The president of the block association tried to convince her neighbors they should join forces to prevent crime in the neighborhood rather than continuing to be victimized.

(A) they should join forces to prevent crime in the neighborhood rather than continuing to be victimized
(B) that they should join forces to prevent crime in the neighborhood rather than continue to be victimized
(C) about joining forces to prevent crime in the neighborhood instead of continuing to be victimized
(D) for the joining of forces to prevent crime in the neighborhood rather than continue to be victimized
(E) to join forces to prevent crime in the neighborhood rather than continuing to be victimized

Please explain the answers and how to avoid to options.
I am stuck between B & E

B seems to have correct Parallelism - should join rather than continue....- my guess.
some one from mgmat can verify!

The president of the block association tried to convince her neighbors they should join forces to prevent crime in the neighborhood rather than continuing to be victimized.

(A) they should join forces to prevent crime in the neighborhood rather than continuing to be victimized
(B) that they should join forces to prevent crime in the neighborhood rather than continue to be victimized
(C) about joining forces to prevent crime in the neighborhood instead of continuing to be victimized
(D) for the joining of forces to prevent crime in the neighborhood rather than continue to be victimized
(E) to join forces to prevent crime in the neighborhood rather than continuing to be victimized

There are two logically parallel sentence elements that should be treated as structurally parallel:

1. join forces to prevent crime in the neighborhood

rather than (which compares the two elements)

2. continuing to be victimized

These two phrases, as they are presented as logically parallel should be kept structurally parallel, with the primary determinant of parallelism being the verb form ('join' and 'continue'). In the example above, 'join' and 'continuing' are not parallel, so you should eliminate (A). The same issue also brings us to eliminate both (D) and (E).

Answer choice (C) is parallel in terms of the verb form, but there is no reason to use the more complex '-ing' form of both verbs. Also, 'convince her neighbors about joining' is awkward.

The correct answer, answer choice (B) is parallel, and the construction 'convince her neighbors THAT' is correct.

I hope that this is helpful. - Chris Ryan

B is correct here because of "that"... you may right away eliminate the other options

I thought B is not correct answer because convince is subjective. But my question is now, whether convince is subjective?

If the verb is ORDER instead of CONVINCE, then
Incorrect :Block association ordered that they should join forces
Correct:Block association ordered that they join forces

Following verbs are considered subjective, but why convince is not considered subjective?
to propose (that)
to recommend (that)
to request (that)
to suggest (that)

You are trying to turn this into a subjunctive question, which it is not. Take a closer look at the section in our book on subjunctives, and you'll see that this problem does not fit that pattern. As such, the nature of the word "convince" is irrelevant..

_________________
Tim Sanders
Manhattan GMAT Instructor