Saturday, July 4, 2009

Very important concept - Singular vs Plural construction

Minnesota is the only one of the contiguous forty-eight states that still has a sizable wolf population. and
where this predator remains the archenemy of cattle and sheep.
(A) that still has a sizable wolf population, and where
(B) that still has a sizable wolf population, where
(C) that still has a sizable population of wolves, and where
(D) where the population of wolves is still sizable;
(E) where there is still a sizable population of wolves and where

Ans E

Ron Purewal explained as follows the concept:
Ex 1: Punjab is the only one of the 33 contiguous states that still has a sizeable wheat production.

Ex 2: A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important one, that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did earlier in the decade.

Ron's Explanation: you're missing the crucial difference between these two examples - namely, the presence or absence of the word the. that makes all the difference.

remember, if you're going to consider a prepositional phrase disposable, then
the sentence WITHOUT the prepositional phrase has to make sense. let's try that with the first one:
a higher interest rate is only one ... that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control.
that doesn't make grammatical sense without
the before 'only one'. therefore, we MUST consider all those words at the end to be part of the prepositional phrase starting with 'of the factors', so that 'factors' is the subject of the verb 'keep'.
now let's try it with the second one:
punjab is the only one ... that still has a sizable wheat production.
ok, that works - perfectly logical, even if we eliminate the prepositional phrase. therefore, 'only one' is the subject of 'has'.

so, as you can see, the presence/absence of 'the' makes all the difference in the world.

Stacey Koprince's Explanation for Ex 1: You're right - Punjab is the sole subject for "has" so it should be singular. "of the 33 continuous states" is a prepositional phrase, and prep. phrases generally don't contain the subject (there are some rare exceptions, but this isn't one of them).

Think logically about it too - are you saying they all have a sizeable wolf population? Nope, you're only saying that about Punjab. So the verb should match - singular. And that's the general rule for a sentence with this structure.

Jonathan Schneider's Explanation: I'll try to put this in the context of our SC strategy guide, namely the chapter on Modifiers. The prepositional phrase "of the 33 states" is a modifier - describing the word "one." But the relative cluase "that still ..." is ALSO a modifier - ALSO describing the word "one." Now, isn't the rule that noun modifiers have to touch the nouns they modify? In that sense, doesn't the clause beginning with "that" have to modify "states"? And if so, doesn't the verb have to be plural? The answer is NO. When we have multiple modifiers modifying the same noun, we obviously cannot put them all right next to the noun. As a result, we simply list the modifiers in order, and it is understood that they refer back to the same noun. Thus, in this case, the "that" clause connects back to the word "one." As a result, Stacey's explanation is correct: the prepositional phrase is just in the way. And Ron's explanation is also correct: the sentence would make sense without that prepositional phrase. This is because the "that" clause is modifying "one."

The second example (interest rates) is different: here, the "that" clause is modifying "factors," which is the object of the preposition. AKA, you've got a modifier modifying a modifier. The question is, as Ron says, about the meaning: what is each modifier meant to modify? I recommend that for practice you highlight the modifiers in a few SC sentences (in the right answers) to see when modifiers modify the core and when they modify other modifiers.

Another question using the same concept:

With its plan to develop seven and a half acres of shore land, Cleveland is but one of a large number of communities on the Great Lakes that is looking to its waterfront as a way to improve the quality of urban life and attract new businesses.

(A) is looking to its waterfront as a way to improve the quality of urban life and attract
(B) is looking at its waterfront to improve the quality of urban life and attract
(C) are looking to their waterfronts to improve the quality of urban life and attract
(D) are looking to its waterfront as a way of improving the quality of urban life and attracting
(E) are looking at their waterfronts as a way they can improve the quality of urban life and attract

Ans: C

5 comments:

  1. Bingo !!
    Great Explanation by everyone specially Ron :)

    btw nice blog mate.

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