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New hardy varieties

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by YellowSapphire » Tue Jul 27, 2010 12:25 am
New hardy varieties of rice show promise of producing high yields without the costly requirements of irrigation and application of commercial fertilizer by earlier high-yielding varieties.

(A) requirements of irrigation and application of commercial fertilizer by earlier high-yielding varieties
(B) requirements by earlier high-yielding varieties of application of commercial fertilizer and irrigation
(C) requirements for application of commercial fertilizer and irrigation of earlier high-yielding varieties
(D) application of commercial fertilizer and irrigation that was required by earlier high-yielding varieties
(E) irrigation and application of commercial fertilizer that were required by earlier high-yielding varieties


What is costly here and what it modify to?
Yellow Sapphire
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Source: — Sentence Correction |

by selango » Tue Jul 27, 2010 12:38 am
Narrows down to D and E.

plural verb "were" is needed.

costly refer to irrigation and application of fertilizers.
--Anand--
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by The Jock » Tue Jul 27, 2010 12:43 am
IMO E.
Correct usage of verb "were"
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Varun
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by ashish2104 » Tue Jul 27, 2010 12:51 am
IMO E.

In D it seems that 'application of commercial fertilizer and irrigation ' refers to actual application of both fertilizer and irrigiation. This seems nonsenscial.
In E, usage of 'were' is correct.
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by YellowSapphire » Tue Jul 27, 2010 12:52 am
selango wrote:Narrows down to D and E.

plural verb "were" is needed.

costly refer to irrigation and application of fertilizers.
Yes, Correct

I believe "costly" refers to irrigation only.

OA: E
Yellow Sapphire
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by kvcpk » Tue Jul 27, 2010 2:01 am
I chose E.

Have a question here,
What does "that" refer to?
1) irrigation and application of commercial fertilizer OR
2) application of commercial fertilizer

If that refers to 1) then "were" should be used
If that refers to 2) then "was" should be used.

please explain..
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by selango » Tue Jul 27, 2010 2:15 am
kvcpk wrote:I chose E.

Have a question here,
What does "that" refer to?
1) irrigation and application of commercial fertilizer OR
2) application of commercial fertilizer

If that refers to 1) then "were" should be used
If that refers to 2) then "was" should be used.

please explain..
Conjunction "and" combine singular forms and must use plural verb.So were is used.that refer to both irrigation and application.

If was is used,then it is singular.But there is pronoun ambiguity here.we don't know whether "that"points to irrigation or application.Also note that "and" and singular verb wont appear.
--Anand--
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by YellowSapphire » Tue Jul 27, 2010 2:17 am
kvcpk wrote:I chose E.

Have a question here,
What does "that" refer to?
1) irrigation and application of commercial fertilizer OR
2) application of commercial fertilizer

If that refers to 1) then "were" should be used
If that refers to 2) then "was" should be used.

please explain..
I understood this way.

without the costly irrigation and application of commercial fertilizer that ..

THAT refers to compound noun.
Yellow Sapphire
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by YellowSapphire » Tue Jul 27, 2010 2:22 am
selango wrote: Conjunction "and" combine singular forms and must use plural verb.So were is used.that refer to both irrigation and application.
This is incomplete explanation.

See the article THE only at one place.

Does "the costly" apply to both?
Yellow Sapphire
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