Even though many local residents disagree with the decision, the town

Question

Even though many local residents disagree with the decision, the town council has ordered  that the downtown parking rules be changed and a new parking garage built .

(A) that the downtown parking rules be changed and a new parking garage built

(B) the downtown parking rules to be changed, with a new parking garage being built

(C) that the downtown parking rules should be changed and a new parking garage built

(D) that the downtown parking rules be changed and a new parking garage to be built

(E) that the downtown parking rules be changed and a new parking garage is built

Solution: A

Explanation: In assessing this difficult sentence correction problem, you should first consider the obvious decision points between the answer choices.

The most obvious is the choice between “order x to be y” vs. “order that x be y…”

The key is not the choice of idioms (which the GMAT rarely tests unless it is a very well known idiom) but rather the parallelism that follows.

Answer choice (A) is correct, as it is the only one that maintains parallelism with one of the two idioms:

“the town council has ordered that the rules  be changed  and a new garage  (  be  ) built .”

The trick (and what keeps most students from picking it) is that the second “be” is understood and does not have to be written to maintain parallelism.

Even if you do not like (A) at first, the other choices contain fatal flaws that would bring you back to the original.

In (B), the prepositional phrase “with a new parking garage being built” has nothing to logically modify and does not convey the meaning that the town council has ordered two different things. Also, the “being built” is illogical: the town council cannot order something being built.

In (C) the “should” is redundant: you can never say “order that x should do y” - the verb “order” already implies should/must.

In (D), the first portion is correct but the “to be” in the second portion is not parallel with the original structure of “be”.

In (E) the verb “is” in the second portion needs to be the verb form “be”.

You say: “the town council ordered that the garage BE built” not the “town council ordered that the garage IS built.”

daagh · Accepted Answer

A classic case of command subjunctive mood. . Three things are essential to expose subjunctives here. 1. An expression that exposes mandateness explicitly or implictly.2. The connecting subordinate conjunction ‘that’. and 3. the base form of the verb in the sub-clause

A. that the downtown parking rules be changed and a new parking garage built -------  Correct choice that satisfies all the three norms of the command subjunctive. Here built means ‘ be built’

B. the downtown parking rules to be changed, with a new parking garage being built --- -hanges meaning to say that council ordered the rules and it also implies that the new garage is already being built. c

C. that the downtown parking rules should be changed and a new parking garage built. ---- S hould be changed is not a subjunctive mood idiom.

D. that the downtown parking rules be changed and a new parking garage to be built. ---  infinitives have no place in subjunctives  
 
E. that the downtown parking rules be changed and a new parking garage is built.----'  is built' is not part of of subjunctive idiom.

Zarrolou · Answer

Even though many local residents disagree with the decision, the town council has ordered  that the downtown parking rules be changed and a new parking garage built.

"order" is one of those verbs (think, say,...) that require "that" in 99% of the cases. To understand the cases in which is not necessary consider the following case
Paul says that (something); Paul says "(his words)". So out B.

C stands out because uses "should". If you decide on something, your decision will not be expressed by "should ": your decision "is" not "should be". Out C

Lets analyze A D E together:
A. that the downtown parking rules be changed and a new parking garage  built .
D. that the downtown parking rules be changed and a new parking garage  to be built .
E. that the downtown parking rules be changed and a new parking garage  is built .

Their only difference is the final verb. To pick the correct one we must mantain the parallelism: 
 be changed   and (...) A)  build  D) to be built  E) is built 
A mantains the structure. A is correct

nahid78 · Answer

Even though many local residents disagree with the decision, the town council has ordered  that the downtown parking rules be changed and a new parking garage built.

A. that the downtown parking rules be changed and a new parking garage built.

B. the downtown parking rules to be changed, with a new parking garage being built.

C. that the downtown parking rules should be changed and a new parking garage built.

D. that the downtown parking rules be changed and a new parking garage to be built.

E. that the downtown parking rules be changed and a new parking garage is built.

balaji4799 · Answer

Good question, I think the underlined sentence is in command subjunctive form. However, I don't remember the specifics of sentence construction in this form. I will be glad if anyone could share a link to blog post for this sentence form.

Iamnowjust · Answer

Hi,
Can you please explain why we shouldn’t repeat be/is in E option?.

