To show that it is serious about addressing the state's power crisis

Hello Everyone!

Let's tackle this question, one thing at a time, and narrow down our options quickly so we know how to answer questions like this when they pop up on the GMAT! To begin, let's take a quick look at the question and highlight any major differences between the options in orange:

To show that it is serious about addressing the state's power crisis, the administration has plans for ordering all federal facilities in California to keep thermostats at 78 degrees Fahrenheit and shutting down escalators during electricity shortages this summer.

A) has plans for ordering all federal facilities in California to keep thermostats at 78 degrees Fahrenheit and shutting

B) has plans to order that all federal facilities in California are keeping thermostats at 78 degrees Fahrenheit and shutting

C) is planning on ordering all federal facilities in California to keep thermostats at 78 degrees Fahrenheit, and they will shut

D) is planning to order that all federal facilities in California are keeping thermostats at 78 degrees Fahrenheit and shut

E) is planning to order all federal facilities in California to keep thermostats at 78 degrees Fahrenheit and shut

After a quick glance over the options, here are a few key differences we can focus on:
1. has plans for ordering / has plans to order that / is planning on ordering / is planning to order that / is planning to order (construction)
2. to keep / are keeping (parallel structure)
3. shutting / they will shut / shut (parallel structure)

Since #2 and #3 both deal with parallelism, this is a great place to start! We need to make sure that the two actions the administration is ordering (thermostats set at 78 & closing escalators) are worded using parallel verbs and structure:

A) has plans for ordering all federal facilities in California to keep thermostats at 78 degrees Fahrenheit and shutting

B) has plans to order that all federal facilities in California are keeping thermostats at 78 degrees Fahrenheit and shutting

C) is planning on ordering all federal facilities in California to keep thermostats at 78 degrees Fahrenheit, and they will shut

D) is planning to order that all federal facilities in California are keeping thermostats at 78 degrees Fahrenheit and shut

E) is planning to order all federal facilities in California to keep thermostats at 78 degrees Fahrenheit and shut

We can easily eliminate options A, C, & D because they don’t use parallel verb tenses to discuss the 2 actions the administrators are planning to order. Now that we have it narrowed down to only 2 options, let’s take a closer look at #1 on our list, while also looking out for any other potential problems:

B) has plans to order that all federal facilities in California are keeping thermostats at 78 degrees Fahrenheit and shutting

While these two verb tenses are parallel, this is INCORRECT because the verb tense being used is wrong. We cannot use present tense to discuss future actions! Facilities are not currently keeping thermostats at 78 degrees or shutting down escalators - if they were, there would be no need for the order!

E) is planning to order all federal facilities in California to keep thermostats at 78 degrees Fahrenheit and shut

This is our CORRECT option. It uses parallel verb tenses, and it clearly shows that the actions in the orders will happen in the future - they are not currently happening already.

There you have it - option E is our winner!

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