Select the correct verb form for the dependent clause:
The ethics committee insisted that the lead researcher ________ all confidential patient identifiers prior to publication.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: C. redact
Answer: redact. Why not the others: 'redacts' uses the third-person singular indicative present, violating the formal mandative subjunctive rule; 'redacted' uses the indicative past tense; 'must have redacted' introduces an epistemic modal deduction that alters the intended imperative directive.
- Step 1: Identify the governing matrix verb: 'insisted' belongs to the category of mandative verbs (such as 'demand', 'recommend', 'require', 'insist') that take a mandative that-clause.
- Step 2: In formal English and standard academic testing, a mandative that-clause requires the base subjunctive form of the verb regardless of the tense of the governing verb or the person/number of the subject.
Practise more Advanced Syntax, Inversions, Cleft Sentences, and Subjunctive Structures.
Free questions with an explanation for every one, and full timed MUET Malaysia (Malaysian University English Test) mock tests.
More Advanced Syntax, Inversions, Cleft Sentences, and Subjunctive Structures questions
- Choose the option that correctly completes the sentence:
Seldom ________ such unanimous consensus among international climatologists regard… - Choose the grammatically correct structure to complete the conditional sentence:
________ the secondary trial data earlier, the pharmacolog… - Complete the cleft construction with the most appropriate pronoun and verb agreement:
It was not the regional branch managers but the chief… - Identify the option that provides the correct syntax for the correlative construction:
Not only ________ rigorous statistical cross-validat… - Choose the grammatically accurate clause to complete the introductory cleft sentence:
What the architectural conservationists find most con… - Select the correct word order to complete the regulatory directive:
Under no circumstances ________ permission to enter the sterile biocont…