Both the oil experts advice that inventory of heating oil

Question

Both the oil expert’s advice  that inventory of heating oil should be marked up to meet an impending severe winter as well as the speculation that a major unit might close for a long time due to a major accident, caused heating oil prices surge to record levels last week  in the world oil markets

(A) that inventory of heating oil should be marked up to meet an impending severe winter as well as the speculation that a major unit might close for a long time due to a major accident, caused heating oil prices surge to record levels last week

(B) that the inventory of heating oil should be marked up to meet an impending severe winter along with the speculation that a major unit may close for a long time due to a major accident, caused heating oil prices surge to record levels last week

(C) that the inventory of heating oil be marked up to meet an impending severe winter and the speculation that a major unit might close for a long time due to a major accident, caused heating oil prices surge to record levels last week

(D) that the government mark up the inventory of heating oil to meet an impending severe winter as well as the speculation o a major unit probably closing for a long time due to a major accident, caused heating oil prices surge to record levels last week

(E) to mark up the inventory of heating oil to meet an impending severe winter and the speculation that a major unit may probably close for a long time due to a major accident, caused heating oil prices surge to record levels last week

sayantanc2k · Accepted Answer

There are four errors in C:

1. "Due to" is used wrongly - should be "because of".
2. "Advice" does not take subjunctive - it takes infinitive.
3. Moreover for a command subjunctive, active voice is preferred because the advice/ demand is applicable on the subject of the action. 
I demand that you pick up the phone.... correct
I demand that the phone be picked up.... not preferred
Thus in C, "...advice that the inventory be marked up..." in not preferred.
4. The advice to mark up is not to meet the speculation, but to meet the problem itself. Wrong meaning is conveyed by the construction "meet a sever winter and the speculation".

E in my opinion is the best of the lot, though it contains the errors 1 and 4 mentioned above.

methevoid · Answer

This is regarding the Correct use of Conjunction - Both, both X and Y, and should be used to bring 2 clauses/phrase together in parallel while making the sense.

Only C does it perfectly,

Both the oil expert advice's that inventory of .....xyz .... and the speculation.....,caused.....

imania · Answer

Easy one ...C
idiom+parallelism

sumit1854 · Answer

Although I marked the answer as C which seems correct considering the subjective mood. I found the underlined portion too long to correct. Are these type of questions common on GMAT.

Nightmare007 · Answer

We need both a and b. only C and E are left. Note that in E 2nd subjunctive case with speculated that clause has redundancy error of may probably be which is redundant and is wrong.

So Answer is C.

abhimahna · Answer

Answer should be clearly C. But still the OA has not been provided, I request experts to confirm the OA.

Nightmare007 · Answer

Hi, 
 Thank to our friend, I learnt a new concept in subjunctive mood: require that something be done - passive structure and require that he do something. - active. 
 Moreover, Here in the question two clauses are joined through conjunction "and".
 The two clauses which are joined one is passive while other is active, breaking the rule of parallelism. 
 Hence E must be right answer and preferred answer over C. 
 Though may probably is redundant I think Grammar comes before style. 
  daagh  sir. Please correct me if I am wrong.

TejasD · Answer

Experts, shouldn't 'advice' in subjunctive from be used with a 'to' ?

Sent from my XT1562 using  GMAT Club Forum mobile app

roadrunner · Answer

Isn't the usage 'may probably' redundant in choice E? Experts please advice.

Nightmare007 · Answer

Yeah your right. but, There exists few subjunctive indicators that can use both "to" and "that". 
 
Advice that + clause - Someone provided some advice about some stuff.
Advice to + noun - Someone provided an advice to some other person.

TejasD · Answer

Thanks for the reply. I know a few words can take both forms such as'intend','require','ask', etc. But I think 'advice' always takes a to form. That is what I need to get confirmed.

Thanks again

Posted from my mobile device

senti_pra · Answer

I think so too ! "May probably" seems redundant

NicoleJaneway · Answer

This is not a well-written question. The full sentence should be "Both the oil expert’s advice that inventory of heating oil should be marked up to meet an impending severe winter as well as the speculation that a major unit might close for a long time because of a major accident, caused heating oil prices to surge to record levels last week in the world oil markets."

Note that "due to" is a noun modifier and cannot be used to modify "a major unit might close." This is wrong in all the answer choices.

Note that "due to" is a noun modifier and cannot be used to modify "a major unit might close." This is wrong in all the answer choices.

pratik1709 · Answer

can anyone please explain

"," before caused?. Is this look okay?

Dkingdom · Answer

Verbs advice, allow, forbid, persuade and want should never be used with a command subjunctive. They should be used with an infinitive (to be).
Moreover "should" should not be used in command subjunctive.

hellosanthosh2k2 · Answer

Hi,

I have one question, all the five answer choices uses "due to .." which is wrong, as it is a noun modifier, it can't modify the verb "close" - need "because of"

Experts Please help

Thanks.

RishiQV · Answer

daagh sir, request you to explain the solution. I have marked 'c' as it satisfies the rules of subjunctive mood'. But along the comments realized that the subjunctive mood takes only active voice so it is wrong? Can you please elaborate more on this?

Thanks!

Thanks!

daagh · Answer

Rishi

I would rather think that the context and meaning are important while deciding whether 'advice' can be used in command subjunctives. Please visit the following site for a comprehensive view of such multipurpose words in subjunctives.

https://blog.esllibrary.com/2015/12/10/recommend/

It all depends upon who advises. If the Supreme Court advises, it amounts to a command. If it is an advice from the chairman, it may amount to a rule. In such cases, one may use advice for expressing subjunctive mood.
As for the other point on the use of 'due to' and the redundancy, they are nice pointers and thanks for the same.

Nightmare007 · Answer

Hi Sir, 
 I respect your explanations and am profoundly interested in your every explanation. However, I find this a bit confusing.
 Doesn't Even in E Due to is wrongly used?
 If Due to is rightly modifying the clause :something may probably close: . It destroys my belief that due is ONLY used as an adjective. Can you please explain me what type of cases we can ignore the rule that Due to must be used ONLY as an adjective modifying noun ?
 Or is close a noun here ?
 I think we can eliminate option on the basis of Advice by itself.

Both the oil experts advice that inventory of heating oil

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Both the oil experts advice that inventory of heating oil

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