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UNO maintains that there

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by kvcpk » Sun Jul 11, 2010 11:19 am
UNO maintains that there are a number of reasons why peace talk must be continued, despite the loss of fourteen middlemen in less than 2 years.

A.UNO maintains that there are a number of reasons why peace talk must be continued
B.UNO maintains that there is a number of reasons why peace talk must be continued
C.UNO maintained that there is a number of reasons why peace talk must be continued
D.UNO Continues to maintain that there are a number of reasons why peace talk must be continued
E.UNO maintains that there are a number of reasons why peace talk must be continuing

Explain your answer.
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by indiantiger » Sun Jul 11, 2010 1:52 pm
A.UNO maintains that there are a number of reasons why peace talk must be continued (correct)
B.UNO maintains that there is a number of reasons why peace talk must be continued [ there is more than one reason for peace talk]
C.UNO maintained that there is a number of reasons why peace talk must be continued [ there is more than one reason for peace talk]
D.UNO Continues to maintain that there are a number of reasons why peace talk must be continued [ continues is unnecessary]
E.UNO maintains that there are a number of reasons why peace talk must be continuing [ this distorts the meaning a little bit by saying the talks are going instead they must go on]
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by kvcpk » Sun Jul 11, 2010 2:32 pm
I thought the same way. But the OA is B.

Can someone tell me why?
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by indiantiger » Sun Jul 11, 2010 3:17 pm
Dude,

Do you mind citing the source of the question? I dont have doubts about the question but would love to know the source of these questions?
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by kvcpk » Sun Jul 11, 2010 3:23 pm
indiantiger wrote:Dude,

Do you mind citing the source of the question? I dont have doubts about the question but would love to know the source of these questions?
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by reply2spg » Sun Jul 11, 2010 4:32 pm
can you check the answer again? I think A is correct here. B changes meaning. As per B there is only one reason, which is wrong. So please check the ans again
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by selango » Sun Jul 11, 2010 8:03 pm
Praveen,

IMO A is correct.


"A number of" takes a plural verb.

"The number of" takes a singular verb.


A number of means some/many

There are many reasons/There is many reasons

second one is grammatically incorrect.
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by adi_800 » Sun Jul 11, 2010 8:18 pm
How many reasons are there...
More than one...So, plural form should be used.
A is fine.
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by kvcpk » Sun Jul 11, 2010 9:06 pm
I checked it many times. The reason they gave is that
"is/are" should be chosen based on "a number" and not based on "a number of reasons".
That got me stumped!!
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by selango » Sun Jul 11, 2010 9:25 pm
Even if choose "a number" it must takes plural verb only.
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by pradeepkaushal9518 » Sun Jul 11, 2010 10:37 pm
This is like the following example.

A number of people are waiting for the bus.

a number of x is always take plural form of verb and X is always be plural

like a number of people, a number of cars, etc...........

we can write like " a number of reasons are ................"

hence A is correct
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by apex231 » Sun Jul 11, 2010 11:56 pm
Can someone explain how to choose between A and D?
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by sumanr84 » Mon Jul 12, 2010 12:41 am
apex231 wrote:Can someone explain how to choose between A and D?
Since the original sentence does not have this additional word "Continues", bringing it lead to wordiness. Also, it leads to change in meaning.
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by kvcpk » Mon Jul 12, 2010 7:12 am
So everyone thinks that the OA is wrong?
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by jdenning » Mon Jul 12, 2010 9:16 am
Hi kvcpk - thanks for the question. First off, while this question is not actually from the PowerScore course, it is a fantastic illustration of a concept that we cover thoroughly in our course: Collective Nouns in Subject-Verb Agreement. A collective noun is a noun that represents a seemingly plural group/idea, but is in fact singular. Some examples of collective nouns include "jury," "band," "crowd," "flock," "majority," and "dozen." Each of these is treated as singular when used as the subject of a sentence. So you wouldn't say "a jury of Susan's peers are deliberating her guilt," but rather you should say, "a jury of Susan's peers is deliberating her guilt."

For the sentence in question here, answer choice B is correct. The subject of this sentence is "a number," and is therefore singular and requires the singular verb "is." Despite the fact that "a number" clearly refers to more than one reason, it is still considered a singular subject (as it is a collective noun) and attempting to pair it with "are" is incorrect.

Consider another example: "A number of valuables were/was taken by the looters." Again, because the subject of this sentence is "a number" and therefore singular, it requires the singular verb "was." "Was" sounds a bit strange here, I know, but choosing "were" for this sentence is grammatically improper. This is a classic example of why it is so important to familiarize yourself with these commonly tested rules of grammar, and not to simply rely on what sounds best when you take the GMAT!

And one final tip....in the original sentence the phrase "of reasons" is what is known as a prepositional phrase, and prepositional phrases NEVER contain the subject of a sentence on the GMAT. Prepositional phrases are simply given to provide further information about the subject, but they do not contain the subject itself. This is one of the most common grammatical errors tested on the GMAT with respect to Subject-Verb agreement, so please be well aware of it prior to test day!
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