Thirteen states from all regions of the country announced a plan to

As ugly as it is, I'm going with D.

This is tricky because the use of "jointly adopting" indicates that there are TWO separate things being adopted here.

A. "in that they will jointly" is wordy/awkward. Also, "they" has an unclear referent - could be states, controls, or engines.
B. "to impose...by the joint adoption of..." is unclear. The use of "joint adoption" in here isn't clear as to what TWO things are being adopted. If it were just adopting new emission limits (ONE thing), then no need to add "joint adoption".
C. Same as B. Why add "jointly" here? In this example, the states are only adopting stricter emission limits.
D. This clearly separates TWO issues: imposing new controls on truck/bus engines AND adopting stricter emission limits. "imposing...adopting..." is also parallel.
E. "in the joint adoption of stricter emission limits" -- again, where is the JOINT? Where is the other thing?

I don't personally like "a plan for imposing...." but in this case it works.

I’ll also pick C.

Not quite sure, but I think that in (D), it should be “a plan for imposing new controls…” “and for jointly adopting…” (without comma); otherwise it’s not parallel.

Ah crap! I originally picked D but the answer has got to be C. Here's why...

I originally thought that "jointly" was indicating that there are TWO things being adopted in this instance. That's why I went with D the first time because it clearly separates TWO things: imposing new controls on truck/bus engines AND adopting emission limits.

However, this is not really correct and actually alters the intent of the sentence. "Jointly" in this context isn't referring to two separate things, instead, it is referring to the "Thirteen states from all regions" who JOINTLY (meaning, all together as a group) adopt stricter emission limits.

So here we go for C:

Thirteen states from all regions of the country announced a plan to impose new controls on pollution from truck and bus engines by jointly adopting emission limits that would be far stricter than the federal rules

There's my explanation. I always felt that "a plan to impose" just sounds better than "a plan for imposing" as another side note. Ugh tricky question!

Racouteur, the second explaination does really help!



Agree, I elimilate right away D and E. But I ignore C, even though it sounds best, because somebody here say "joinly" cannot modify noun-adopting.



Thanks for this finding. OA is C

According to what Ron said in the video 20120216--Use of -ING forms.

I have dedicated my career to the exposure of injustice in the court system.

--> I am somehow involved with the exposure of injustice, but not necessarily directly (e.g., maybe I donate $ to a charity that does this)

I have dedicated my career to exposing of injustice in the court system.

--> I am the one who has actually been exposing injustice.

Verbal nouns (like "the exposure") are IMPERSONAL: they *don't* convey the idea that the subject is directly involved.

Gerunds generally *do* convey the idea that the subject is directly involved in the process.

In this question, the 13 states are actually the entities that are going to adopt emissions restrictions.

your point is great. I want to comment

doing can refer to subject or a noun in sentence, depending on the idiomatic pattern . it is not alway that doing can refer to the subject or a noun in a sentence. this point make english harder .

I invest in stocks by reading business books
i read the book for learning english
I do not learn english here. learning here is still general

my dicussion is somehow not relevant to our problem because on gmat we do not need to be so far. just know that normal noun and doing can be different in that the first dose not refer to any subject while the second do.

the thing to learn from choice C
"adopting" logically modifies "to impose". this is strange thing to learn because normally, "by doing" modifies the main verb of the main clause, but not "to do". consider

I learn gmat by reading posting on gmatclub.

in this sentence, "by reading" modifies " learn", the main tensed verb.

so, choice c is a strange pattern to learn.

in fact, "jointly adopting" modifies " to impose". this is idiom. "by doing " modifies "to do" or a finite form of verb, "is, leaned...". to show how the verb, finite or non-finite is used.

for imposing new controls on pollution from truck and bus engines, and jointly adopting..........Jointly adopting shows as states are adopting.
announced to impose
announced for imposing - announcement is not the reason for imposing rather a purpose to impose.

Can someone explain why option B is incorrect?

(B) to impose new controls on truck and bus engines' pollution by the joint adoption of

The use of the underlined part is incorrect as it suggests that the agent which caused the pollution is the the joint adoption of emmision limits.
'Pollution by truck and bus engine' is correct instead of 'Pollution by the joint adoption' .

Also 'by ' can be followed by a verb that will tell us how 13 states announced the plan . But in this choice 'by' is followed by noun 'the joint adoption of'.

In (B), "pollution by the joint adoption" seems to imply that the joint adoption is causing or creating pollution! Of course that doesn't make sense. Sure, you can figure out the logical, intended meaning if you think about it for a bit -- but (C) expresses that meaning in a much clearer way.

Also, in (C), "controls on pollution" makes it immediately clear and obvious that "pollution" is the thing being controlled. In (B), "new controls on truck and bus engines' pollution" isn't as clear because there's a lot of stuff in between "controls on" and the thing actually being controlled ("pollution"). The reader might think, "wait, are we controlling trucks and buses? No... their engines? No... ah, okay, it's the pollution from truck and bus engines. Why didn't they say that in the first place (like they did in C)?".

Neither of those represent definite errors in (B), but (C) is a clearer and better option.

(A) to impose new controls on pollution from truck and bus engines in that they will jointly adopt

'in that' means 'for the reason that'. By adopting emission limits answers the question of HOW the 13 states plan on imposing new controls, and not the REASON FOR it.



(B) to impose new controls on truck and bus engines' pollution by the joint adoption of

MartinTao explained it best in this post.





(C) to impose new controls on pollution from truck and bus engines by jointly adopting

Plan to - correct.
By jointly adopting - correct.



(D) for imposing new controls on pollution from truck and bus engines, and jointly adopting

Plan to - used to covey what action is to be done. (Eg : I plan to work hard to get a good score.)
Plan for - used to express a goal/purpose.
(Eg. My plans for getting into a good MBA school are
The 13 states plan for a pollution free future.)

13 states announced a plan AND jointly adopting emission limits...
the sentence doesn't work



(E) for imposing new controls on truck and bus engine pollution in the joint adoption of

Same issue as D