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On account of a law passed in 1993, making it a crime punishable by im 15 May 2021, 09:05
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IanStewart
"It" stands for "to hold gold coins etc..." here. We use "it" all the time in ways where the antecedent is not some earlier word in the sentence:

"It is sunny."
"It is difficult to choose between B and C in this question."
"The additional modifiers make it difficult to understand the sentence's meaning."

"For" is a word that has many, many usages. You can't hope to learn a "rule" about what "for" means and then apply it every time you see that word; it is used in too many different ways, and no one rule will apply every time. In this question "for a citizen to hold" could be replaced with something like "that a citizen hold".
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IanStewart is "it" incorrect in (A) since there is no antecedent? or does "it" have an antecedent
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IanStewart is "it" incorrect in (A) since there is no antecedent? or does "it" have an antecedent
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It depends how you read answer A - it's not a proper sentence because of the first comma (after '1993'). If you delete that comma, then 'it' refers to the long part of the sentence 'that a citizen hold gold (etc)'. If you think of these two much simpler sentences:

Littering is a crime
It is a crime to litter

or if you prefer something a bit closer to the original, these two:

On account of a 1993 law, littering is a crime.
On account of a 1993 law, it is a crime to litter.

then the meaning of each sentence is identical, and each is grammatically correct. In the versions that use 'it', the word 'it' refers to 'to litter'. The same happens in the original question in this thread, but the wording is a lot more complicated. And if you delete the first comma in answer A, then the word 'it' functions the same way as it does in answer D.

The problem with A is that the first comma sets off the 'On account...' phrase from the rest of the sentence. It then becomes a modifier we should be able to delete and still have a complete sentence (just as you can in the two sentences I wrote above that begin "On account of a 1993 law, ..."). But if you delete that part of answer A, you don't have an English sentence, so that first comma alone is fatal, and A can't be right. And because the sentence doesn't make any sense as written, it's actually hard to decide what role the word 'it' is even playing.

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On account of a law passed in 1993, making it a crime punishable by im 07 Jun 2021, 10:38
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Why no one is pointing to the glaring subject-verb agreement error between the subject "a US citizen" and the verb "hold" in option-A and B?

Could anyone please shed some light?
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Why no one is pointing to the glaring subject-verb agreement error between the subject "a US citizen" and the verb "hold" in option-A and B?

Could anyone please shed some light?
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The verb is in the subjunctive in answers A and B, and is actually correct. Some replies early in this thread argued that the use of the subjunctive here was unwarranted, but as best I can tell, it's mandatory. If the sentence were changed to the indicative, so if it said something like (simplifying) :

It is a crime that a citizen holds gold...

then the sentence is saying "A citizen holds gold, and that is a crime." But that's not the intention here; the sentence means to describe a hypothetical only. It means to say "If a citizen were to hold gold, that would be a crime." And the subjunctive mood exists precisely to express hypotheticals (and a few other things). Phrased with the subjunctive:

It is a crime that a citizen hold gold...

the sentence now means "If it were true that a citizen held gold, that would be a crime."

We don't use the subjunctive often in ordinary writing or conversation, and people often don't use it when it would be the technically correct (according to grammarians) choice, so sometimes sentences that use it correctly can sound strange, and I can see how that would be the case here.

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On account of a law passed in 1993, making it a crime punishable by im 08 Jun 2021, 07:57
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aarkay87
Why no one is pointing to the glaring subject-verb agreement error between the subject "a US citizen" and the verb "hold" in option-A and B?

Could anyone please shed some light?

The verb is in the subjunctive in answers A and B, and is actually correct. Some replies early in this thread argued that the use of the subjunctive here was unwarranted, but as best I can tell, it's mandatory. If the sentence were changed to the indicative, so if it said something like (simplifying) :

It is a crime that a citizen holds gold...

then the sentence is saying "A citizen holds gold, and that is a crime." But that's not the intention here; the sentence means to describe a hypothetical only. It means to say "If a citizen were to hold gold, that would be a crime." And the subjunctive mood exists precisely to express hypotheticals (and a few other things). Phrased with the subjunctive:

It is a crime that a citizen hold gold...

the sentence now means "If it were true that a citizen held gold, that would be a crime."

We don't use the subjunctive often in ordinary writing or conversation, and people often don't use it when it would be the technically correct (according to grammarians) choice, so sometimes sentences that use it correctly can sound strange, and I can see how that would be the case here.

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Hi IanStewart


Thanks for the revert!

For subjunctive mood, there must be a bossy verb for standard structure "Bossy verb + THAT + Subject + command subjunctive"
which one is the bossy verb in the problem under-discussion?

I also checked option-A & B in "Grammarly.com". Grammarly also says that there should be a singular verb i.e. "holds" for a grammatically correct structure.

Please share your inputs.

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aarkay87

For subjunctive mood, there must be a bossy verb for standard structure "Bossy verb + THAT + Subject + command subjunctive"
which one is the bossy verb in the problem under-discussion?
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I'm not sure where you've learned this, but it's not true. You are describing one situation where the subjunctive is used, but that is certainly not the only situation where it is used. In fact, probably the most common situation in English where we use the subjunctive is in constructions like "If I were President...", where there is no command involved.

