Reduction in amount

Could you please confirm if this is correct interpretation of the answer choices.
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Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor propos 24 Mar 2019, 02:54
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Dear Expert,
I have a question regarding the none underline part: why not "in the previous year"?
It seems strange "amount allocated the previous year", since "the previous year" is a noun and follows the verb "allocated"

thanks in advance!
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Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor propos 08 Apr 2019, 05:48
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Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor proposed a nearly 17 percent reduction in the amount allocated the previous year to maintain the city’s major cultural institutions and to subsidize hundreds of local arts groups.


(A) proposed a nearly 17 percent reduction in the amount allocated the previous year to maintain the city’s major cultural institutions and to subsidize

(B) proposed a reduction from the previous year of nearly 17 percent in the amount it was allocating to maintain the city’s major cultural institutions and for subsidizing (previous year’s amount?)

(C) proposed to reduce, by nearly 17 percent, the amount from the previous year that was allocated for the maintenance of the city’s major cultural institutions and to subsidize (previous year’s amount?)

(D) has proposed a reduction from the previous year of nearly 17 percent of the amount it was allocating for maintaining the city’s major cultural institutions, and to subsidize (previous year’s amount?)


(E) was proposing that the amount they were allocating be reduced by nearly 17 percent from the previous year for maintaining the city’s major cultural institutions and for the subsidization (previous year’s amount?)



GMATNinja daagh KyleWiddison

Hi experts,
Is the highlighted part a case of wrong comparison. Should it not be "previous year's amount" rather than previous year.

Using this i eliminated BCDE but i could not find this in any of the explanations.
Kindly help
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Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor propos 08 Apr 2019, 09:51
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Connor wrote

Quote:
Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor proposed a nearly 17 percent reduction in the amount allocated the previous year to maintain the city’s major cultural institutions and to subsidize hundreds of local arts groups.

GMATNinja daagh KyleWiddison

Hi experts,
Is the highlighted part a case of wrong comparison. Should it not be "previous year's amount" rather than the previous year.

Using this I eliminated BCDE but i could not find this in any of the explanations.
Kindly help
Show more

Let's just deal with your pointed issue choice by choice.

(A) proposed a nearly 17 percent reduction in the amount allocated the previous year to maintain the city’s major cultural institutions and to subsidize-- The phrase 'Reduction in the amount' makes it clear that it is the amount that is being reduced and not the year.

(B) proposed a reduction from the previous year of nearly 17 percent in the amount it was allocating to maintain the city’s major cultural institutions and for subsidizing (previous year’s amount?) -- A reduction from the previous year is illogical Can anyone reduce a year. The comparison has somehow failed to mention the word 'amount.'

(C) proposed to reduce, by nearly 17 percent, the amount from the previous year that was allocated for the maintenance of the city’s major cultural institutions and to subsidize (previous year’s amount?) -- But C makes it clear that it is the amount that is being reduced. Please read it slowly. The word 'the amount ' is popping out in front. How could you miss that? Therefore C is wrong not for the reason of comparison parallelism but for other reasons such as lack of parallelism between" for the maintenance and to subsidize"


(D) has proposed a reduction from the previous year of nearly 17 percent of the amount it was allocating for maintaining the city’s major cultural institutions, and to subsidize (previous year’s amount?) I agree with you. "A reduction from the previous year" is illogical Add to the parallelism issue we discussed in C.

(E) was proposing that the amount they were allocating be reduced by nearly 17 percent from the previous year for maintaining the city’s major cultural institutions and for the subsidization (previous year’s amount?) I agree with you in this case too. In addition, a proposal does not entail a subjunctive mood. It is just a proposal and further has to go through some rounds of voting and in the end; the proposal may even be dropped. Then, what does the word 'they' refer to? GOK!

Therefore, you may now see that wherever the word 'amount' is mentioned, we cannot find fault with it.

However, do you have to struggle this much to solve this? IMO. That approach is not required as far as this GMAT SC question is concerned. One can simply look at parallelism and rule out in a single stroke all the other choices but A.

A -- to maintain and to subsidize-- Parallelism is ok.
B -- To maintain and for subsidizing -- Parallelism is not ok.
C-- for the maintenance and to subsidize-- Parallelism is not ok
D-- for maintaining, and to subsidize -- Parallelism is not Ok
E. -- for maintaining and for the subsidization -- Parallelism is not ok

Connor, this is just a suggestion.

Thanks for your nice query. You deserve a Kudos
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Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor propos 08 Apr 2019, 18:26
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GMATNinja

I could see that it is mentioned 'to maintain' and 'for subsidising' are parallel as both are prepositional phrases.

