In addition to credit and income requirements, many

Dear Friends,

The principal rule to be followed in this example for the subjunctive mood is that while using the subjunctive mood we drop the "s" or "es" used in a sentence and depict it always in present tense.
For details please refer to : https://englishplus.com/grammar/00000031.htm

The process of elimination that I followed here was:
1. Eliminate a and b because of incorrect idiom usage.
2. Eliminate D because of the future tense used.
3. Eliminate C because "pays" used.

Hope that helps.
Cheers,
Rohan

1. pay not only the first month and last month's rent and

*and* is not correct. "Not only" should be followed by "but also". Moreover, first month and last month's are not in parallel.

2. pays not only the first month and last month's rent and
*and*
Pays is not a correct form of verb.
subjunctive construction "require that"--> verb should be pay not pays.

3. pays not only the first month and last month's rent, but also
pays should be pay.
first month and last month's are not in parallel.

4. will pay not only the first and last month's rent, but also
will pay can not be used here because of subjunctive construction.

5. pay not only the first and last month's rent, but also
Correct choice.

+1 E

Subjunctive mood: require that + noun + verb (in base form).

Good question!

In subjunctive, we actually don't use singular or plural. We use the bare infinitive, meaning the infinitive ("to") form of a verb, with the word "to" removed. So "to pay" becomes "pay" for both singular and plural subjects.

All of the following are correct, even if they seem silly without any modifiers on "rent":

Renters pay rent.
Each renter pays rent.
Landlords require renters to pay rent.
Landlords require each renter to pay rent.
Landlords require that renters pay rent.
Landlords require that each renter pay rent.

In addition to credit and income requirements, many landlords also require that, before or at the time of signing a residential lease, each prospective renter pay not only the first month and last month's rent and a security deposit that is usually equal to one month's rent.

(A) pay not only the first month and last month's rent and
(B) pays not only the first month and last month's rent and
(C) pays not only the first month and last month's rent, but also
(D) will pay not only the first and last month's rent, but also
(E) pay not only the first and last month's rent, but also

Solution:
Idiom is ‘not only…but also’

So eliminate A & B
C – first month and last month’s – not parallel
D – when using ‘require that’ only plain form of the verb- ‘pay’ needs to follow, ‘will pay’ is wrong
Leaves us with E.

Kindly provide me an explanation why C is wrong and E is correct?

In the above statement, how is 'pay' more appropriate instead of 'pays'?

anonymous19, because of the use of the word subjunctive word "require". This link might help in brushing up this topic -

https://gmatwithcj.com/articles/subjunctive-verb/

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