According to the international investment memorandum recently signed in Geneva, France is one of the 4 European nations planning to provide fewer tax incentives for foreign investment in production of heavy industrial machinery.

a. planning to provide fewer
b. planning to provide less
c. planning on providing fewer
d. which is planning on providing fewer
e. that is planning to provide less


The above question is correct as is but while explaining why the option C is incorrect they have said that the idiom "to plan on" is wrong. I am posting another question below this where "to plan on" is right. Can you please let me know the difference?

According to a survey of graduating medical students conducted by the Association of American Medical Colleges, minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice in socioeconomically deprived areas.
(A) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice
(B) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than other graduates who plan on practicing
(C) minority graduates are nearly four times as likely as other graduates to plan on practicing
(D) it is nearly four times more likely that minority graduates rather than other graduates will plan to practice
(E) it is nearly four times as likely for minority graduates than other graduates to plan to practice

here the answer is C.

I have gone through the detailed explanation of the latter. I just want to understand whether "to plan on" and "to plan to" are both acceptable idioms depending on the context?

Regards,
Lakshmi

IMO both plan on and plan to are idiomatic. In this case, however, plan to is more simplified.

keanuxie is absolutely right . Both are acceptable idioms.

Plan on is followed by a participle:

eg: I plan on playing the piano tonight.
I plan on stuying history from tomorrow. et al....
Plan to also conveys the same meaning in a more direct manner.
eg: I plan to study tonight.
Given an option , I would choose plan to as it is more direct and has more gravity in comparison to plan on. However both are perfectly acceptable.

then in the first question, why is c wrong?

Please go through what I just posted. I guess you just scrolled through it. GMAT is all about choosing the best option possible after negating the unwanted ones!!!

Hope this helps..

:) thanks.

Good then? If not, bump with specific question.

About plan on: It is usually recorded as an acceptable idiom by books for English learners, as well it should be, since expert speakers use it often enough. It is not, however, much loved by more prescriptive grammar types, many of whom consider it nonstandard. I'd regard it with suspicion on the GMAT. It would not likely be what made an answer wrong, but it would be a pretty good hint that something did.

this looks good, Navjot..

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