But to maintain is an infinitive which cannot be parallel to prepositional phrase.

Please provide a clear explanation for this, as i am following all your videos and i don't want any gaps.

Thanks for your help.
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Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor propos 08 Apr 2019, 23:12
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GMATNinja

I could see that it is mentioned 'to maintain' and 'for subsidising' are parallel as both are prepositional phrases.

But to maintain is an infinitive which cannot be parallel to prepositional phrase.

Please provide a clear explanation for this, as i am following all your videos and i don't want any gaps.

Thanks for your help.
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In the correct option, to maintain is parallel to to subsidize.

As for to maintain and for subsidizing, you are correct: they are not very parallel, and that's a good reason to remove the second option.
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Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor propos 23 Jun 2019, 00:46
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Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor proposed a nearly 17 percent reduction in the amount allocated the previous year to maintain the city’s major cultural institutions and to subsidize hundreds of local arts groups.


(A) proposed a nearly 17 percent reduction in the amount allocated the previous year to maintain the city’s major cultural institutions and to subsidize

(B) proposed a reduction from the previous year of nearly 17 percent in the amount it was allocating to maintain the city’s major cultural institutions and for subsidizing

(C) proposed to reduce, by nearly 17 percent, the amount from the previous year that was allocated for the maintenance of the city’s major cultural institutions and to subsidize

(D) has proposed a reduction from the previous year of nearly 17 percent of the amount it was allocating for maintaining the city’s major cultural institutions, and to subsidize

(E) was proposing that the amount they were allocating be reduced by nearly 17 percent from the previous year for maintaining the city’s major cultural institutions and for the subsidization



Verbal Question of The Day: Day 61: Sentence Correction


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https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/06/arts/the-arts-are-again-invited-to-the-budget-dance.html

This time, in the face of an estimated $2.75 billion city budget gap over the next year and a half, the Mayor has proposed a reduction of nearly 17 percent from last year in the amount spent to maintain New York's major cultural institutions and to subsidize hundreds of local arts groups. The preliminary budget announced by the Mayor last week sought about $65 million for the major groups and $7 million for the smaller ones for those purposes in the fiscal year 1997, which begins July 1, compared with $84 million in the current budget. Other cultural appropriations bring the total to $98.1 million.
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Eliminate B through E for parallelism errors:

B - To maintain and for subsidizing - not parallel
C - for the maintenance and to subsidize - not parallel
D - for maintaining and to subsidize - not parallel
E - for maintaining and for the subsidization - not parallel

The "it" in B and D has no antecedent. City's is in a possessive phrase and cannot be the antecedent. Same thing with the "they" in E.
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Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor propos 09 Feb 2020, 13:44
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(A) Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor proposed a nearly 17 percent reduction in the amount allocated ______ the previous year to maintain the city’s major cultural institutions and to subsidize hundreds of local arts groups.

I felt like there is some word missing here (shown by underscore above). Word like - in/to/for. Am I missing something here? GMATNinja help please!
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Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor propos 10 Feb 2020, 00:56
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AnirudhaS
(A) Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor proposed a nearly 17 percent reduction in the amount allocated ______ the previous year to maintain the city’s major cultural institutions and to subsidize hundreds of local arts groups.

I felt like there is some word missing here (shown by underscore above). Word like - in/to/for. Am I missing something here? GMATNinja help please!
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Hi AnirudhaS,

The the previous year is directly modifying allocated. To see this, let's add a that after amount:

... the amount that was allocated the previous year...
is like saying
... the amount that was allocated last year...

Another example:
He went to Colombo the year before.
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Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor propos 10 Feb 2020, 06:12
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One important thing with the meaning is that TO SUBSIDIZE must be parallel to TO MAINTAIN. Those are two activities in which the the amount of money was invested.

Once we are aware of that this exercise becomes fairly easy.



Best,





Verbal Question of The Day: Day 61: Sentence Correction


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https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/06/arts/the-arts-are-again-invited-to-the-budget-dance.html

This time, in the face of an estimated $2.75 billion city budget gap over the next year and a half, the Mayor has proposed a reduction of nearly 17 percent from last year in the amount spent to maintain New York's major cultural institutions and to subsidize hundreds of local arts groups. The preliminary budget announced by the Mayor last week sought about $65 million for the major groups and $7 million for the smaller ones for those purposes in the fiscal year 1997, which begins July 1, compared with $84 million in the current budget. Other cultural appropriations bring the total to $98.1 million.
[/quote]
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Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor propos 10 Feb 2020, 06:13
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One important thing with the meaning is that TO SUBSIDIZE must be parallel to TO MAINTAIN. Those are two activities in which the the amount of money was invested.

