Standard police procedure requires that an officer interview witnesses

Question

Standard police procedure requires that an officer interview witnesses separately rather than together .

(A) Standard police procedure requires that an officer interview witnesses separately rather than together

(B) A requirement, according to standard police procedure, is that an officer interview witness separately rather than interviewing them together

(C) Standard police procedure requires an officer to interview witnesses separately rather than to interview them together

(D) It is required in standard police procedure that an officer interviews witnesses separately, not together

(E) Standard police procedure requires that an officer interviews witnesses separately rather than together

thephoenix · Accepted Answer

IMO A

in subjunctive mood the verb is always plural(interview)

fall2009 · Answer

Very confused between A and C.
Both A and C are grammatically correct, but I think "Standard police procedure requires to interview" is better than "require that an officer interview".
Because this is a "standard police procedure", a must do, not just a suggestion that officer should do, officers have to do so, so "require to do" is correct.
Hence C.

nitya34 · Answer

ya very right its A
  Command subjunctive for bossy verbs(require,propose etc)
...hence bare form of the verb(interview) without "s" will be used

Example: We Propose that the school band DISBAND

srini123 · Answer

for subjunctive mood the verb should be in  base form  without the to

swatirpr · Answer

Yes, I also think they both are grammatically correct but A is more concise. both 'Require that' and 'Require to' are correct Require takes either command subjunctive or the infinitive Require + that + subject + Base Verb (Infinitive without To) Require + (to + Base Verb) Thanks everyone :-D

BMindful · Answer

Standard police procedure requires that an officer interview witnesses separately rather than together.
(a) Standard police procedure requires that an officer interview witnesses separately rather than together-->IMO correct

(b) A requirement, according to standard police procedure, is that an officer  interview witness  separately rather than  interviewing them  together-->not //

(c) Standard police procedure requires an officer to interview witnesses separately rather than to interview them together--> i can think of the grammar wrong here, i can see only that A is more concise

(d) It is required in standard police procedure that an officer  interviews  witnesses separately, not together
(e) Standard police procedure requires that an officer  interviews  witnesses separately rather than together
"Require" is subjunctive V. Therefore, the verb after "require to" or "require that" has to be bare form verb (no -s, no -ed)--> eliminate E,D

Wayxi · Answer

Can anyone explain why in A, even though the subject " officer" is singular, we can still use a singular verb " interview" rather than " interviews" ?? Thats why i was leaning towards C and E.

MICKEYXITIN · Answer

if you eliminate some details in this sentence, you will see the structure "require + that + S +  Verb " . When you see the structure "require + that + S-V" you should immediately think of  subjunctive mood  which the  Verb  will be used in bare infinitive verb.
Ex: 
A requires that B  interview  witnesses separately rather than together.  correct 
A requires that B  interviews   witnesses separately rather than together  incorrect

Anonymous · Answer

Got the same problem to choose between A and C.
Chose A because it was more concise.

Subjonctive required when using the following verbs:
Propose
Require
Request
Recommend
Insist
Suggest
Mandate
Ask
Demand

akshaychandna · Answer

I know that i'm replying after ages but couldn't find the explanation i had in mind so putting forth my reason for choosing  A  between  A  and  C

Standard police procedure requires that an officer interview witnesses separately rather than together.

(A) Standard police procedure requires that an officer interview witnesses separately rather than together
(C) Standard police procedure requires an officer to interview witnesses separately rather than to interview them together

C changes the meaning of the original sentence .. it says the procedure requires an officer to interview which makes it sound more like a vacancy to be filled .. i choose A as its the subjunctive mood and lays out the authority of the procedure clearly ...

samusa · Answer

Require can be used in two ways-

Require that X + subjunctive verb

Require X + infinitive form of verb

A is correct;.
C is correct as far as the idiomatic usage of require is concerned but goes wrong in the latter half with false parallelsim-separately rather than to interview them together

sayantanc2k · Answer

The OA is correct and explanations provided in the thread appear sufficient. If there are any specific questions, please post them here and then click again on the "Request Expert Reply" button – closing this request.

manchat · Answer

My understanding is that "rather than " is used for comparing clauses or verb,however here noun "together " is used.Please clarify

sayantanc2k · Answer

"Together" is an adverb, not a noun.

Nonetheless "rather than" can be used to join even nouns. "Rather than" is more general than "instead of" and can be used to join phrases, clauses, nouns, verbs or adverbs, whereas "instead of" can only join nouns or noun phrases.

karant · Answer

Hello  sayantanc2k ,

Could you please explain why option C is incorrect ?

Thanks

sayantanc2k · Answer

C is not wrong gramatically, but it could be more concise. Repeating "to interview them" makes this option wordy.

JS1290 · Answer

mikemcgarry   GMATNinjaTwo   GMATNinja

Hi, I was wondering could you please explain the difference between option A and C? I was able to get down to these two options but ended up picking the wrong option even though I knew option A was more concise and beautiful. I was wondering if there are any specific grammatical errors in option C? Also, if you could please explain the difference between "require that" and "require to", I would immensely appreciate it as well!

Thank You!

Thank You!

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear csaluja , I'm happy to respond.

Choice (C) is 100% grammatically correct, but it's clunky and awkward. By repeating words in the second branch of the parallelism, it creates a repetitive redundant effect that the GMAT abhors. See: Dropping Common Words in Parallel on the GMAT In general, many students labor under the misconception that the GMAT SC is primarily a test of grammar, that grammar is the most important element tested. This is patently false. On a well-written sentence on the GMAT SC, grammar and logic and rhetoric all work together to support meaning . The students who pay attention to grammar are missing more than half the story, and the GMAT specifically designs incorrect answer choices that are grammatically correct, such as (C), to ensnare such students. Both " requires that A do X " and " requires A to do X " are idiomatically correct. For more on idioms, see: GMAT Idiom Flashcards Does all this make sense? Mike

Bunuel · Answer

KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

You're given interview and interviews as options here. Interview is correct because requires that earlier in the sentence is one of those "verb -I- that" formulas that need to be completed by a verb in the subjunctive (here, interview). Eliminate (D) and (E). Next, you need to decide whether interview witnesses separately rather than together uses ellipsis correctly. It does because interview works as an implied verb and together properly parallels the other adverb separately. Think of it this way: Standard police procedure requires that an officer interview witnesses separately rather than that an officer interview witnesses together. You'll notice that everything that the sentence needs to imply has already been stated. That, plus the fact that the structure of the remaining pieces is parallel, means that ellipsis is used correctly. (A) is your most succinct choice.

Standard police procedure requires that an officer interview witnesses

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Standard police procedure requires that an officer interview witnesses

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards