Many house builders offer rent-to-buy programs that enable a

GMATNinja
Dear Charles,
could you elaborate on option B. I was able to eliminate the answer, yet I could not find better option.
When the open marker is employed, does the preposition "TO" by default translate to the following verb?
If so, then the second preposition TO does not seem superfluous??


(B) programs that enable a family with insufficient savings for a conventional down payment to move into new housing and to apply

Will it be correct?
(B) programs that enable a family ...... to move into new housing and apply ...

Thank you in advance.

Hello BLTN,

We hope this finds you well.

Having gone through the question and your query, we believe that we can help resolve your doubts.

Indeed, if multiple infinitive verb forms ("to + base form of verb" - "to + move" and "to + apply" in this case) are joined in a list, all of the infinitive constructions can share the "to" of the first one. However, this does not make including the other prepositions superfluous; maintaining separate prepositions for all of the infinitive verb form constructions is also perfectly correct. Keeping the other prepositions might be slightly redundant, but please remember that redundancy is not a deal-breaker on the GMAT. An answer choice that features redundancy can very well be correct, so long as it is error-free and there are no other error-free answer choices more concise than it is. Redundancy should only be used to determine which is the best among otherwise error-free answer choices. In this case, C, D, and E feature concrete subject-verb agreement, grammatical construction, and modifier errors, and Option A is even wordier than Option B is; thus, Option B is the best answer choice.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

The second "to" in this case actually helps clarify the meaning. To see why, consider the following example:

Tim and his kids want the Warriors to win a title, which will validate the team's off-season moves, and to reward Juan Toscano-Anderson with a 17-year contract extension.

You can see here that Tim and his wants the Warriors to do two things: 1) win a title and 2) reward one of their players. Pretty clear.

But now, take a look at the sentence without the second "to."

Tim and his kids want the Warriors to win a title, which will validate the team's off-season moves, and reward Andrew Wiggins with a 17-year contract extension.

Now, it's much harder to see what "reward" should be parallel to. Tim and his kids both "want" and "reward?" Or the title will "validate" and "reward"? Notice that this construction isn't wrong, necessarily, but it takes more work to understand what's going on, so it's not as good or as clear as the first version.

Same deal here. Consider (B) without the second "to."


Now it's harder to tell what "apply" is parallel to. Is it "enable"? "Offer"?

Again, you can probably figure it out eventually, but if we include a "to," there's only one possible parallel construction: "to move" and "to apply". So the "to" isn't desirable here because of any usage rule, but because it makes the sentence clearer.

I hope that helps!

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of the crucial part of this sentence is that the offered programs enable a family with insufficient savings for a conventional down payment to move into new housing and enables the family to apply part of the rent to a purchase later.

Concepts tested here: Subject-Verb Agreement + Meaning + Pronouns + Grammatical Construction + Idioms + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• If a list contains only two elements, they must be joined with a conjunction.
• The introduction of the present participle ("verb+ing"- “applying” in this case) after the comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.
• “that” is used to provide some information needed to preserve the core meaning of the sentence, and the “comma + which” construction is used to provide extra information.

A: This answer choice redundantly uses "to be able to" alongside "enable", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

B: Correct. This answer choice correctly refers to the plural noun "programs" with the plural verb "enable". Further, Option B uses the phrase "and to apply", conveying the intended meaning - that he offered programs enable a family with insufficient savings for a conventional down payment to move into new housing, and as a separate action enablethe family to apply part of the rent to a purchase later. Option B also avoids the pronoun error seen in Option C, as it uses "that" as a preposition. Additionally, Option B correctly uses conjunction ("and" in this case) to join two elements in a list - "to move..." and "to apply...". Moreover, Option B correctly uses "that" to refer to information needed to preserve the core meaning of the sentence. Besides, Option B is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

C: This answer choice suffers from pronoun ambiguity, as "that" lacks a clear and logical referent. Further, Option C incorrectly uses a comma to join two elements in a list - "to move..." and "to apply..."; remember, if a list contains only two elements, they must be joined with a conjunction.

D: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the plural noun "programs" with the singular verb "enables". Further, Option D alters the meaning of the sentence through the use of the "comma + present participle ("verb+ing" - "applying" in this sentence)"; the use of this construction incorrectly implies that the offered programs enable a family with insufficient savings for a conventional down payment to move into new housing, and as a result the family applies part of the rent to a purchase later; the intended meaning is that the offered programs enable a family with insufficient savings for a conventional down payment to move into new housing, and as a separate action enable the family to apply part of the rent to a purchase later; remember, the introduction of the present participle ("verb+ing"- “applying” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship. Additionally, Option D incorrectly uses the "comma + which" construction to provide information needed to preserve the core meaning of the sentence; remember, “that” is used to provide information needed to preserve the core meaning of the sentence, and the “comma + which” construction is used to provide extra information.

E: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the use of the "comma + present participle ("verb+ing" - "applying" in this sentence)"; the use of this construction incorrectly implies that the offered programs enable a family with insufficient savings for a conventional down payment to move into new housing, and as a result the family applies part of the rent to a purchase later; the intended meaning is that the offered programs enable a family with insufficient savings for a conventional down payment to move into new housing, and as a separate action enablethe family to apply part of the rent to a purchase later; remember, the introduction of the present participle ("verb+ing"- “applying” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship. Further, Option E incorrectly uses the "comma + which" construction to provide information needed to preserve the core meaning of the sentence; remember, “that” is used to provide information needed to preserve the core meaning of the sentence, and the “comma + which” construction is used to provide extra information. Additionally, Option E redundantly uses "to be able to" alongside "enable", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

Hence, B is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Comma Plus Present Participle for Cause-Effect Relationship" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

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