Last visit was: 18 Nov 2025, 16:08 It is currently 18 Nov 2025, 16:08
Home
GMAT
Messages
Tests
Schools
Events
Rewards
Chat
My Profile
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
Back to Forum
Create Topic
User avatar
Bunuel
User avatar
Math Expert
Joined: 02 Sep 2009
Last visit: 18 Nov 2025
Posts: 105,355
Own Kudos:
778,070
 [41]
Given Kudos: 99,964
Products:
GMAT Club Tests Forum Quiz
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 105,355
Kudos: 778,070
 [41]
There is growing demand in the state for “initiative and referendum,” 12 Mar 2019, 04:29
6
Kudos
Add Kudos
33
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
00:00
Start Timer
Pause Timer
Resume Timer
Show Answer
Hide
Show
History
A
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!

Difficulty:

45% (medium)

Question Stats:

58% (01:20) correct 42% (01:23) wrong based on 1024 sessions

History

Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
There is growing demand in the state for “initiative and referendum,” a procedure that allows voters to propose and pass laws, as well as to repeal them.

(A) allows voters to propose and pass laws, as well as to repeal them
(B) allows voters to propose, pass, and to repeal laws
(C) allows voters to propose, to pass, and repeal laws
(D) will allow the voter to propose, pass, as well as to repeal laws
(E) will allow laws to be proposed, passed, as well as repealed by voters
ShowHide Answer
Official Answer
A
Most Helpful Reply
User avatar
VeritasPrepBrian
User avatar
Veritas Prep Representative
Joined: 26 Jul 2010
Last visit: 02 Mar 2022
Posts: 416
Own Kudos:
3,217
 [7]
Given Kudos: 63
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 416
Kudos: 3,217
 [7]
There is growing demand in the state for “initiative and referendum,” 21 Mar 2019, 03:35
Kudos
Add Kudos
7
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
abhinavthapa57
Is the option E incorrect because of the use of possessive form of the verbs?
Show more

I'd add here that "as well as" is not a synonym for "and." That's why (A) works - the "and" construction completes with "the procedure allows voters to propose and pass laws" and then "as well as" is used to tack on a new thought to the end of the sentence.

(E) Is trying to use "as well as" in direct place of "and" and that's not a proper usage of that phrase. "As well as" sets apart an item as different from / unequal to the others (like "the Golden State Warriors have built their team around great shooters in Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, as well as players like Draymond Green who create unique mismatches" - here Steph and Klay are the shooters, and the bit about Draymond is an attached separate and related but unequal thought)

The GMAT error you see a lot is using "as well as" to complete a list of three items (as in (E) here) and because "as well as" doesn't ascribe equality to the term it applies to it can't be used in that fashion to complete a list. So that's another actionable error in both (D) and (E).
General Discussion
avatar
abhinavthapa57
avatar
Joined: 31 May 2018
Last visit: 18 Dec 2020
Posts: 3
Given Kudos: 36
Location: India
Schools: HEC Montreal '21 (S)  (A)
GMAT 1: 640 Q44 V33
GPA: 3.8
Schools: HEC Montreal '21 (S)  (A)
GMAT 1: 640 Q44 V33
Posts: 3
Kudos: 0
There is growing demand in the state for “initiative and referendum,” 19 Mar 2019, 23:54
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Is the option E incorrect because of the use of possessive form of the verbs?
User avatar
EducationAisle
User avatar
Joined: 27 Mar 2010
Last visit: 18 Nov 2025
Posts: 3,891
Own Kudos:
3,579
 [3]
Given Kudos: 159
Location: India
Schools: ISB
GPA: 3.31
Expert
Expert reply
Schools: ISB
Posts: 3,891
Kudos: 3,579
 [3]
There is growing demand in the state for “initiative and referendum,” 20 Mar 2019, 05:23
3
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hi Abhinav, logically speaking, propose and pass the laws is one unit (since one would logically propose a law and then pass it) while repealing is another unit.

Hence, the correct grouping is:

i) to propose and pass laws
ii) to repeal them

Even if you thought A and E didn't have any meaning difference, E is in passive voice. Everything else remaining the same, one should prefer active voice over passive voice.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses Active and Passive voice, its application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.
User avatar
eswarchethu135
User avatar
Joined: 13 Jan 2018
Last visit: 19 Jun 2025
Posts: 276
Own Kudos:
459
 [1]
Given Kudos: 20
Location: India
Concentration: Operations, General Management
Schools: EDHEC Sept 2019 Intake (A) Erasmus '20 IE Jan20 Intake (A)
GMAT 1: 580 Q47 V23
GMAT 2: 640 Q49 V27
GPA: 4
WE:Consulting (Consulting)
Products:
My Reviews
Schools: EDHEC Sept 2019 Intake (A) Erasmus '20 IE Jan20 Intake (A)
GMAT 2: 640 Q49 V27
Posts: 276
Kudos: 459
 [1]
There is growing demand in the state for “initiative and referendum,” 20 Mar 2019, 23:10
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
There is growing demand in the state for “initiative and referendum,” a procedure that allows voters to propose and pass laws, as well as to repeal them.

