<p>I have a writing question that came from the PSAT packet: </p>
<p>The security office recommends that, when asked to provide a computer password, [do not choose] any string of letters that can be found in a dictionary. </p>
<p>A. do not choose
B. not to choose (my answer)
C. not choosing
D. you not choose
E. your choice should not be (obviously too long) </p>
<p>The answer is D which I do not understand..</p>
<p>I also have another question. 
</p>
<p>Archaeologists have determined that the city was destroyed sometime in the eleventh [century, resulting either from] a war or a natural disaster. </p>
<p>A. century, resulting either from
B. century, either resulting from
C. century, which either resulted from
D. century either as the result of
E. century as the result of either (correct answer)</p>
<p>I simply skipped it because I knew I was going to get it wrong</p>
<p>You see that comma there? Consider that as a sidebar. “The security office recommends that”, -sidebar-, “[not to choose] any string of letters that can be found in a dictionary”</p>
<p>If you remove the sidebar, the sentence would read “The security office recommends that [not to choose] any string of letters that can be found in a dictionary” which is obviously wrong. </p>
<p>So in short, you have to remove the little phrase in between and find the choice that makes the rest of the sentence work. Which would be “The security office recommends that [you not choose] any string of letters…”</p>
<p>Well, for your second question, whichever choice is the most concise would be the answer. There is nothing there that needs major fixing or re-arrangement.</p>
<p>The problem for me is that “not to choose” sounds right even WITHOUT the sidebar. (My grammar is really bad) </p>
<p>What is the grammar problem behind “not to choose”?</p>
<p>Even though E sounds a bit weird to me (sure you didn’t miss a part?) B is wrong (read it aloud) Think of it this way, who is the recommendation for?</p>
<p>The 2nd one '“either… or” is a word pair so whatever pattern follows either must also follow or… if you look at the end of the sentence it says “or a natural disaster” it is not underlined so it is correct… which means “a natural disaster” follows or. so “a war” must follow either</p>
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<p>The answer is D because
(The security office recommends that, when asked to provide a computer password, not to choose any string of letters that can be found in a dictionary) has an indirect subject, which is ‘you’. If you choose B, the subject is indirect. D however, uses the
pronoun we’re looking for AND correct verb choice. You’re looking to improve the sentence. E = too long , B = indirect subject, A&C = Obviously wrong, D = correct usage of verb and subject is present. Ding ding ding, we have a winner!</p>