A few posts early in this thread said that the "command subjunctive" was not called for here, and that may very well be true (the phrase "command subjunctive" is, as far as I can tell, the invention of some prep company, so I don't even know what it is). But the sentence still requires the subjunctive (unless it is rephrased, as in the correct answer, to use an infinitive verb instead). The subjunctive mood is used to express a few related things, but one of those is hypothetical possibility, and here, the sentence is describing the hypothetical situation where a person holds gold bullion, and is explaining that in that situation, the person would be committing a crime. It is not saying that a certain citizen actually holds gold bullion, in violation of the law, which is what the indicative mood would suggest.

I'm not sure it's all that important to understand the subjunctive these days for GMAT purposes anyway, but because it's used in a variety of ways, I'd think the best approach would be to understand its purpose, so one can know what a sentence using subjunctive means, and what a sentence using indicative means. Then you can distinguish between situations where subjunctive is called for and situations where it's not. That seems much more useful to me than trying to memorize a lot of rules about the use of subjunctive, since those rules will never be able to cover every conceivable case.

I don't know what grammarly.com is, or how it analyzes grammar, but it's most likely just matching a subject and verb and trying to make them agree in number, so I wouldn't be surprised if it fails to account for the subtle distinctions in meaning between indicative and subjunctive moods. Often which mood we should use is not a question of grammar at all, but a question of meaning, so a grammar-analyzing app won't have any chance of working out which mood is correct.

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THE SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD
So this is basically used in two special situations:
- Unlikely or unreal conditions (usually after 'if' or a similar word)
- Proposals, desires, and requests formed with certain verbs and the word that
These two uses correspond to two forms of the subjunctive mood: The Hypothetical Subjunctive and the Command Subjunctive, respectively

The Hypothetical Subjunctive
We use it in a few circumstances to indicate unlikely or unreal conditions. Principally, this form occurs after 'if', 'as if', or 'as though'
Now the basic form of the Hypothetical Subjuctive is equivalent to the Simple Past of every Verb, with one exception. For the verb 'to be' . For the verb 'to be' the form were is always used.
Eg. To overcome my fear of germs, I will think about disease as though it WERE harmless

The Command Subjunctive
The other form of the subjunctive mood is the Command Subjunctive, which is much more important on the GMAT than the Hypotethical Subjunctive
The command subjunctive is used with certain BOSSY VERBS such as require or propose. Bossy Verbs tell people to do things
This form is also known as the Bare Form of the verb: the infinitive without the 'to'.
The subjunctive construction with a Bossy Verb is always as follows: Bossy Verb + THAT + subject + Command Subjunctive
However, there are some common Bossy Verbs, such as WANT, you cannot use the Command Subjunctive with but rather an infinitive (to + the bare form)
- Common Verbs that take ONLY the Command Subjunctive when indicating desire: demand, dictate, insist, mandate, propose, recommend, request, stipulate, suggest

Note: Propose can take an infinitive when there's no second subject (Eg. The attorneys PROPOSED TO MEET the following day)
- Verbs that take ONLY the infinitive: advice, allow, forbid, persuade, want
- Verbs that take EITHER the Command Subjunctive OR the infitinive: ask, beg, intend, order, prefer, urge, require

Also, you should keep in mind that few bossy words, most notably prohibit, take other constructions alltogether (Prohibit FROM)
The Command subjunctive can also be used with nouns derived from Bossy Verbs, such as a demand or a request.
Also the Command subjunctive is possible with 'It is X', in which X is an adjective, such as essential, that conveys urgency. It is X is not commonly tested on the GMAT (Eg. It is essential THAT Gary BE ready before noon)

Other adjectives conveying urgency include: advisable, crucial, desirable, fitting, imperative, important, mandatory, necessary, preferable, urgent and vital.
Note also that you can use an infinitive in these constructions (Eg. It is essential for Gary to be ready before noon)
Avoid the use of the Command Subjunctive 'whether'. This usage is old fashioned (Eg. I like Ice cream, , whether it BE choclolate, vanilla, or any other flavor)

Oh and by the way, a few Bossy Verbs can be used in non-Bossy ways: Her presence SUGGESTS that she IS happy. In this context, suggests means "probably means"; it is not acting Bossy. As always, pay close attention to the meaning!