Quote:
(A) allows voters to propose and pass laws, as well as to repeal them
Show more
Only choice without any parallelism error. CORRECT
Quote:
(B) allows voters to propose, pass, and to repeal laws
Show more
either "to propose, to pass and to repeal laws" is the correct usage or "to propose, pass and repeal" is the correct usage. So this choice is also ELIMINATED.
Quote:
(C) allows voters to propose, to pass, and repeal laws
Show more
to propose, to pass and to repeal....is the correct parallel structure. ELIMINATED
Quote:
(D) will allow the voter to propose, pass, as well as to repeal laws
Show more
demand is growing for the procedure. Demand for a procedure will grow if there is some applicability of the procedure already. It is not possible that based on the futuristic outcome of the procedure now the demand is growing. So options which use "will" can comfortably be ELIMINATED
Quote:
(E) will allow laws to be proposed, passed, as well as repealed by voters
Show more
same error as in option D. So ELIMINATED

OPTION: A
avatar
susmitha2110
avatar
Joined: 13 Jun 2017
Last visit: 31 Jul 2020
Posts: 5
Own Kudos:
6
 [1]
Given Kudos: 52
Posts: 5
Kudos: 6
 [1]
There is growing demand in the state for “initiative and referendum,” 21 Mar 2019, 04:29
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Isn't them in option A ambiguous?

Though logically "them" refers to laws.

Posted from my mobile device
User avatar
VeritasPrepBrian
User avatar
Veritas Prep Representative
Joined: 26 Jul 2010
Last visit: 02 Mar 2022
Posts: 416
Own Kudos:
3,217
 [3]
Given Kudos: 63
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 416
Kudos: 3,217
 [3]
There is growing demand in the state for “initiative and referendum,” 21 Mar 2019, 04:59
3
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
susmitha2110
Isn't them in option A ambiguous?

Though logically "them" refers to laws.

Posted from my mobile device
Show more

Yeah, good question. I'm a pretty huge advocate for "don't use pronoun ambiguity as a primary decision point unless it's obviously ambiguous." The mere presence of multiple plural nouns doesn't make "them" ambiguous, so if you're on a mission to find pronoun ambiguity you'll over diagnose it quite a bit.

Here note that there are really two plural nouns: voters and laws. But look at the verb that acts on "them" - it's "repeal" and the subject of that is already set for that as "voters." So if "them" were to refer to "voters" it would be "voters can repeal voters" which 1) is weird and 2) because it's an action upon oneself the pronoun really should be "themselves."

The big headline for me - pronoun ambiguity shouldn't ever be your initial decision point. I have that on a list with redundancy as a handful of decision points that aren't as cut-and-dry as, say, illogical verb tenses or improper singular/plural agreement, so you shouldn't prioritize pronoun ambiguity or redundancy because you'll just see them in lots of places where they're not a problem. We talk about that in this video on the Veritas Prep YouTube Channel if you're interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P8SQQ0gA8Y The aim there is that your greatest asset on Sentence Correction is that you get to prioritize the order in which you make decisions, and some decisions are a whole lot clearer than others.
avatar
Jezza
avatar
Joined: 11 Jan 2022
Last visit: 01 Sep 2022
Posts: 27
Own Kudos:
3
 [1]
Given Kudos: 17
Posts: 27
Kudos: 3
 [1]
There is growing demand in the state for “initiative and referendum,” 25 May 2022, 02:43
Kudos
Add Kudos
1
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
This question is clear and simple:

When you try to make a list of 3 items, you can NEVER do "A, B, as well as C", this is never ever allowed in GMAT. You have to do "A, B, and C"

In addition, you either do "to do A, to do B, and to do C", or "to do A, do B, and do C". The second and third items must be in the same structure.
avatar
Engineer1
avatar
Joined: 01 Jan 2014
Last visit: 15 Jun 2025
Posts: 202
Own Kudos:
656
Given Kudos: 457
Location: United States (IN)
Concentration: Strategy, Finance
Schools: Booth (Chicago) (A$)
Schools: Booth (Chicago) (A$)
Posts: 202
Kudos: 656
There is growing demand in the state for “initiative and referendum,” 14 May 2023, 18:53
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
VeritasPrepBrian
abhinavthapa57
Is the option E incorrect because of the use of possessive form of the verbs?

I'd add here that "as well as" is not a synonym for "and." That's why (A) works - the "and" construction completes with "the procedure allows voters to propose and pass laws" and then "as well as" is used to tack on a new thought to the end of the sentence.

(E) Is trying to use "as well as" in direct place of "and" and that's not a proper usage of that phrase. "As well as" sets apart an item as different from / unequal to the others (like "the Golden State Warriors have built their team around great shooters in Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, as well as players like Draymond Green who create unique mismatches" - here Steph and Klay are the shooters, and the bit about Draymond is an attached separate and related but unequal thought)

The GMAT error you see a lot is using "as well as" to complete a list of three items (as in (E) here) and because "as well as" doesn't ascribe equality to the term it applies to it can't be used in that fashion to complete a list. So that's another actionable error in both (D) and (E).
Show more


In addition to above - E has passive voice over which active voice (in option A) is desirable
Moderators:
GMATNinja
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
7445 posts
GMATNinjaTwo
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
234 posts
miag
188 posts