Sentence Correction

1)Whether modern statistical techniques can be usefully applied to the past, and to a society quite different from our own, is an issue historians and economists are currently debating.
(A) Whether modern statistical techniques can be usefully applied to the past, and to a society quite different from our own, is an issue
(B) If modern statistical techniques can be usefully applied to the past, and to a society quite different from our own, are issues
(C) That modern statistical techniques can be usefully applied to the past, and to a society quite different from our own, are issues
(D) Modern statistical techniques being usefully applied to the past, and to a society quite different from our own, is an issue
(E) The useful application of modern statistical techniques to the past, and to a society quite different from our own, is an issue



2)Why painting the face and perfuming the body should have persisted throughout recorded history has been the subject of a substantial amount of anthropological and psychological speculation.
(A) Why painting the face and perfuming the body should have persisted
(B) How painting the face and perfuming the body could be persistent
(C) That painting the face and perfuming the body are persisting
(D) Painting the face and perfuming the body persisting
(E) The persisting of face painting and body perfuming

3)Unlike the law protecting endangered animals, the Fish and Wildlife Service's listing of endangered plants does not prohibit collectors to take listed plants from the wild if in doing so they comply with state laws.
(A) to take listed plants from the wild if in doing so they comply with state laws
(B) from taking listed plants from the wild if they are doing so in compliance with state laws
(C) from taking listed plants from the wild if in doing so they comply with state laws
(D) who take listed plants from the wild should they be in compliance with state laws
(E) that take listed plants from the wild so long as they are doing so by being in compliance with state laws

[spoiler] OA for 1 is A why is the subject single here ?
OA for 2 is A
OA for 3 is C Why is B wrong here ?[/spoiler]

1) For 1 OA is A beacuse the application of techniques is an issue not "are issues".

It is not the techniques that are an issue but is their application hence singular

Hope this helps!

Regards,
Cramya

1. If a phrase makes the subject of the sentence, always use verb for singular noun.[as per Manhattan guide]
3. Confusion is between b and c only. Th only reason i can find is redundancy in choice b which and the same sentence is states clearly and precisely in choice c.

Can someone please explain the 2nd question. I am stuck between A and B.

Thanks