Since dogs may be attracted to alcoholic beverages left out by the mot

Question

Since dogs may be attracted to alcoholic beverages left out by the motel guests,  it is strongly recommended to keep drinks and bottles out of their  reach at all times.

(A) it is strongly recommended to keep drinks and bottles out of their
(B) they are strongly recommended to keep drinks and bottles out of their
(C) it strongly recommended to keep drinks and bottles out of dogs'
(D) it is highly recommended that drinks and bottles are kept out of dogs'
(E) it is highly recommended to keep drinks and bottles out of dogs'

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Bunuel · Accepted Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Since dogs may be attracted to alcoholic beverages left out by the motel guests,  it is strongly recommended to keep drinks and bottles out of their  reach at all times.

(A) it is strongly recommended to keep drinks and bottles out of their

Incorrect.

This answer choice is stylistically flawed. The pronoun  their  is ambiguous because it agrees with more than one noun ( dogs, motel guests ).

What helps us identify this question as a Pronoun question as well as identify the ambiguity mistakes is the following Stop Sign:

Every pronoun in the underlined part of the sentence or after it

(B) they are strongly recommended to keep drinks and bottles out of their

Incorrect.

This answer choice repeats the original mistake. The pronoun  their  is ambiguous because it agrees with more than one noun ( dogs, motel guests ).

Moreover, this answer choice adds another ambiguity mistake as a result of replacing  it  with  they .  They  is ambiguous because it agrees with more than one noun too ( dogs, motel guests ).

(C) it strongly recommended to keep drinks and bottles out of dogs'

Incorrect.

While this answer choice corrects the original ambiguity mistake by replacing the ambiguous pronoun  their  with  dogs' , it is grammatically incorrect.

With the removal of the verb  is , we now do not know what the pronoun  it  refers to. What does  it  replace in the sentence? In the original sentences,  it is recommended  makes sense as  it  is a pronoun tsubject replacement and therefore it needs no referent. But in the phrase  it strongly recommended, it  is the active subject of the sentence with no referent.

(D) it is highly recommended that drinks and bottles are kept out of dogs'

Incorrect.

This answer choice is grammatically incorrect. The singular pronoun  its  can only grammatically refer to  motel , but this is not logical.

Since the phrase  out of X's reach  could only logically refer to  dogs  in the current context, the corrected sentence would require a plural pronoun.

(E) it is highly recommended to keep drinks and bottles out of dogs'

This answer choice corrects the original ambiguity mistake, by replacing  their  with  dogs' . Note that replacing  strongly  with  highly  does not constitute a change of meaning as  strongly  and  highly  are synonyms in this case.

zhanbo · Answer

My answer is  (E) . It took me 45 seconds.

(A) "their" is ambiguous. 
(B) "they" are certainly wrong to refer to "dogs".
(C) The simple past tense (recommend) is unjustified as (1) we are talking about a general recommendation & (2) we should ensure verb tense consistency between main clause and subordinate clause. 
(D) (1) "are kept out" should be "be kept out". (2) Passive voice is not as direct and forceful as active voice.

Gknight5603 · Answer

doesn't "recommend" take 'that' in command subjunctive form??

Posted from my mobile device

zhanbo · Answer

Actually, in (D), "it is highly recommended  that drinks and bottles are kept out of dogs ', the noun clause "that drinks and bottles are kept out of dogs" is not the object of "recommend" but its subject (with "it" as the placeholder).

Still, I think "command subjunctive mode" should be used, which means " are  kept out" should be " be  kept out".

Gknight5603 · Answer

yes exactly 'Be' should have been written in D.
in its absence can we call E with "recommended to" a right choice???
isn't it a rule that recommend can't take a 'to verb'?

hk111 · Answer

Important split : Highly recommended vs Strongly recommended
 
 Strongly recommended means the recommendation comes to you 'strongly' ie you are being powerfully urged to do, or not do... something. Eg it is strongly recommended that you don't stick your head out of the train window when passing through a tunnel.

Highly recommended means more that the person has a high opinion (ie a good opinion) of the thing.Example : This person comes highly recommended for the role of tuna canner

So clearly Strongly recommended is correct here. Eliminate (D)(E) directly.

(A) it is strongly recommended to keep drinks and bottles out of their
- I will eliminate this answer choice on pronoun ambiguity of "their" as it should refer back to dogs.  Eliminate

(B) they are strongly recommended to keep drinks and bottles out of their
- the usage of "they" is correct here, but then again "their" is ambiguous.  Eliminate 
 
(C) it strongly recommended to keep drinks and bottles out of dogs'
- No error spotted.  Keep

IMO C

hk111 · Answer

I believe you left out a important comparison between the split "highly recommended and strongly recommended" and I believe the answer thus will be C. 
Please have a look at my explanation and let me know what you think.

AkashM · Answer

Eliminate A because 'their' is ambiguous. It could either refer to 'dogs' or 'guests'.

Eliminate B because 'they' and 'their' cannot have the same antecedent. It doesn't make sense to have either dogs or guests in both places.

Eliminate C because it is missing 'is'. I hope that is not a typo. If it is a typo, then I do not think there is any difference between C and E.

Eliminate D because 'recommended that' should be used in subjunctive form.

