• Well, the question is obviously wrong - inverted. Based on the explanation and BOL, question is probably missing a words "do not" and instead of "Which of the following hints require the word WITH? (choose 3) " should be "Which of the following hints DO NOT require the word WITH? (choose 3)".

    However, even if BOL goes to list a hints that are allowed without the WITH keyword, actually all of them are still working fine without the WITH keyword. Including FORCESEEK and FORCESCAN. You can easily check that for yourself.

    http://sqlfiddle.com/#!6/20e81/5

    PS: what's puzzling me is how did 45% of people get the correct answer? 🙂

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