The governing board of the new league has modified its rules so that p

E. all their members do not meet the new minimum age requirement

Intent of the question is after the governing body changed the minimum age requirement, few members of the team were not able to meet the requirement.
But option E gives the sense that all the members do not meet the age requirement.

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Hi Takdir,

Read option A and E again.

A is saying 'not all their members meet', which means there could be some but not all.

E is saying 'All their members donot meet', which means None of their members meet. So, there is a change in meaning.

So, if we have 100 members, as per A all 100 donot meet that requirement but less than 100 could meet.

But as per E, none of these 100 meet the requirement.

I hope that makes sense.

I do have the same question - I did not quite understand how E is different in meaning from A. In my opinion:

All of them do not meet requirement = some of them (but not all) may meet the requirement
All of them do not meet requirement <> none of them meet the requirement (as explanations above state).

Dear Abhi, you are equating "all + not criterion" and "none + criterion" - I am not in agreement with this. I think "all + not criterion" is same as "not all + criterion".

Take another example:
A basket contains 8 red balls and 2 green balls. I may say:
1. " Not all the balls are red".
I may also say:
2. " All the balls are not red".
The latter does not mean that "None of the balls are red."

Some deeper thoughts on the above:

If you say "not" is an adjective for "red", then you are right:
" All the balls are (not red)" = "None of the balls are red"

But I may as well say that "not" is an adverb for "are" - in that case both the sentences below have the same meaning:
" All the balls (are not) red." = "Not all the balls are red"

Now coming to the subject question, "not" is definitely an adverb referring to "meet" - there is no noun that "not" can refer to. Hence E and A mean the same.

Thank you sayantanc2k . I do understand your point.

But now since we have ambiguity here, can we say both A and E could the right answer for this question?

The governing board of the new league has modified its rules so that preexisting teams can stay together even though not all their members meet the new minimum age requirement.

A. not all their members meet the new minimum age requirement correct
B. the new minimum age requirement has not been met by all their members passive awkward
C. not all their members have met the new minimum age, as required present tense is required
D. all their members have not met the new minimum age requirement changes meaning
E. all their members do not meet the new minimum age requirement changes meaning

Some deeper thoughts on the above:

If you say "not" is an adjective for "red", then you are right:
" All the balls are (not red)" = "None of the balls are red"

But I may as well say that "not" is an adverb for "are" - in that case both the sentences below have the same meaning:
" All the balls (are not) red." = "Not all the balls are red"

Now coming to the subject question, "not" is definitely an adverb referring to "meet" - there is no noun that "not" can refer to. Hence E and A mean the same.[/quote]


Thanks for your explanation. I picked E and then checked the answer only to find it to be A. I was particularly worried because one of the explanations said that the question was too easy.