A spokesman for the organization says that Curt Gowdy

[makgunay]

A spokesman for the organization says that Curt Gowdy, who was 86, died from leukemia recently in Palm Beach, Florida.

A - A spokesman for the organization says that Curt Gowdy, who was 86,
B - Curt Gowdy, a spokesman for the organization, who was 86,
C - A spokesman for the organization, who was 86, says that Curt Gowdy
D - A spokesman for the organization had said Curt Gowdy, who was 86,
C - A spokesman for the organization says that Curt Gowdy, who was 86, had

The answer to the question is A, however I do not understand why we use "says that" instead of "said that"?

[zukerherr]

Where do you get this question from?

A is simply the best choice in this case. And there is no 'said that' option in this case.

[tim]

either "says that" and "said that" could be the appropriate construction in this case, depending on when the spokesperson spoke.. :)

[sachin.w]

What is wrong with B?

It changes the meaning of the original sentence but I believe it is grammatically correct.

who does refer to Curt Gowdy as 'who' cant refer to the organization..

[jlucero]

What is wrong with B?

It changes the meaning of the original sentence but I believe it is grammatically correct.

who does refer to Curt Gowdy as 'who' cant refer to the organization..

You are right on both accounts. It's non-sensical to attribute "who was 86" to anyone but Curt Gowdy, but it still is awkward and unusual for the GMAT to have a sentence structured as: CORE, aside, aside, CORE. Since noun-modifiers, especially relative pronoun modifiers, need to be next to the noun they modify, it would be much more clear to have the modifiers next to the word they are modifying.

Combine that with the fact that B has a different meaning than the other four answer choices and you should be able to throw that answer choice out on the real test.

[sachin.w]

thnks joe

[tim]

:)

[payals66]

I am unclear about this sentence, since i have read in the manhattan sentence correction book, that " GMAT does not require you to put "that" after "say". Hence the only option with a direct thought and without that was option D. Please clarify, why isn't this rule applicable in this sentence.

Regards,
Payal Shah

[jlucero]

There's a difference between:

GMAT does not require you to put "that" after "say"

and

GMAT will never put "that" after "say"

When you use that split to get to (D), you are using a preference in writing style which is not the same as using grammatical principles and proper meaning.