E remains and is the correct answer.

mohammadfaraaz123 · Answer

Do we have a clear antecedent for "it" ? What is it referring to ? 
I don't think "It" in option C is a placeholder as it is in option A.

I also don't think we can convincingly eliminate on the basis of Strongly vs Highly. Never read about any such preference on GMAT.

TarunKumar1234 · Answer

Since dogs may be attracted to alcoholic beverages left out by the motel guests, it is strongly recommended to keep drinks and bottles out of their reach at all times.

(A) it is strongly recommended to keep drinks and bottles out of their
(B) they are strongly recommended to keep drinks and bottles out of their
(C) it strongly recommended to keep drinks and bottles out of dogs'
(D) it is highly recommended that drinks and bottles are kept out of dogs'
(E) it is highly recommended to keep drinks and bottles out of dogs'

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Official Answer

E

scranjith · Answer

Please clarify on Choice D elimination. Is for pronoun error or subjunctive error?

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generis · Answer

scranjith  , option D is incorrect because it fails to use the command subjunctive verb  be .
"Recommended THAT" must be written in the command subjunctive form.

Your question tells me that you know the grammar recap that I am about to write.
I'm doing so for others who may not understand a cryptic reference to "subjunctive."

Option D, rewrite, correct:     it is highly recommended that drinks and bottles    be    kept out of dogs' 
Command subjunctive: bossy adjective/verb + THAT + subject/noun + bare infinitive
Command subjunctive: recommend + THAT + drinks and bottles + BE
Verb:  are 
Infinitive:  to be 
Bare infinitive (just remove the "to"):  be

The OE writer from Kaplan (whom  Bunuel  is quoting) is mistaken. 
The use of the pronoun "it" in option D is fine, and that pronoun is not supposed to refer to anything that precedes "it."

The "it" in option D refers to the entire that-clause that follows the word "it." 
In my rewrite, the reference is 100% correct.
In my corrected sentence,  it  refers to  that drinks and bottles be kept out of dogs' reach.

Some people call this "it" a dummy or placeholder pronoun. Some people call the construction a "delayed antecedent" or a "cleft sentence" or "extraposition."

I don't care what anyone calls this construction as long as people understand how it works.

On the GMAT, in clauses that begin with IT IS, the word  it  must refer to a that-clause, an infinitive clause, or a noun clause (a nominal or substantive clause).
→ That-clause: It is admirable that he stood up to the bully.
→ Infinitive clause: It is admirable to stand up to bullies.
→ Noun clause: It is admirable when people stand up to bullies.

See my post  here .

As is the case in official guides, the people who write the explanations and the people who write the questions are not the same and sometimes not of the same caliber.

I hope that answer helps.

generis · Answer

Gknight5603  , on the GMAT, so far, yes.

In informal English (especially, if I recall correctly, in some forms of British English),  recommend  is followed by an infinitive.
On the GMAT, if  recommend  is a bossy adjective (or verb), then  recommend  takes the command subjunctive construction that I outlined in my post immediately above this one.

This question is good for teaching strategy.
When we are faced with a question in which none of the sentences follow the rules that we know, we omit the four options with the clearest error.

No option gives us a correct command subjunctive form, so we work with what we have.

GMAC changes its rules without warning.
I  never  thought I would see the word "this" as a standalone pronoun.

In OG 2020, for the first time that I know of, the correct answer contained a standalone "this" that referred to an entire clause.
That official question is  here .

Although I doubt that you will see a GMAT question in which  recommend  in its bossy sense is  not  in a command subjunctive construction, I cannot rule out the possibility. You might see an infinitive.

I am completely sure that if you see "recommend that," the sentence will require the command subjunctive construction.

Finally, everyone should stand back from the grammar rule and ask: which sentences are worse than others? Which sentences are better than others?
Options A, B, C, and D are worse than option E.

I hope that answer helps.

trulyness · Answer

GMATNinja  @e-gmat  daagh  please explain how to eliminate between choice D and E.

ReedArnoldMPREP · Answer

I'm not those two, but I think I can help.

This is a relatively rarely tested subject involving the 'subjunctive mood,' which is a verb tense-like thing.

If someone recommends, commands, or requests that something BE done, you generally use the INFINITIVE form of the verb (without the 'to').

This is tricky, as with a lot of verbs you can't even tell:

"I recommend that you drive on the highway to save time."

You can't really tell that the 'drive' there is actually the INFINITIVE 'to drive' and not the conjugated 'you drive' because the word looks the same. Now, the subjunctive mood can be clearer with a different person driving:

"I recommend that he drive on the highway to save time" is correct.
"I recommend that he drives on the highway to save time" is incorrect.

The verb 'to be' also makes the difference pretty stark:

"I request that you be on time" is correct.

"I request that you are on time" is not.

So it should be recommended that drinks and bottles BE kept out of reach (from the infinitive 'to be').

You would not write, "It is recommended that drinks and bottles are kept out of reach."

TAKEAWAYS:

--Recommend/Demand/Request THAT     
--A lot of times this subjunctive mood is 'hidden,' but certain verbs (especially 'to be') make the distinction 'pop' more.
--Subjunctive mood is stupid.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  trulyness ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, one easy way to differentiate between D and E is that E uses the infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb" - "to + keep") to refer to the intent of the action "recommended", and the infinitive verb form is the preferred construction for referring to the purpose/intent of the action.

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

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