Once we are aware of that this exercise becomes fairly easy.



Best,





Verbal Question of The Day: Day 61: Sentence Correction


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https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/06/arts/the-arts-are-again-invited-to-the-budget-dance.html

This time, in the face of an estimated $2.75 billion city budget gap over the next year and a half, the Mayor has proposed a reduction of nearly 17 percent from last year in the amount spent to maintain New York's major cultural institutions and to subsidize hundreds of local arts groups. The preliminary budget announced by the Mayor last week sought about $65 million for the major groups and $7 million for the smaller ones for those purposes in the fiscal year 1997, which begins July 1, compared with $84 million in the current budget. Other cultural appropriations bring the total to $98.1 million.
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SairamRamo
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Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor propos 31 Jul 2020, 04:13
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We need to look for a split which satisfies parallelism

A) proposed a nearly 17 percent reduction in the amount allocated the previous year to maintain the city’s major cultural institutions and to subsidize

(B) proposed a reduction from the previous year of nearly 17 percent in the amount it was allocating to maintain the city’s major cultural institutions and for subsidizing

(C) proposed to reduce, by nearly 17 percent, the amount from the previous year that was allocated for the maintenance of the city’s major cultural institutions and to subsidize

(D) has proposed a reduction from the previous year of nearly 17 percent of the amount it was allocating for maintaining the city’s major cultural institutions, and to subsidize

(E) was proposing that the amount they were allocating be reduced by nearly 17 percent from the previous year for maintaining the city’s major cultural institutions and for the subsidization
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Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor propos Updated on: 08 Aug 2020, 05:48
Originally posted by hero_with_1000_faces on 08 Aug 2020, 05:47.
Last edited by hero_with_1000_faces on 08 Aug 2020, 05:48, edited 1 time in total.
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I wish questions could apply make up, coz this one is so ugly.

In addition to all great answer, it is worth noting the illogical part in this question

Quote:

(A) proposed a nearly 17 percent reduction in the amount allocated the previous year to maintain the city’s major cultural institutions and to subsidize
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Makes sense - reduction in the amount

Quote:

(B) proposed a reduction from the previous year of nearly 17 percent in the amount it was allocating to maintain the city’s major cultural institutions and for subsidizing
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No not reduction from previous year, it is reduction from amount of previous year.
Quote:

(C) proposed to reduce, by nearly 17 percent, the amount from the previous year that was allocated for the maintenance of the city’s major cultural institutions and to subsidize
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to reduce the amount from the previous year. Nope same problem.
Quote:

(D) has proposed a reduction from the previous year of nearly 17 percent of the amount it was allocating for maintaining the city’s major cultural institutions, and to subsidize
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very convulated - a reduction from the previous year. Eliminate.
Quote:

(E) was proposing that the amount they were allocating be reduced by nearly 17 percent from the previous year for maintaining the city’s major cultural institutions and for the subsidization.
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amount they were allocating be reduced from previous year - Complelety Banal.
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Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor propos 11 Sep 2020, 09:06
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This question can be solved without parallelism

Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor proposed a nearly 17 percent reduction in the amount allocated the previous year to maintain the city’s major cultural institutions and to subsidize hundreds of local arts groups.


(A) proposed a nearly 17 percent reduction in the amount allocated the previous year to maintain the city’s major cultural institutions and to subsidize

(B) proposed a reduction from the previous year of nearly 17 percent in the amount it was allocating to maintain the city’s major cultural institutions and for subsidizing [what does it refer to? technically nothing makes sense here and it cannot refer to mayor]
(C) proposed to reduce, by nearly 17 percent, the amount from the previous year that was allocated for the maintenance of the city’s major cultural institutions and to subsidize [ Okay this looks like 17 percent is actually the amount that was allocated previous year meanwhile the sentence meant to say that 17 percent will be reduced from that amount subtle but its there]

(D) has proposed a reduction from the previous year of nearly 17 percent of the amount it was allocating for maintaining the city’s major cultural institutions, and to subsidize

(E) was proposing that the amount they were allocating be reduced by nearly 17 percent from the previous year for maintaining the city’s major cultural institutions and for the subsidization

Let me know if my thought process is okay
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Faced with an estimated $2 billion budget gap, the city’s mayor propos 07 Dec 2020, 18:49
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I would add one thing that GMATNinja didn't highlight in his solution was that C says "for the maintenance of" where as a simply uses "to maintain".
My understanding is that the GMAT would much rather use the infinitive "to maintain" rather than the awkward "for the maintenance of"
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