Shouldn't 'announced that' a correct form? I am not sure how C is the correct form. Please help.
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Hi Experts GMATNinja egmat mikemcgarry

I went through expert's post on for this Q and would like to clarify below queries:
For option (A)
1. is the usage of that incorrect?
2. What is issue with since ... be closed (structure wise) Is it just that it wordier than OA?
3. The pronoun THEY seems unambiguous to me since they means more than one, and although here it may refer to more than 1/4th or all , note that both are plural entities.
Let me know if I missed something.
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Ideally "that" would be used. This question seems to be an exception.

The past continuous "was closing" is alright. This tense usage implies that at the time when the announcement was being made, the process of closing had already started and was continuing, i.e., some of the one fourth of the stores had already been closed, while the others hadn't been.

("Would" would also be alright - this tense would imply that the process of closing had not started when the announcement was being made.)