The report recommended that the hospital should

Adam

Hi Srivatsa,

By "plural verb" I think you mean the verb conjugation used for a plural subject. Here, "eliminate" is the conjugation used for plural 3rd person subjects:

They eliminate X.

The conjugation for singular subjects is:

"He/she eliminates" with an "s."

That said, note that "eliminate" is not the main subjunctive verb here — rather, it's "should":

"The report recommended that the hospital should eliminate..."

We can and should remove "should," as Kevin has noted below, because it is redundant when used with "recommend":

"The report recommended that the hospital eliminate..."

Here we have the subjunctive use of "eliminate," and it is correct.

I hope that helps!

Feb 8, 2017 • Reply

Hi Ankish,

The use of "should" is okay on the GMAT. You will see correct uses of "should" on the GMAT, so you can't assume that it is never allowed.

The issue with "should" in this sentence is that it is redundant when used with "recommend." Both words mean the same thing so used together it creates a redundant statement. This is the issue here and the reason we are eliminating answer choices with "should."

Nov 6, 2014 • Reply

why is (E) eliminate correct? shouldn't be ...the hospital eliminateS... correct?

Sep 10, 2014 • Reply

Hi Malte, usually you would be right, but since we have "should" in our sentence we need to use the base form of our verb. So the correct form is:

"The report recommended that the hospital should eliminate..."

But if we did not have "should" in a sentence then we would have something like this:

"The hospital eliminates unneeded beds to save money."

Does that make sense?

For more information on how to structure your sentence when using "should" I recommend looking at this website:

https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verbs-modal-should.htm

Happy Studying!

Sep 16, 2014 • Reply

Jose Maria Cao

But... in answer E we dont have "should" we have "recommended" in the sentence. Should we assume should = recommended?

Mar 30, 2016 • Reply

Adam

Hi Jose,

Yes, as Kevin stated above, it is redundant to use "should" and "recommend" together.

If I say you should do something, it means I'm recommending that you do something. So, these mean basically the same thing.

Mar 30, 2016 • Reply

Jose Maria Cao

Thanks Adam. Apologies I wasnt clear enough, I tried to follow up on the previous question. Maybe it is a little too basic but what I meant is: I was expecting to see "the hospital... eliminateS... consolidateS... and useS."

Mar 30, 2016 • Reply

Adam

Hi Jose,

Yes, again, that seems to be what Malte has asked about above. When we have the form "should + [verb]" or "recommend that (the hospital) + [verb]," the verb will always be in the infinitive form.

The hospital should eliminate...
I recommend that the hospital eliminate...

vs.

The hospital eliminates...

Apr 5, 2016 • Reply

Jose Maria Cao

Understood! Thank you.

Apr 5, 2016 • Reply