Despite forceful legal pleas for the restitution of expropriated cultu

I am not so sure about this one but here is how I used POE to deduct the answer:

(A) requesting that it should - this sounds weird to me but the best out of all the answer choices.
(B) requesting them to - them is plural and refers back to the museum, which is singular.
(C) and its request to - its is singular and refers back to authorities, which is plural.
(D) who request that it - who can only be used to describe a person.
(E) who request them to - who can only be used to describe a person.

Meaning: Greek authorities demand that the British Museum (singular) return the Parthenon Marbles.

So, them (plural) cannot refer to a singular noun (the British Museum)- B & E out

Require + That + Subject + Command Subjunctive: The use of the modal "should" is incorrect- A is out

We are left with C & D:
Looking at it more closely, sentence C changes the meaning. According to this answer, Greek authorities intend to return the artefacts to the British Museum.

By POE we are left with D. D properly uses the command subjunctive after Require + That.

Can we use "Who" to refer to Greek authorities? Greek authorities could be referring to a group of scholars. Anyway, if you are unsure about a certain rule, there are many other rules tested in any given SC problems, so apply the ones you are certain about before diving into more complex grammatical issues.

Here is my approach.

Despite forceful legal pleas for the restitution of expropriated cultural artifacts to the place of their origin, the British Museum continues to rebuff the Greek authorities requesting that it should return the Parthenon marbles removed from the Acropolis by Lord Elgin in 1806.

(A) requesting that it should >> the problem is use of "should" along with 'requesting'. As per the rule of subjunctive mood we cannot use 'should' after 'request'. Hence, option is wrong

(B) requesting them to >> 'ing' modifier without ',' before it modifies previous word, in this case "Greek authorities". This is OK. However, the problem is with the use of pronoun 'them'. It refers to singular antecedent 'the British Museum". So, the option is wrong

(C) and its request to >> Wrong meaning. It shows the British Museum continues to rebuff its own request. Hence, wrong.

(D) who request that it >> 'who' correctly refers to antecedent "the Greek authorities" also, "it" correctly refers to antecedent "the British Museum". Put on hold

(E) who request them to >> 'them' wrongly refers to the singular antecedent "the British Museum". Hence, wrong.

Clearly only left out is D. Hence, answer is D.

My Notes:
(1) "ing" modifiers without "," modifies previous word. "ing" modifier with "," modifies previous clause or subject.
(2) Singular pronoun must refer to singular noun. And plural to plural.

Despite forceful legal pleas for the restitution of expropriated cultural artifacts to the place of their origin, the British Museum continues to rebuff the Greek authorities requesting that it should return the Parthenon marbles removed from the Acropolis by Lord Elgin in 1806.
(A) requesting that it should
(B) requesting them to
(C) and its request to
(D) who request that it
(E) who request them to

hi smartyguy,
firstly lets look at what this question tests and what likely errors can be there,
1) it is using the subjunctive mood so 'that'(preferrable) and basic form('return' is already in non underlined portion) of verb is required.
2) rebuff requires a noun as a recipient.. that is either the greek authorities was rebuffed or the greek authorities request was rebuffed , so we cannot have an 'ing' form.. Also the construction of sentence is such that requesting refers back to british museum...
3)pronoun error is very common on GMAT.. british museum requires singular 'it'..
lets look at the choices..
(A) requesting that it should
requesting refers here to the british museum and not to intended greek authorities.... had it been 'request that it should' would have been correct since refers to 'the greek authorities request'...
(B) requesting them to
same as A... plus pronoun error , also absence
(C) and its request to
this means that the british museum rebuffed 'authorities' and also 'its request', a meaning that is not intended in original ...
(D) who request that it
correct... who refers back correctly to greek authorities...
(E) who request them to
pronoun error..'them' is wrong.. that is preferrable..

Thanks for the very brief explanation.
i think not knowing the dictionary meaning of word 'rebuff' took a toll on me.
https://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rebuff

Hi Chetan,
Kindly elaborate more on the highlighted portion of your reply.
I am under an impression that when used without comma, verb+ing modifies the preceding Noun instead of the subject of preceding clause.

Thank you.

hi aniteshgmat1101,
i dont say the construction of sentence is correct but i am commenting on the point of requesting

if the sentence reads " he went around the town requesting for help... here requesting is modifying he and in no way town ...
even if i replace town with someone logical who can request say authorities...
he went to the authorities requesting for help... i think it is he who is requesting...

but if i write..he saw the authorities requesting for help... here it is the authorities who are seen requesting...

so it does matter what the construction of the sentence is and accordingly the -ing form of request will modify..
hope it helped

Just for the Understanding, why "who" needed here, its making sentence awkward. Can anyone help?

The request is made by the Greek authorities. Usage of "requesting" implies that the request is made by the British museum. (A present participle modifier refers the subject of the previous clause).

The usage of "who" eliminates this error since the relative clause modifier "who request the...." refers to the noun it touchs, i.e., "Greek Authorities".

KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

D

This question tests the usage of the subjunctive of requirement. In this formulation, a verb like request is followed by “that”, a subject, and the infinitive form of a verb without the “to”. The answer choice that uses this form correctly is (D). Note that we can ask some- one to do something, but we have to request that someone do something.

(A) requesting that it should
Subjunctive does no have should

(B) requesting them to
The British Museum is singular so "them" is pronoun agreement issue

(C) and its request to
distort --> It shows that Museum rebuff both the Authorities and its request

(D) who request that it

(E) who request them to
same as B

Hence D, is the answer.

In the phrase "the British Museum continues to rebuff the Greek authorities requesting that" , why not "requesting" modify authorities, because there is not "comma" before requesting ??

I understand that V.ing modifies the preceding noun if there is no comma before V.ing.

Please correct me if I'am wrong.

Thanks

I agree with you: "requesting" seems to modify the "Greek authorities." (A) and (B) both contain other errors, though. In (A) it's illogical to request that someone "should" so something. I can request that you perform an action. I can express the belief that you should perform an action. But I wouldn't request the belief that you "should" do something. That wouldn't make any sense.

In (B) "them" has no logical antecedent. The request is made of the "museum," which is singular. So we have an agreement error.

I hope that helps!

I have a doubt.
You said that should cannot be used in choice A.
But look at the choice D, who request that it return. In my opinion 'should' here is just omitted. It is 'who request that it (should) return, or it should be 'who request that it
returns'
So here we must omit should in the cases of require/demand/stipulate+that?
Hope to your reply, thanks!

WOW. I didn't even catch the subjunctive tone here.

My 2 cents.

Right away, A, B and E are gone, Requesting and Them are clearly not the words we want. Now, between C and D, its the Greeks who request. C does not work because if the sentence was referring to the greek authorities directly in this manner it would read the greek authorities and THEIR request.

Dear Sir,

I totally agree with your viewpoint.
Please clarify that the corrected sentence seems to be awkward to read as nothing is there in between it and return?

"Despite forceful legal pleas for the restitution of expropriated cultural artifacts to the place of their origin, the British Museum continues to rebuff the Greek authorities who request that it return the Parthenon marbles removed from the Acro by Lord Elgin in 1806.

Kindly suggest. Thanks in advance

After request that... we need the plain form of the verb, the one that we use after to. Putting something like a should there would just introduce redundancy.