Because of limited available funds, some non-profit companie

Question

Because of limited available funds, some non-profit companies  had elected to train their current employees in management techniques rather than recruiting  knowledgeable managers from outside sources.

(A) had elected to train their current employees in management techniques rather than recruiting
(B) had elected training current employees in management techniques rather than recruiting
(C) have elected training current employees in management techniques instead of recruiting
(D) have elected to train current employees in management techniques rather than recruiting
(E) have elected to train current employees in management techniques rather than recruit

Nevernevergiveup · Accepted Answer

Because of limited available funds, some non-profit companies  had elected to train their current employees in management techniques rather than recruiting  knowledgeable managers from outside sources.

past perfect is incorrect here as we do not have two past tense actions here.
hence A, B are eliminated.

(A)  had elected to train their current employees in management techniques rather than recruiting 
(B)  had elected training current employees in management techniques rather than recruiting

Coming to options C, D and E

The issue being tested here is parallelism w.r.t IDIOM X rather than Y vs Instead of.
Refer this link below regarding IDIOM usage.
 https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-idioms-of-comparison/

(C) have elected  training  current employees in management techniques  instead of recruiting 
 since instead of requires noun we cannot use verb recruiting after the idiom.
Also training can be a noun implying to refer current employees who are training.
Thus parallelism is flawed here.

(D) have elected to  train  current employees in management techniques rather than  recruiting 
 verb train is not parallel to recruiting(verb+ing form) thereby parallelism is flawed here.

(E) have elected to train current employees in management techniques rather than recruit
train is perfectly parallel to recruit here.
Even though it may appear that verb misses preposition  to , it is not so.

MKS · Answer

Because of limited available funds, some non-profit companies  had elected to
train their current employees in management techniques rather than recruiting 
knowledgeable managers from outside sources.

(A) had elected to train their current employees in management
techniques rather than recruiting
 WRONG because - 
Issue 1) There are not two event happened in past. Hence had can not be used.
Moreover, have is logically required as  "Because of some constraints, A HAVE opted for X rather than Y" 
Issue 2) X rather than Y requires that X and Y be parallel.
Here 'had elected' and 'recruiting' are not parallel.

(B) had elected training current employees in management techniques
rather than recruiting
 Has issue 1 and issue 2 
(C) have elected training current employees in management techniques
instead of recruiting
 Has issue 2 
(D) have elected to train current employees in management techniques
rather than recruiting
 has issue 2 
(E) have elected to train current employees in management techniques
rather than recruit
 No Issue - RIGHT ANSWER

Best
MKS

sivaspurthy · Answer

X rather than Y requires that X and Y be parallel.How are they parallel in the option E?

sejpara · Answer

How is this parallel "have elected to train current employees in management techniques
rather than (without a  to  )recruit" ?

amrishsoni86 · Answer

Agree with Sejpara - A have elected to train....than 'to' recruit. And E is missing 'To'.

Please explain

ydmuley · Answer

There are two decision points here:

1. usage of had/have
2. parallel structure

1. usage of had is incorrect here are we do need the sentence to be in past participle state - Hence, option A and B are out

2. Only E establishes the parallel structure - "to train" & "To recruit"

Hence, Answer is E

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siddyj94 · Answer

ydmuley  Can i eliminate here A and B on the basis of the Companies and Funds as both are plural?

ydmuley · Answer

Hello  siddyj94  - We definitely can use "had" for plurals. (The choice between 'have' and 'has' is based on singular and plural as they both are in present tense)

Examples :

We   had  completed all the presentations before the final client meeting.

Students   had  solved the maths question before the bell rang.

Hope this helps.

siddharthfrancis · Answer

why recruit is used and not recruting ??

Arro44 · Answer

in this case it is related to parallelism:

They have elected  to train A  ... rather than   recruit B

kornn · Answer

Dear  AnthonyRitz   IanStewart   GMATGuruNY   DmitryFarber   VeritasPrepBrian ,

What's wrong with C.?
The underlined parts are perfectly parallel (gerunds)
(C) have elected   training   current employees in management techniques instead of   recruiting

GMATGuruNY · Answer

elect  + VERBing is unidiomatic and conveys an illogical sequence.

Generally, a VERBing expresses an action CONCURRENT with the main action.
 To elect X  =  to choose X

C:  Companies have elected training 
Here, the act of TRAINING is not performed at the same time as the main verb ( have elected ).
Clearly, the act of training may be performed only AFTER companies have chosen to perform this act.
To convey a logical sequence,  have elected  must be followed not by a VERBing but by an infinitive, as in the OA:
 Companies have elected TO TRAIN

Unidiomatic:  elect  + VERBing
Correct idiom:  elect  +  to  + VERB

VerbalBot · Answer

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Because of limited available funds, some non-profit companie

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