By a vote of four to one, the Federal Communications Commission increa

Question

By a vote of four to one, the Federal Communications Commission increased the number of television stations that an individual or company  may own from seven to twelve and to remove nearly all restrictions  on the ownership of broadcast outlets.

(A) may own from seven to twelve and to remove nearly all restrictions 
(B) could own from seven to twelve, and nearly all restrictions were removed 
(C) may own from seven to twelve and for the removal of nearly all restrictions 
(D) could own from seven to twelve, and they removed nearly all restrictions 
(E) may own from seven to twelve and removed nearly all restrictions

GmatPrime · Answer

Option E maintains parallelism using 'increased' and 'removed'.

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

The correct answer here is  E . This question, like many SC questions, has two flashpoints from which we can eliminate the four wrong answers.

Options B, D  - The first thing to note is the meaning being conveyed by the sentence. This sentence talks about restrictions, about how many TV stations an individual/company  is allowed to own, and NOT how many TV stations it theoretically could own . Hence, the use of 'could' here is incorrect (This is a pretty pedantic rule to be honest, and is very similar to the "May/Can i go to the bathroom" problem).  OUT

Options A, C  - The concept being tested once we identify the intended meaning is  parallelism . What we can identify from the non-underlined portion of the sentence is that the FCC did two things together;  they increased blablabla.... and  removed  blablabla.... . These two actions should take on the same tense. However, A is in the infinitive instead, and C uses the noun form rather than an action. Hence,  A & C are OUT .

This leaves E as the correct answer, as it follows parallelism and expresses the meaning correctly.

- Matoo

hiranmay · Answer

By a vote of four to one,  the Federal Communications Commission  increased  the number of television stations that an individual or company  may own from seven to twelve  and  to remove nearly all restrictions  on the ownership of broadcast outlets.

(A) may own from seven to twelve and  to remove  nearly all restrictions --> "increased " & "to remove" aren't not parallel: the FCC increased A and  to remove  B
(B) could own from seven to twelve, and  nearly all restrictions were removed   --> passive voice also "increased " & " all restrictions were removed" aren't not parallel
(C) may own from seven to twelve and  for the removal  of nearly all restrictions --> "increased " & "for the removal" aren't not parallel: the FCC increased A and  for the removal  B
(D) could own from seven to twelve, and  they  removed nearly all restrictions --> FCC is singular
(E) may own from seven to twelve and  removed  nearly all restrictions-->  correct : the FCC increased A and  removed   B

VerbalBot · Answer

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By a vote of four to one, the Federal Communications Commission increa

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