Most effective combination of these sentences?

[Velo]

I had the following question on a practice exam:

4. Sentences 4 and 5: Now we're looking for at least ten volunteers. The volunteers will wrap the presents.

The most effective combination of sentences 4 and 5 would include which group of words?

(a) to wrap the presents
(b) who can wrap the presents
(c) In order to wrap the presents
(d) Now we need to wrap the presents
(e) for the wrapping of the presents

What do you think the correct answer would be and why?

My logic went as follows: (e) sounds much too contrived, and (d) means you have to rearrange the sentences too much and you have to add to it, i.e. "Now we need to wrap the presents and are looking for at least ten volunteers." However, (a), (b), and (c) all sounded viable to me. Option (a) would read "Now we're looking for at least ten volunteers to wrap the presents." Option (b) would read "Now we're looking for at least ten volunteers who can wrap the presents." Option (c) would read, "In order to wrap the presents, we're looking for at least ten volunteers."

According to the answer sheet in the back of the book, the correct answer is option (a) because "it smoothly combines the ideas in the two sentences. Options (b), (c), (d), and (e) do not combine the sentences smoothly." And that's all the further explanation it gives! It seems to me they are just being nit-picky.

Why do the other options not combine the sentences smoothly? Can anyone explain it?

 

[Leandro-Z]

For me the best option is "a". See the following:

-Now we're looking for at least ten volunteers who can wrap the presents (everybody can wrap a present, what you want is people doing that job. The use of the relative here is not necessary, because a volunteer is precisely somebody who can do something)

-Now we're looking for at least ten volunteers in order to wrap the presents (it doesn`t sound familiar to me. If you asked me, I would omit using this phrase. There you are not specifying that the volunteers will be the ones who are going to wrap the presents)

-Now we're looking for at least ten volunteers now we need to wrap the presents (IMPOSSIBLE!)

-Now we're looking for at least ten volunteers for the wrapping of the presents (it`s not used, so it would be grammatically wrong. Perhaps you can here it from a native speaker, but it is not correct)

The only way of using the word "volunteer" is with the "to + inf.verb" following it. Otherwise, you are wrong. If you don`t believe me, look it up in a dictionary and you will find manifold examples with "volunteer to do sth."

Here are some examples from Oxford Advanced Learner`s Compass:
-Schools need volunteers to help children to read.
-Are there any volunteers to help clear up?

 

[Velo]

Hmm, it's interesting to see how other people combine the sentences. Thanks.

See, in my head I combined the sentences much differently than you do, e.g. instead of putting "In order to wrap the presents" at the end, I put it at beginning of the re-written sentence so it read "In order to wrap the presents, we're looking for at least ten volunteers." I had trouble choosing between (a) and (c) then but ultimately chose (c). In retrospect, I probably rewrote the sentences too much in order to force them to make sense, and is probably something I need to work on in the future.

The book I'm working with labels the subject of this question as "subordinating ideas" in the answers section, so... yeah.