Posted from my mobile device

raunakme19 · Answer

Hi  Iamnowjust  ,

The usage of 'Order' (a trigger word) followed by 'that' must ensure a subjunctive verb (i.e a plural verb) , and hence, the usage of singular word 'is' is incorrect.
Also as  daagh  mentioned "  Here built means ‘ be built’  "

XavierAlexander · Answer

Veritas official explanation:-

Explanation: In assessing this difficult sentence correction problem, you should first consider the obvious decision points between the answer choices. The most obvious is the choice between “order x to be y” vs. “order that x be y…” The key is not the choice of idioms (which the GMAT rarely tests unless it is a very well known idiom) but rather the parallelism that follows. Answer choice (A) is correct, as it is the only one that maintains parallelism with one of the two idioms: “the town council has ordered that the rules be changed and a new garage ( be) built.” The trick (and what keeps most students from picking it) is that the second “be” is understood and does not have to be written to maintain parallelism. Even if you do not like (A) at first, the other choices contain fatal flaws that would bring you back to the original. In (B), the prepositional phrase “with a new parking garage being built” has nothing to logically modify and does not convey the meaning that the town council has ordered two different things. Also, the “being built” is illogical: the town council cannot order something being built. In (C) the “should” is redundant: you can never say “order that x should do y” - the verb “order” already implies should/must. In (D), the first portion is correct but the “to be” in the second portion is not parallel with the original structure of “be”. In (E) the verb “is” in the second portion needs to be the verb form “be”. You say: “the town council ordered that the garage BE built” not the “town council ordered that the garage IS built.”

MikeScarn · Answer

I don't think I'm 100% onboard with this question

When I approached this question, I noticed that we were testing parallelism with our answer choices that begun with " that ." In order to test the parallelism in these answer choices, I read the "that" and then what came after the "and" to see if the second item made sense. I eliminated all answer choices. (A) "the town council ordered... that a new parking garage built" (C) "the town council ordered... that a new parking garage built" (A) and (C) are the same in the second item. (C) has redundancy in the first item with the use of the word "should" I see how the word "that" is understood in the second item after the "and", and isn't necessary to be listed. But I don't know if I subscribe to the explanation that "be" is understood. I would be happy to be convinced otherwise if someone can provide a similarly formed Official Question. (D) "the town council ordered... that a new parking garage to be built (E) "the town council ordered... that a new parking garage is built

ravigupta2912 · Answer

The word "ordered" should ring subjunctive mood bells here and it did. Took me 43 seconds for this.

(A) that the downtown parking rules be changed and a new parking garage built -- Don't see any error here. Lets keep it.

(B) the downtown parking rules to be changed, with a new parking garage being built -- Incorrect. "to be" changed "being built". When you have the subjunctive marker (ordered, asked, etc), you don't use "to be", only "be" is used with the simple past verb-tense. Usage of Gerund "being" is also incorrect here. You can't order for something that is being built.

(C) that the downtown parking rules should be changed and a new parking garage built -- Incorrect. "should be" changed is just incompatible here with the subjunctive mood "ordered".

(D) that the downtown parking rules be changed and a new parking garage to be built -- Incorrect. "to be" is not parallel with "be changed". We can have either be built or built (think ellipses -- it still makes sense if be is skipped)

(E) that the downtown parking rules be changed and a new parking garage is built -- Incorrect. "is built" is just atrocious. Breaks parallelism as explained in D above.

gmexamtaker1 · Answer

Hello experts,
I have a question regarding answer choice A, is the absence of be after a new parking garage acceptable? So, The town council has ordered that the downtown parking rules be changed and the town council has ordered that a new parking garage (built) 
How is this possible?

Pankaj0901 · Answer

How do we know, in Option A, built means ‘be built’? I rejected this option only because of the absence of "be". Request experts to please throw some light on this.

Pankaj0901 · Answer

How do we know that, in Option A, built means ???be built???? Is there some form of parallelism that "be" has been used in the earlier phrase with the verb "changed" before "and", that has led to omission of "be" before "built"? 
I rejected this option only because of the absence of "be". Request experts to please throw some light on this.

While I see a lot of posts have the same mentioned, but none seems to explain the logic.

svasan05 · Answer

Hi Pankaj

It always helps to remember that our job on the GMAT is to select  the best possible  and not the  prefect  answer option. You are right - "be built" in option (A) would have been ideal and the clear choice. But the exclusion of "be" follows the rules of ellipsis and not wrong. There is no other answer option that is error-free. The only option with "be built" uses the infinitive form, which is clearly incorrect in a subjunctive. Therefore, option (A), though not ideal, is the best available answer option and is also free of errors.

Hope this answers your question.

Pankaj0901 · Answer

Thanks a lot Srinivasan! This is very helpful.  svasan05

VerbalBot · Answer

Automated notice from GMAT Club VerbalBot: 

A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

 This post was generated automatically.

Even though many local residents disagree with the decision, the town

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

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Even though many local residents disagree with the decision, the town

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