Hope it helps you out
Make some Kudos rain if you like it. I really need them for my GMAT tests

Take it easy ok?
Cheers
J :)

P.S. Oh, and BTW will some clarify what's wrong with Choice (B) in the question above? Let me know

Thanks
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GREAT explanation. I want to add
in hypothetical subjective, some cases can be
1. wish. I wish that you came.
2, subjective+modal meaning. I wish he should have passed gmat. I wish he could have passed gmat.

your work is great because you categorize subjective into unreal case and command case.
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Hi AjiteshArun


I chose A over D because the wording "a law passed" made me think that the sentence calls for a command subjunctive. How do we judge with absolute conviction if a command subjunctive is needed or not?
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Hi AjiteshArun

I chose A over D because the wording "a law passed" made me think that the sentence calls for a command subjunctive. How do we judge with absolute conviction if a command subjunctive is needed or not?
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Hi Namangupta1997,

I think it's important not to overemphasise certain topics, so while I do discuss the subjunctive in my sessions, I don't usually spend too much time on it (unless the student wants to). This means that other experts may be in a better position to explain this topic in detail.

If it helps, I'll detail my approach to the use of the subjunctive in dependent clauses that communicate some desire (which is one situation in which we may see the subjunctive) here:

1. Check whether the sentence includes a verb like (off the top of my head) require, request, suggest, demand (...) or a structure like it is crucial/essential/necessary (...) (this is called the mandative).
2. Perform a quick check: is the sentence actually trying to tell us that someone wants something?
3. If the answer to (2) is "yes", then we may need the subjunctive mood (plain form of the verb) inside the dependent clause.

The disadvantage of this approach is that we may end up missing certain edge cases, but it does have some advantages: (a) we save time that we can then spend on other, more important concepts, and (b) we approach the subjunctive in a more disciplined manner (we don't start looking for the subjunctive everywhere).
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AjiteshArun IanStewart - is this a fair way to eliminate (A) ?

In (A) -- I thought Comma + Verb'ing (Making) is wrong because what is before the comma IS NOT A clause (On account of a law passed in 1993 is not a clause)

Per my understanding Comma + Verb'ing (Making) works if there is a clause BEFOREHAND
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jabhatta2
AjiteshArun IanStewart - is this a fair way to eliminate (A) ?

In (A) -- I thought Comma + Verb'ing (Making) is wrong because what is before the comma IS NOT A clause (On account of a law passed in 1993 is not a clause)

Per my understanding Comma + Verb'ing (Making) works if there is a clause BEFOREHAND
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Hello jabhatta2,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, there is no fixed rule that the "comma + present participle" construction must be preceded by a clause.

A more concrete error related to comma usage in Option A is that it places information vital to the core meaning of the sentence - the fact that the law makes it a crime punishable by imprisonment for a United States citizen to hold gold in the form of bullion or coins - between two commas; remember, information vital to the core meaning of the sentence cannot be placed between commas.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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To answer your query, there is no fixed rule that the "comma + present participle" construction must be preceded by a clause.
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Hi ExpertsGlobal5 - Could you give some simple examples of sentences in which "comma + present participle" construction IS NOT preceded by a clause and the sentence works ?
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ExpertsGlobal5


To answer your query, there is no fixed rule that the "comma + present participle" construction must be preceded by a clause.

Hi ExpertsGlobal5 - Could you give some simple examples of sentences in which "comma + present participle" construction IS NOT preceded by a clause and the sentence works ?
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Hello jabhatta2,

We hope this finds you well.

Please consider this sentence as an example - "John, feeling cold, decided to order pizza."

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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Why (E) is not correct, since "Being" can modifies a Law ?
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Why (E) is not correct, since "Being" can modifies a Law ?
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A phrase containing "due to" should modify a noun.

Take another look at (E):

Quote:
Due to a law being passed in 1993 that makes it a crime punishable by imprisonment for a United States citizen to hold gold in the form of bullion or coins, immigrants found that on arrival in the United States they had to surrender all of the gold they had brought with them.
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When a sentence opens with a noun modifier, the modifier is describing the noun that follows, so it sounds as though "immigrants" are "due to a law." That doesn't make sense. The immigrants don't exist because of the law. Rather, because of the law, something is happening to the immigrants.

Also, "being" doesn't work here. Something that is "being passed" seems to be in process now. But this law was passed in 1993, so it's clearly not being passed. It was passed.

(E) has multiple problems -- an illogical modifier and a tense issue -- so we can get rid of it.

I hope that helps!
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Can anyone please help me to understand that generally the rule says to use Because of + noun form
But in option 4, I believe Because of is followed by Clause

Thanks in advance.
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Can anyone please help me to understand that generally the rule says to use Because of + noun form
But in option 4, I believe Because of is followed by Clause

Thanks in advance.
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Hi sagarpatelceo,

The fourth option does not use a subject-verb combination after because of. Making is not a "complete" verb (an -ing can never be a complete verb on its own), and hold is part of the infinitive to hold (infinitives are also not complete verbs). Finally, passed as it is used here is also not a complete verb. Instead, it's a participle modifier, a shorter way to say that was passed.
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Can anyone please help me to understand that generally the rule says to use Because of + noun form
But in option 4, I believe Because of is followed by Clause

Thanks in advance.
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Hello sagarpatelceo,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, here "making" is not an active verb, but a present participle ("verb+ing") that acts as a modifier upon the noun "law"; thus, "Because of" is not followed by a clause; it is followed by the noun phrase "a law", which is in turn modified by a present participle.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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